Are actors about to become obsolete?

 

It is now possible to create computer-generated characters whose appearance is amazingly lifelike. Since the first fully computer-generated movie Top Story hit the screens in 1995, computer animation has made incredible progress. However, the stars of computer-animated movies continue to be almost exclusively cartoon characters. Final Fantasy (2001) represented an effort to make computer-generated characters as realistic as possible. However, this attempt demonstrated beyond doubt that no programmer can replace the skill and talent of real actors. It is therefore unlikely that movie stars will be unemployed in the foreseeable future-although this cannot be said of stuntmen and women. Computer-generated doubles can now be used to shoot dangerous scenes, thereby making the most perilous stunts entirely risk-free.  

              Even when real-life actors such as Tom Hanks (in The Polar Express) lend their faces to computer-generated characters, the figures still have a cartoonish feel about them.