ILM (Star Wars, Indian Jones, etc.) has created some of the best graphics in history of film. On the "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" ILM chose Vue (v5, I guess) for their natural terrain simulation needs. An amazing piece of software.
Susumo Yukuhiro, the matte artist on the project talks about their experince with Vue on e-on's website. (Vue's creators)