An email controversy has erupted about the precise time-line of A-Ha's "Take on Me" and CGI. I had no idea so many of you were so ... well, here's the Wikipedia entry that clears it all up. Meanwhile, I was actually right about the video in question:
A-Ha's "Take On Me" video doesn't use CGI. It's an example of rotoscoping, an animation technique in which live-action footage is traced directly onto paper or cels. Max Fleischer developed the rotoscope around 1919 for his "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon series. Ralph Bakshi still uses it.