The Avengers and High Definition TVs

Last night I finally saw the movie The Avengers.  It was a great superhero movie, with lots of good action and stuff.  No real complaints about the movie.  What was weird for me was the TV we watched it on.  We were at a friends house with a pretty hi-def TV, and the movie was an Amazon instant download rental thing, so it probably wasn’t the highest quality, but whatever it was, the combination led to a strange movie viewing experience for me.

It was like the TV had better graphic capabilities than the movie, making every special effect and CGI background look like a cheap high school production.  It was weird.  It even made just the people look animated or something.  I was distracted by that the whole time that I don’t think I got to appreciate the movie fully.

Has anyone else experienced this?  Is it a better TV thing or a lack of movie quality thing?  Maybe I’m just behind the times and don’t know what “good graphics” are anymore.  Thoughts?