HotToastyRag I remember seeing the previews for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow when I was a kid. The hype was that it was a completely animated movie, and I thought it was the greatest special effects in the world since the main characters, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie, looked so much like the actors playing them it was impossible to tell they were animated! Well, as it turns out, when I finally saw the movie ten years later, I learned the truth. Despite my protestations throughout the first half of the film that the people in the movie were indeed animated, I found out that they were real. The entire movie was filmed using "green screen"-or blue screen, if you prefer-but the actors were real.When you watch it, though, I'm sure you'll have your doubts. The entire movie, in addition to using computer graphics for all the background images, used several special filters and finishes that made everyone's faces look photoshopped, which let's face it, they were. You can't see people's pores on their faces and the lighting looks extremely strange. I can only hope the filmmakers chose this design to make the actors look as actors did in that time period, rather than to intentionally confuse the audience. In old movies from the 1930s and 1940s, camera lenses didn't pick up every pore, so Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow looks quite authentic.You'll also probably be wowed, and rightly so, by the incredible special effects during the plentiful action scenes. The story is set in the midst of WWII, and out of nowhere, giant robots and flying machines pop out of the sky, adding another element to the war. Jude Law plays the title character, and he spends most of the film in his plane blowing up bad guys. You can only imagine the endless possibilities of special effects with a fantasy movie like this.While I don't happen to like the "steampunk" genre, I was able to appreciate the computer graphics, how pretty Gwyneth Paltrow looked, how pretty Jude Law looked, and Edward Shearmur's beautiful music. You won't see his name until the end credits, so while you're listening to his complex and authentic-sounding score, you'll probably lay odds that it's John Williams. Shearmur's very talented, and I'll be keeping an ear open for him in the future.If you like movies that rely heavily on special effects, action scenes with giant robots, and a quick banter that stands for romantic tension, you might like this one. It's not one I'll probably want to watch again, but I really enjoyed the cameo from Laurence Olivier, and the last one minute of the film is very cute. What's the ending, you ask? You'll have to watch it to find out.DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie is not your friend. In every scene, the camera either swerves, tilts, or spins, and it might make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Matthew Kresal There are films that are at once throwbacks to another age while also looking forward to the future. 2005's Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow was just such as film. As its title may suggest, the film called back to the adventure serials of the 1930s and 1940s. Yet the way the film was made showed a potential way ahead for filmmakers. The results, while not perhaps as well appreciated at the time, continue to make for interesting viewing more than a decade later.The best (and really only) way to look at the film is something of a throwback to an era gone by. Set in an alternate and more technologically advanced 1939, the film plays with many of the tropes and clichés found from the serials of the era. There's the dashing action hero in the form of the titular "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan (Jude Law) and plucky female reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) in the lead roles. In aesthetic terms, the film draws much from the era as well from its costumes to World War II era aircraft such as Sky Captain's P-40 to the more science fiction and fantastical elements including mechanical monsters. Elsewhere, there's a number of Easter eggs hidden within the film as well including references to Orson Welles' infamous War Of The Worlds radio broadcast and the 1933 King Kong. For those who are fans of the era, the film is a feast.Indeed the film on the whole is a visual feast. Not only does it back strong use of the diesel punk aesthetics, the filmmakers went to great lengths to give the film the feel of being from another era with its choice of lighting and camera angles that are suggestive of the era. Beyond that, the film is notable for another reason. Shot largely against blue screen, the film was one of the first to make use of the so-called "digital backlot" and the film is heavily reliant on CGI as a result. Most of the time it works though there are a handful of shots where the CGI and live action elements fail to believably work together though those moments are few and far between. It seems ironic that a film set much in an idealized and fantastical version of the past would be so reliant on computers to bring its "world of tomorrow" to life but it's something that makes the film standout.The film is truly visionary, something that can't be said very often. Even after the passing of a decade, I'm hard pressed to think of another film like it. Kerry Conran does a magnificent job as director, especially a first time director, in orchestrating all of the various elements together in a single cohesive whole. For Conran's film combines actors, costumes, props, special effects and Edward Shearmur's heroic score to create a film that pulls from the past yet creates something exciting and fresh. That's no mean feat in this day and age.For all of that though, the film is not without its weaknesses. Drawing heavily on those adventure serials for its inspiration, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow also falls foul of some of its clichés. The characters are all drawn in the most vague and cardboard of terms though its due to the credit of Law, Paltrow, Michael Gambon and Angleina Jolie that they bring them to life as well as they do. That vagueness goes right to the plot as well which, in true serial style, is little more than a series of set pieces tied together with mini-cliffhangers to keep the audience's attention while not making much logical sense. For a film that transcends the low budget nature of many of those serials to present a visually stunning feast, it seems a shame that the script couldn't do that as well.On the whole though, Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow is well worth watching. It combines together thrills of a bygone age with the visuals of that age and 21st century CGI to create a work that remains unique but also groundbreaking. Despite some flaws, it's a two hour action/adventure feast sure to please fans. Plus, perhaps, it might find the audience that missed it a decade ago and can enjoy it for what it is.

gir-24 In every damn scene, in every location, even miles under the freaking sea, it looks stupid and is really distracting because all I could think about was that Bette Midler song from Beaches and the line "To never have sunlight on your face" which if in an alternate universe was part of the Sky Craptain soundtrack would be rewritten as "To ALWAYS have sunlight on your face". Now Beaches despite it being overrated by so many is relatively good and worth watching maybe once but I can't say the same for Sky Craptain and the World of Tomorrow. It is pure garbage of the smelliest kind. Avoid, it will give you eye cancer... and nose cancer.

bowmanblue 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' is basically a homage to science fiction from yesteryear when stories were in black and white days, didn't have to be particularly 'technically or factually accurate' and robots looked like they were made out of Lego.Unfortunately, it does the job a little too well. It's deliberately awful in the way it's filmed, acted and shot, all of which is keeping with the genre it's based on. However, not many of today's audience really 'got it' and just saw a badly-acted, badly-shot film with weird and dodgy special effects.People say that neither Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow or Angelina Jolie seem to be able to act in this film. And they'd be right. None of the three leads' performances are particularly three-dimensional. However, I kind of took that as the point, seeing as they're actually basing their characters on the wooden heroes of times past.If you're going to enjoy this film, you need to have a nostalgic appreciation for the sort of black and white Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon TV serials on Saturday mornings. And there's not that many of us left who still like that sort of film, therefore Sky Captain, despite being a clever and novel idea by today's standards, was never really destined to be a financial success. I enjoyed it for what it was, but for anyone who doesn't remember Buck Rogers and co, they'll probably see it as little more than an extended eighties Queen video for 'Radio Gaga.' http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/