Visually Impressive "Tomorrow" Stuck in the Past

With intrepid Chronicle reporter and former girlfriend Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) by his side, he’ll take on the mysterious evil genius Dr. Totenkopf in an adventure that spans the globe. From the steel and concrete jungles of America to the ice caves of the Himalayan Alps to the fabled valley’s of Shangri-la, nothing will stop Sky Captain from saving the world from a madman’s Doomsday Device. Along with a little help from Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie) and her RAF all-female amphibious squadron, Sullivan and Perkins will embark on a journey beyond imagination, maybe even rediscovering their love for one another along the way.

This is “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” a groundbreaking motion picture combining flesh and blood actors gallivanting their way through a landscape made entirely of pixilated wonders. Like “Mary Poppins” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” before it, Kerry Conran’s debut feature elevates the bar of human-animation filmmaking to an entirely new plan, shattering all notions of what is possible. Unfortunately, what it does not do is supply a story or a dramatic thread worth the fuss, the director’s screenplay an amalgam of “Buck Rogers,” “Flash Gordon,” “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” that never comes together.

Shame, really, for I’m not mincing words when I say on a purely visual level “Sky Captain” is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. Unlike most pictures filled to the gills with CGI special effects (“Van Helsing” comes to mind), this is more than just a picture-perfect video game sprung to life. While it is obviously animated, the attention to detail is astounding, no minutiae left to the imagination as every facet of this hyper-realized world is up onscreen. It is an explosion of textures and colors, ever changing and expanding as the picture rushes headlong from one corner of the world to the next.

From the chrome-infused grays and blues of the big city to the stark whiteness of the Himalayas to the cacophony of rainbow colors of Totenkopf’s island hideaway, Conran does a masterful job of giving “Sky Captain” a unique look and feel that’s utterly modern yet refreshingly retro. Even more impressive, the human actors move throughout this world with apparent ease, seamlessly inserted into the computer animated proceedings. I really believed that these flesh and blood people existed within the digital landscape; Conran creating an atmosphere so spot-on the fact things are dreadfully dull is a major letdown.

You see, for all the visual razzle-dazzle, “The World of Tomorrow” isn’t really that exciting a place. Unlike “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or the original “Star Wars,” Conran gets the look right, but forgets to supply us with interesting or engaging characters. Even worse, the picture is incredibly stupid, its globetrotting plot more paint-by-numbers than expressive homage to serials past. The movie is distancing, and while I couldn’t help but be impressed from a technical standpoint, from a visceral one my pulse never raised passed the point of mild interest. The excitement is never passed on to the audience, Conran achieving a strange detachment between the picture and his audience so sitting through the entire thing is akin to watching a semi-talented artist throw paint at a canvass in hopes something – anything – sticks.

It doesn’t help that the actors, all talented; all capable of great performances, are stiff and wooden in both motion and delivery. Law goes through the movie with such a stiff upper lip I finally came to the belief it must have been digitally augmented, while Paltrow acts her scenes with such robotic jerkiness I could swear she was just as artificial as the mechanical giants constantly racing across the screen. Only Jolie appears to be having any fun. Of course, the veteran of two “Tomb Raider” films has worked in front of blue and green screens before, so appearing here is probably just a walk in the park for the actress. But her part is really nothing more than a highly glorified cameo, Law and Paltrow given the burden of having to carry nearly every scene. They aren’t up to the task, Conran more interested in making sure his pixels come out perfect than capturing a performance worth watching from the pair.

But the worst thing about “Sky Captain” is the precedent it sets. For the first time, a revered, long-dead actor is called upon to deliver a performance. Granted, all we see is this man’s head, filled with lines and dialogue shot for a completely different picture over sixty years a go. But, it’s just the idea that we’ve come far enough that not even the grave can stop a revered thespian or a moneymaking superstar from starring in film. What’s next? Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Grant in a new screwball comedy? John Wayne picking up a six gun to star with Josh Hartnett in a high-powered western? Clark Cable giving a damn about Charlize Theron in an epic love story? The mind shudders at the thought, and I can only hope that the success Conran has inserting his dead icon here doesn’t go to studio bosses’ heads.

Keeping that aside, “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” still doesn’t make the grade. For all its visual panache and groundbreaking effects, for all the wonders it has to look at, it ends up meaning nothing without a well constructed story and full-blooded characters to hold on to. Sure, a new bar in computer animation is set, but if this is what the movies of tomorrow are going to be like, I’ll stick with yesterday.

Film Ratings:  (out of 4)

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