Sky Captain soars in animation, crashes in plotline, acting

Deborah Temkin A&E Editor

Every little boy who collects comic books has one dream: that the comics become live action and he could live within the world of these superheroes. With the movie release of Marvel Comics’ Spiderman, Spiderman 2, and the Hulk, these dreams have been realized in a real-life setting. These superheroes are transplanted into the real world. But one of the great things about comic books is their use of art to portray movement and unrealistic scenarios.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow combines the human nature of previous comic book movies with classic comic book art. The first movie to be shot completely in front of a blue screen with minimal use of props, Sky Captain features amazing effects and incredible animation. However, like most comics, the story is flimsy, and shouldn’t go on for two long hours.

The story surrounds our hero, Sky Captain Joe (Jude Law), a mercenary pilot who has amazing skills at flying and an amazing plane/submarine built by comrade Dex Dearborn (Giovanni Ribisi), and his journalist “friend” Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow). Together, they solve the mystery of seven missing scientists and their mysterious robot creations that are destroying the city of Gotham. When the pair gets into trouble, Capt. Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie) rescues them. Franky serves two roles: a superhero on par with Sky Captain and the former love interest that separates Polly and Joe. Eventually, there is a happy ending where Polly and Joe kiss, making it the classic comic book finish.

This story would never hit the big screen if not for its amazing computer animation. The animation, that took over six years to develop and create, features incredibly realistic depictions of scenes in that oh-so-comic-book way. As they travel, they fly over a map; as Polly types on the typewriter, news stories fly behind her. But as they go in and out of the city, buildings are realistic and even the carefully placed advertisement for Coca-Cola resembles the real thing.

The acting style and the animation, however, often did not match. Paltrow, unfamiliar with acting within the blue-screen, maintained her come-hither look throughout scenes where, theoretically, she would be killed by the giant robots and man-eating pterodactyls. Law was slightly better in changing his emotions as he was facing great peril. However, it was still obvious that he was not acting within the scene itself.

In the few scenes that featured Jolie, the biggest inconsistency was the use of her sultry eye patch. In close ups, you could clearly see Jolie blinking through the patch and the outline of her eyeball. Additionally, her character had little purpose other than to rescue Polly and Joe—her role as the temptress is underplayed. Then again, so is the relationship between Polly and Joe; the relationship is treated as a “we-should-already-know-this” type thing and is never developed or even discussed within the movie.

Overall, this is a movie to see for effects. My advice: wait until it comes out on video or appears on the network for your perusal.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Rating: PG for minor animated violence
Released: Sept. 17, 2004
Run Time: 107 minutes