Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Review by Richard Lee

Paramount Studios / 2004 / 107 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: January 25, 2005

Specifications:
-DVD-Video
-DVD-9
-Region 1

Aspect Ratio:
-1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen

Main Menu:
-Play
-Set Up
-Special Features
-Scene Selection

Audio Options:
-English 5.1 Surround
-Francais
-Commentaries: Producer Jon Avnet
Writer and Director Kerry Conran and the Vex Crew - Production
Designer Kevin Conran, Animation Supervisor Steve Yamamoto and
Visual Effects Supervisor Darin Hollings

Subtitle Options:
-English
-Espanol
-None

Special Features:
-(Afore-mentioned) Commentaries
-Brave New World - Chapters 1 and 2
-The Art of World of Tomorrow
-The Original Six Minute Short
-Deleted Scenes
-Gag Reel
-Previews - ("Alfie", "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie", "Lemony Snicket's A Series 
of Unfortunate Events", "Without a Paddle")

Say what you will, negative or positive, and there has been a lot said in both camps, the makers of this movie have a great love for The Thirties. The list includes the serial productions like Buck Rogers, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Max Fleischer's Superman cartoons, the Art Deco style of The Thirties. All of that is lovingly realized here through the very modern miracle of computer generated special effects. Indeed, the actors never had to leave the confines of the soundstage. All of their footage was shot in front of blue screens while their environments and mechanized menaces were put in by computers after. 

Paramount, the studio that brought us the Indiana Jones movies, returns to the cliff-hanger serials of The Thirties with "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow". A super-villain named Totenkopf, played by archival footage of the late Sir Laurence Olivier, is kidnapping scientists from around the world to fulfill his dastardly vision which entails destroying the Earth, no less. It's up to Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan, played by Jude Law, and his old flame and ruthless Chronicle reporter Polly Perkins, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, to unravel Totenkopf's plot and save the world. Along the way, they are assisted in their mission by Frankie Cook, an eye-patched Angelina Jolie still speaking like Lara Croft, and Joe's weapons and gadgets inventor side-kick (a la Q from the Bond series) Dex Dearborn, played by Giovanni Ribisi. The results are decidedly mixed. What is lacking in character development and story-telling is over-shadowed by the massive eye-candy factor of the visuals. However you react to this picture, if you go into it not expecting Hamlet and have a soda and a bowl of cheddar cheese-covered popcorn in your lap, set aside your over-analytical eye and enjoy a throwback to when movies were of a more innocent age.

Picture Quality:

First and foremost, this movie is 90 percent visual; and the bigger the home theater screen, the better. Because the makers knew that the background shots would be entirely computer generated, they were literally given free reign and went every place on Earth they could conjure up; from high in the skies to the depths of the oceans, from the cityscape of Thirties' New York City to the mountaintops of the Himalayas and the tropical paradise of Monster Island. There is something to watch and marvel at in almost every frame of this picture. Because of the Art Deco style they were emulating, the picture detail is intentionally softened, as if every frame were air-brushed. The use of shadows on faces is evident whenever the actors get their close-ups, as if all the lighting were done from the ground up. Colorful is not a word that comes to mind when describing the visuals of this picture; again because of the period the makers were paying homage to, the overall look of the picture is more sepia-toned, like the first part of "Wizard of Oz". In the few scenes where there is more color can usually be found in the exotic locales created by the effects team, particularly the lush landscape of Monster Island which could have been mistaken for Rivendell from "The Lord of the Rings".

Audio Quality:

In this department, the sound technicians, again given free reign by the producers, have surpassed all expectations, by creating a surround sound field that is constantly apparent. The LFE channel will be put to the stress test when the Robots attack New York City; but even in scenes of relative silence, the rears are clearly separated, particularly, when a fuse is burning behind camera, or the sounds of wildlife on Monster Island, which could have doubled for Jurassic Park. 
Scenes for demonstration purposes: 10:00 - Robot attack on New York City; 28:00 - Wingbot attack on airbase; 1:07:00 - Amphibious Squadron takeoff from mobile airbase; 1:30:00 - Climax on Monster Island.

Special Features:

The two part featurette "Brave New World", covers the animation background of brothers Kerry and Kevin Conran who, through a six minute short titled "Sky Captain and the Flying Legion in the World of Tomorrow" were able to get funding from a major studio and star power from the likes of Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie in order to make this movie. We also see interviews with the production and effects staff. It is a wonder to see how a movie of this caliber was put together in a small Culver City office building. The featurette "The Art of World of Tomorrow" gives us more interviews with the production staff who speak of their influences as well as a presentation of pre-production sketches of the robots and flying machines. Fortunately, we are given the original six minute short that got this whole ball rolling. Deleted scenes are minimal and cover footage where the effects shots were not even completed. A gag reel includes Gwyneth's imitation of Angelina's lips and robot effects clearly meant to be humorous.