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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a fond remembrance of the 1940's Saturday afternoon serials, which were shot in black and white.  There would be a memorable villain, staunch hero, feisty reporter heroine, trusty sidekick and a mission.  Director/scriptwriter Kerry Conran has pulled it all together in this film which has the actors acting against a blue screen and the computer wizards doing their work filling in the background.  As a result, we have an Art Deco look that combines futuristic technology (giant robots invading a city) and a hero who has hair-breath escapes working in a single-engine WWII plane from a hidden island base. (Think "Blackhawk" from the comics here.)

Sky Captain combines the best of The Island of Dr. Moreau with Star Wars with Buck Rogers with Iron Giant and even Shangri-La. Angelina Jolie plays Franky who wears an eye patch and has a history with Sky Captain (Jude Law) that makes the Captain's former girlfriend envious. Besides this, the plot involves evil Dr. Totenkopf stealing giant turbines from around the world and decimating cities. Dirigibles land on the top of the Empire State Building. Secrets are exchanged in a movie theater with The Wizard of Oz in the background and the crowd emerges to the marquee of King's Row.  Paltrow looking like Veronica Lake writes her stories on a typewriter and she and her camera are practically joined at the hip while the sidekick Ribisi has a mind that just won't stop when it comes to solving puzzles. Sky Captain isn't afraid of anything, except dialoguing with Paltrow. When Sky Captain's latest weapon---a ray gun---doesn't work, he is told to "try shaking it."

The film has a PG rating and stays within that range.  Jolie isn't in the film that much, but her presence adds authority to her role as a Sky Commander. The best part of the film is at the beginning when the enormous robots invade a city and Paltrow runs amid their feet trying to take a picture. The later part of the picture, when Sky Captain starts to close in on Totenkopf, looks like another installment of Dr. Moreau or even The Lost World. The enhancements give a three-dimensional effect that brings to mind sections of the Lord of the Rings films. Director Kerry Conran worked hard to bring this film together and it was worth the effort. The idea of actors just working against a blue screen and everything else created through computerization may be our cinematic world of tomorrow.

Copyright 2004 Marie Asner
Submitted 9/16/04

Travel back in time with Sky Captain.  Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow makes the viewer feel like they have been drawn into the 1930s with its periodic colors and nostalgic feel.  This is the 1930s as seen in other movies that came out during that same time period, with a bit of campiness but also a little bit of the future thrown in (with items such as ray guns and huge robots).

Polly Perkins (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) is a reporter on the metro beat covering the stories of some missing scientists, when she receives a note that tells her to meet the mysterious sender of the note at Radio City Music Hall.  The sender of the note believes that he knows who will be kidnapped next.  When she gets to Radio City Music Hall, she meets a scientist who tells her that he will be the next to be kidnapped and he gives her several mysterious vials.  After fleeing from quite a few robots who are as tall as the city buildings, she enlists the help of an ex-flame, Sky Captain (played by Jude Law). Together they travel half-way across the world to stop the scientist who is behind all the mayhem and rescue their friend, Dex, who has been kidnapped by the robots.  Along the way they make a pit stop at a flying airstrip commanded by Frankie (played by Angelina Jolie), another of Sky Captain's old flames.

This wonderful movie reminds viewers of the old-school sci-fi movies which might feel campy at times but still manage to amaze. One of the amazing things about the movie is that everything in this movie is done by CGI (computers) except for the actors and even one of the actors is done by CGI.

Sky Captain is easily one of the most family-friendly movies of the year.  Other than a few things, this is a great movie for families to go see.

This movie may not have been released during the summer blockbuster period, but it is easily one of the top movies of the year.  This is a movie that should be on the must-see list of most people.

Burton Wray  10/17/2004