My husband and I are avid movie-watchers. I mean, AVID. We watch a movie, analyze it, watch it again.. Now granted, there are movies that you really don't need to put a lot of thought into. But those really flashy special effects movies, the ones you wait with baited breath for.. that's what this is about and how movies are going to fare in the post-"Lord of the Rings" movie era.

This past week, we bought "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and got a copy of "I, Robot". Two very different films, both relying heavily on believability of Computer Graphics. Both movies were gorgeous, in different ways. Both were huge in the scope of what they were trying to achieve. Good acting, big names. Stylization, art direction, visual composition.. on both films was very good and very well done.

That being said, here is my honest opinion of both movies as comparing to each other.

"I, Robot" is loosely based on Isaac Asimov's books, "I, Robot" and "Caves of Steel". An amalgamation of the two, incorporating the mystery in "Caves of Steel" with the ideals Asimov was dealing with in "I, Robot". The writers/director even paid special homage to certain scenes in several of the short stories in "I, Robot" such as the little girl hugging the robot as he is given to the family. The CG was completely believable. The details on the robotics, scenery.. down to minute, subtle changes such as the expressions on the robots faces, or rather, using the lack of expression to a good effect. Oh, and the gear moving in Sonny's (the main robot) arm was a detail that didn't need to be there when he moved, but it was. Every effect was there to complement the story being told. I even had my doubts when I saw the movie cardboard stand of Will Smith at the movie theatre, and fully expected it to be an action-ish horrible rip of Asimov's work. I was more than pleasantly surprised when I saw the film. It was absorbing. It was smart, no holes that I could find, beautiful.. I mean, the martial arts of the robots alone.. *brings a tear to the eye*. An excellent film, well rounded and really told it's story well. The CG was directly linked to that.

"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" was a beautiful movie. No doubt, stunning in it's visuals. And the director, was no doubt, trying to capture the seriels of days gone by. Flash Gordon leaps immediately to mind. Art deco influenced.. and the idea that there was technically no "set", I was really excited about this. The robots are masterpieces of art deco machinery, right down to a ray gun that can burn a hole through metal.. (Would really sell well on Ebay).

But when it comes down to it, are movie audiences still at the level of those seriels?

I watched the 6 minute short that the creator developed and sent out trying to sell this to someone. It was reminescent of "The Shadow" and "Flash Gordon". Stylized heavily upon Soviet proproganda posters and art deco, I would have bought it. But the movie didn't really capture the story. There were holes big enough for llama's to leap through (i.e. clothes being burned because they're contaminated, only to wind up on the actors in later scenes; rudders that bind up to allow for that explosive action scene, but miraculously un-bind without any mention of it so the ship can manuver). Things that didn't come across as deliberate nuances on the directors/writers part but rather as sloppiness or carelessness. I even would go so far as to say they were trying to capture the nostalgic feel of those seriels.. and maybe if you cut this movie up into 10 minutes at a pop, once a week before another movie, they might have achieved it. It just didn't feel like the story was there. It felt like the CG was just too darn good, so they built a story around it to justify developing it.

This is not to say you wouldn't like one or the other, or even both.. just my honest opinion. And granted, "I, Robot" story wise had two whole books to build upon. I just really felt very cheated when I saw "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", so much so I found myself asking "I paid how much for this?" when I don't feel I paid enough to see "I, Robot".