Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (PG) has already secured its place in film history.
Its the first live action movie shot entirely against a blue screen - the means by which any background or effect can be added in post production.
The action is set in New York City/Gotham City circa 1939, when reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) teams up with old flame Jack (Jude Law) following an attack by robots.
Hes a Sky Captain who can take her around the world in a bid to find out why top scientists are disappearing thanks to Dr Totenkopf (played by Sir Laurence Olivier 15 years after his death!).
Rather like the PG-rated August 2001 film Final Fantasy, which was the first wholly-generated movie featuring a cast of humans, this movie is let down by a derivative script and some dreadful dialogue.
Law, Paltrow and the late-arriving Angelina Jolie all play second fiddle to the effects and thunderous sound.
Drawing heavily on early comic book references and featuring filmic references to everything from Metropolis to Star Wars and Jurassic Park, Sky
Captain is a visual triumph of sorts, which gets lost in its own bizarre time frame.
The films sepia look also sometimes seems to be coated in Vaseline which diminishes the impact of the actors eyes in a 107-minute movie where you are unlikely to care a jot for the characters.
A real curiosity piece thats by no means unwatchable, though you are likely to reach a point where the end cant come soon enough.
Writer-director Kerry Conran is set to make Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars next.
