'Tomorrow' comes today on DVD

We live in the age of computer-aided filmmaking. Rare is the modern blockbuster that doesn't at least enjoy a small touch from the loving hand of graphical design. Oftentimes, directors go overboard, sapping life away from their movies by adding unnecessary mechanical flourishes. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," one of 2004's most critically successful films, is not one of these movies.\nIt isn't that "Sky Captain" doesn't relish in computer art; on the contrary, the film is set in entirely blue-screen-generated landscapes, from New York City to Nepal. Writer/director Kerry Conran didn't settle on conventional environments or atmosphere when he created "Sky Captain." Instead, he conceived a backdrop that fuses art deco, elements of film noir and futurism, recalling 1930's-era filmmaking in a not-so-subtle way.\nThe result from all of this is an absolutely breathtaking visual experience. Conran's story, that of swashbuckling hero-for-hire Sky Captain (Jude Law) and intrepid reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) who set out to save the world from natural resource-stealing robots, is merely a vehicle for Conran to display his artistic conception. Within the movie's first five minutes, its style and flexibility are readily apparent as the robots attack a shadowy New York City.\nThe problem with all of this, of course, is that Conran seems to favor style over substance, and his characters get left behind in the fray. Sky Captain is never fully realized as the cocky, self-aggrandizing alpha male he seems to want to be and Paltrow fails to seem fully committed to the role of Perkins. At times, Paltrow even looks disconnected from the images onscreen, perhaps a side-effect of blue-screen acting. The movie's best performance, however, comes from the unsuspecting Giovanni Ribisi, who plays Sky Captain's sidekick with a comfortable ease. \nThe DVD special features concentrate on two major areas: that this is Conran's first film (started on a Mac in his basement 10 years ago), and that the ideas behind the film's art are just as interesting as the art itself. In the end, the DVD special features forget the very thing the film seemed to: the acting, character development and plot have just as much to do, if not more, with how well a film will resonate with its audience. You can't rely on pretty pictures forever.