Adventures in Animation 3D (No Rating)
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In the first segment of this 45-minute program, a pair of "actors" demonstrate the CGI process by rendering Slim, the underdog kid boxer who'll become the protagonist of the second segment. Despite tongue-in-cheek claims that digitized stars will replace real ones, this segment champions the efforts of motion-capture performers doing more or less the same thing that puppeteers and makeup artists have done for centuries. Taking a page from Chuck Jones's "Duck Amuck," Slim protests and cracks wise as he grows from a humble mess of polygons into a spunky, floppy-haired kid complete with an algorithm that detects when a "shirt polygon" comes in contact with a "shoulder polygon" (therefore making the T-shirt bounce realistically). Though all of this is done in 3D, the inspired moments don't arrive until the second segment, an Old Hollywood-flavored boxing short that features Slim and flexes all the visual muscle of IMAX 3D. Speaking as a fan who had yet to see something cooler than Michael Jackson's 3D sci-fi blast Captain EO, I'd say the new format here is fucking amazing. Rather than using gimmickry to stretch an object through the screen, here the filmmakers seem to disappear the screen altogether. The opening curtain parts an inch from your face to reveal a smoky ring obscured by the bobbing fedoras of other fight fans. Then a flash zoom puts you staring up through the ropes at a foreboding referee. Then the jabs and uppercuts seem to land square on the jaw--a bludgeoning that to me seemed a fitting punishment for having passed on a free IMAX 3D screening of The Polar Express. (John Behling)
Review by John Behling
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