When computers detract from a film

"Are you over-digitized yet? Are you pixeled out? From superspectacular summer blockbusters to dinky 15-second TV commercials, often all we seen on screens big and small is the work of computers, not actors, actresses or even real live automobiles. Digital dictators have taken over film, and often not for the better. Computerized special effects have gotten so good, they're overwhelming the basics of filmmaking -- character and plot.

Digital effects have reached levels of visual imagination approached only by the greatest surrealist artists and science fiction writers. They have a level of verisimilitude so convincing that we hardly pay attention to their wonders anymore. We accept, even expect, the impossible to be made real, whether it's Superman flying or Caribbean ghost pirates swashbuckling.

But all these multimillion dollar effects have a price -- one beyond the tens of millions they cost. They overwhelm films and take the characters, story and fun out of them. Some think computer graphics is what makes Pixar's animated movies so great and so popular. Computer graphics is the least of it. What makes their films work are words on paper and drawings on paper."

Check out the rest of this article from the Waterbury Connecticut Republican American Newspaper.