Perfect (pur’ fikt)
1. Complete of its nature or kind.
2. Being without defect or blemish: a perfect specimen.
3. Thoroughly skilled or talented in a certain field or area; proficient.
4. Completely suited for a particular purpose or situation: She was the perfect actress for the part.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow may not be the best movie ever; I wouldn’t even say that it’s my favorite SciFi film. However, I do think it was perfect. It’s perfect because after re watching it and listening to the commentaries I just can’t imagine that it could have been any better.

It’s impossible to review Sky Captain and not talk about the beautiful visuals and the style of which the film was shot. The work they did is just incredible. I’m not going to name names here - Phantom Menace - but there have been many recent SciFi films that have over used CGI. Often it’s like watching a cartoon and a film spliced together and the effect just comes off as amateurish. Sky Captain brings the best of CGI and cinematography together seamlessly, and, dare I say, perfectly.

But don’t think that Sky Captain is just a bunch of cool visuals. The story here is fabulous. It captures the early SciFi films of the 40s and 50s. You know, those films that used to come on TV during late Sunday afternoons. These were SciFi films that threw caution, and realism, to the aether. An innocent time when things were so much more unbelievably believable and realistically impossible.

Sky Captain comes close to being a parody. The secret base is always remotely located right around the corner; robots the size of buildings can fly - much like bricks don’t; planes can fly underwater and of course they save the day at the last possible moment. However, the story is well paced. It doesn’t slow down enough for you to say to yourself, “This is ridiculous.” Instead it’s more of an homage to the early classics in much the same way as <em>Raiders of the Lost Ark</em>.

Beyond that there is the interaction of the characters. Even here they draw inspiration from the classics. Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow play off each other wonderfully. Again, it reminds me of Karen Allen and Harrison Ford in <em>Raiders</em>. Plus you have to give all of the actors kudos for acting on a mostly empty stage surrounded by blue screens.

The DVD has all the extras you would want. There’s the commentary with Writer/Director Karry Conran and the VFX Crew. I enjoyed that mainly because I like hearing of the technical details and easter eggs in the film. There’s another commentary with the producer Jon Avnet that is okay. It’s hard for one person talking to do much with a commentary.

I wish they would have had a commentary with Gwen and Jude but that probably would have been pretty boring, “Hey, remember this scene? It’s where we were standing on a big, empty sound stage surrounded by blue walls. Oh, and this scene was great. I particularly liked sitting on a box, surrounded by blue walls, while pretending to drive a car.” It probably would have been a lot like that so maybe it’s best there was no actor’s commentary.

There are a few deleted scenes, a “gag reel” that’s full of bloopers and then “The Art of World of Tomorrow” that’s definitely worth watching.

The best part of the DVD extras is the two part “Brave New World” which is a behind the scenes look at making the movie. When you see that you’ll probably want to go out and buy another copy of the DVD just to give these guys some more money. This film was a vision of one man and the hard work of hundreds. People who put up with no money but wanted to see this project through. If you’ve ever thought of putting a film together you’ll want to see this.