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Editor's note: Jeffrey Overstreet, our regular Film Forum writer, is on vacation. Peter Chattaway is pinch-hitting this week.

Fall may have just arrived, but summer movies are still here! Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow soared to the top of the box office last weekend as it gave audiences one last dose of breezy, action-packed entertainment. The film is a nostalgic thrill ride inspired by 1930s comic books, film noir, pulpy adventure stories and the like, but in its own way, it also looks to the future. Director Kerry Conran has gone further than even George Lucas has ever done in creating a world in which everything but the actors has been generated on a computer. The film stars Jude Law as Joe Sullivan, a mercenary flyboy who battles skyscraper-sized robots and mighty metal flying machines, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Polly Perkins, a reporter hot on the trail of the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf, an evil German scientist whose equally mysterious caped henchwoman is killing scientists one by one.

Christian movie critics, many of whom honed their faith-based appreciation of film on earlier Saturday-matinee revivals such as Star Wars and the Indiana Jones films, have generally welcomed Sky Captain as a fun return to the innocent entertainment of a bygone age.

Todd Hertz (Christianity Today Movies) admits the film may appeal more to "film junkies and adventure geeks" than to moviegoers who don't share his affection for movies with ray guns. "But because it is done well, most audiences will appreciate Sky Captain as a unique, imaginative, and family-friendly adventure story. … What makes the movie's plot work is genuinely witty dialogue, a cast of well-written characters, and surprises that keep the story from being predictable."

Jeffrey Overstreet (Looking Closer) appreciates the way Conran has stayed in touch with his inner child, and he praises the film for its "guilt-free fun." "How many filmmakers are capable of delivering such a harmlessly satisfying and thrilling treat? How many can so powerfully remind a theatre full of grownups of what it was like before we were burdened with the pressure of 'cool' when we were teens or the practical demands of adulthood? … It's the best cinematic antidote for a lamentable and dirty election year—something that's pure enjoyment start to finish, set in a world where right is right and wrong is wrong."

Phil Boatwright (Movie Reporter) also praises the film for its sheer enjoyment factor: "There's no deep intellectual motif, but Sky Captain has all the elements missing in this summer's popcorn-munching blockbuster supposed-to-bes (Catwoman, Thunderbirds, Scooby Doo 2, Spider-Man 2). Part tribute to the adventures of yesteryear and a satisfying exercise in the use of digital art direction, Sky Captain is a lot of fun."

Cliff Vaughn (Ethics Daily) is impressed by the look of the film, and by its obviously artificial style. He says "the visuals don't dazzle so much as they rest easy on the eyes. This reveals an oft-overlooked fact in today's Hollywood: It can actually be an advantage to have a movie—something that's make-believe—actually feel a bit make-believe. There's nothing wrong with realism, but it's just as delightful to have the hint of pretend ring your imagination as surely as the soft white light around Gwyneth's gold locks."

Annabelle Robertson (Crosswalk) is especially impressed by the acting, all of which was done in front of blue screens. She writes, "The acting is superb, which is astonishing, given the lack of setting and props they had to deal with. All the characters hark back to yesteryear, but are infused with just the right amount of modern-day sensibility. They take their roles seriously, resisting the urge to throw us a conspiratorial wink."

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September (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48