The Neverending Story. The Dark Crystal. Don't get me wrong, I love CGI. Watched each of the lotr series more than once in the theatre, and own the extended editions. Harry Potter too, though I've never admittedly read them despite how pop cult he's become (I accidentally stumbled upon a group of people who adore the Potter series and use their languages, lexicon, etc. as well as emulate their school patterned clothing-- I found it fascinating, esp. since I had no idea most of the time what they were talking about, excepting of course I'd seen the films...) But, this whole blue screen, characters who are never there, actors against blank stages and being digitally imposed on a backgrond... and the fact that *it still just doesn't look real,* has me irked. More so now beacuse I can put words to meaning and understand why it's irked me (I never really understood or could put it in words til now)... I just finished watching The Neverending Story. Yeah, it's one of those movies you've seen but don't quite remember (because if you did, you'd already know where I'm going with this.) For reals, if you've seen it when you were a little kid and now today think, *yeah, it was okay,* GO RENT IT. Or the dark crystal. (I think TNS is more on point with where I'm going, but either fits my description). There's art to those freaking puppets. ART. Watching them tonite I realize how *skilled* those henson guys are, and how their emerging art form of puppetry and storytelling was just bowled over by this cgi phantom (because we're so into being technological; it'll take three or five years to make a shrek but we won't consider the real life costuming & magic worked with puppets to make one of these great movies...) And there is a lot to be said, at least in my estimation, of the interaction between *actors* and THINGS THAT ARE REALLY THERE. They always make eye contact, it always looks *perfect* (when cgi can look, off... like, "it's right, but..." kinda feeling), and the camera lighting isn't forced or animated so it looks real. There is something to stage dressing as well-- lighting actors (and puppets) makes it look acceptable to our perception. The brain is a beautiful thing; the reason it's so hard for cgi to make accurate "humans" (or skin, or whatever) is because our brain is constantly processing information, and a lot of that has to do with perception-- we know it's "not right" because our brain is used ot seeing itself surrounded by examples of *right* lighting or eye contact or interaction within a physical space between two objects all the time (think of gandalf/bilbo scenes in lotr fotr, when they're in the house bobbing around each other you say to yourself, yeah, that looks good-- but you're not quite convinced & in the corner of your brain you reassure yourself your perception is right, that they shot the scene with stilted camera magic and very good editing to splice the characters together...) Thing is, I don't *not* like cgi films, I love them. They probably make up a good half of my so-so dvd collection. But, there's something really spectacular about The Neverending Story, among the henson characters. I remember when I was a little girl seeing it, and the only major impression it left with me (a million years ago) was that the scales on the back of the luck dragon looked soft & slimy, andhow atreyu was able to clutch onto them was beyond me. I could almost feel the weird stickiness they looked like in my mind's eye on my skin-- that was the only impression. But it's a pretty big one for a kid, so... where was I going with this? :) Oh yeah. I love puppets. © aK 2005