CyberWorld

CYBERWORLD is impressive as a first step in a new direction and should go over well as a family attraction. The video was originally intended for IMAX viewing, with all the accompanying technology with cutting-edge animation. The individual films on display in the galleria are novel and often visually breathtaking, but so different that they almost seem not to make sense as part of one movie. Most of the segments are free-form explosions of animation set to music, but three are structured scenes with talking characters. Many fans will have seen the Antz and The Simpsons spots already.

The original IMAX segments are a cute attempt at fitting everything into one framework and arguably could have been stretched to fill a movie on their own. The connecting bits rely on goofy humor such as tech support not being available to answer Phig's call for a hundred and some hours. The independently produced films are much more intellectual, but IMAX makes a nice stab at pulling it all together by having the black hole that Homer Simpson falls into also suck up the bugs and threaten to destroy the galleria. Kids accustomed to sophisticated effects in video games will probably enjoy the video, but it's not clear how well the IMAX experience translates to the video screen. After the movie, a 7-year-old boy, surprised that it was over so quickly, asked, "Is there more tomorrow?" Let's hope the answer is yes.