Have Computer Visuals Gone Too Far?

And listen, I know films are all about illusion. If it's not a computer generated set, it may be a set on a soundstage, or even a matte painting as was done in the earlier Star Wars trilogy. But when you move to computer generated sets and computer generated characters, I think we're missing a small something at least of what makes films so special. The original Star Wars trilogy pulls me in, where the two new films astound me more with visuals and technology ... I don't feel the same connection to the characters. And I don't think we're quite there yet for true seamless digital characters, ones that have to communicate with regular human beings at least. Computer generated animals and dinosaurs, I think so.

But even the CGI Scooby-Doo looks "too CGI" if that makes any sense, and there's still moments in Star Wars Episode II when you can tell you're watching a computer generated character or set, and something gets lost when we find ourselves paying more attention to the technology of a film than with the story and the characters. So I thought it interesting to hear a filmmaker like Spielberg also sharing the thought that even though he loves George Lucas's films, he feels like something is lost if he had to ever create a completely digital set, and I certainly understand that mentality.

I've heard other critics discuss the real feel of the thrilling car chase in this summer's thriller The Bourne Identity, and to me, that sounds like a cry from those of us who feel that CGI has become too much of a toy to say "look how cool this looks", instead of first concentrating on story and characters.

Computer visuals will of course become even more advanced as the years go on, and more filmmakers will make use of them. And we know that George Lucas himself will in fact make use of them one more time at least for Episode III in 2005. And I am certainly not suggesting that computer visual effects are a bad thing or should be stopped. They are an incredible new tool in creating motion pictures, and are invaluable. I just hope that more filmmakers will look at it for what it is ... a tool to tell the larger picture, the story ... and maybe take it easy on the digital characters

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