If you can't say anything nice...

So I finally went to see Sky Captain and The World Of Tomorrow this evening, another of those films I've been looking forward to ever since I saw the trailer. After all, if there's one thing the cinema is lacking these days it's Giant Robots. Monsterously tall Giant Robots wreaking mechanised mayhem on a gloriously stylised rendition of 1930's New York in all it's art deco wonder. What's not to love about that I ask you?

Well... in deference to those of you who've already seen the film and enjoyed it, I'm not going to be nasty, though I will admit I had several problems with it that mitigated my enjoyment somewhat. There's still a lot to enjoy about the film, particularly in terms of the visuals. It manages to capture the tone of all those 1930's serials we know and love so well, whilst still applying it's own unique sense of style. The result is quite lovely to look at, and unlike anything that's gone before it.

Probably the biggest problem I had with the film (aside from the plot), was is character of Polly Perkins, the eponymous Sky Captain's altogether too ubiquitous sidekick. Roving reporter, intrepid photographer and all round pain in the a**, she's probably the singularly most irritating character to grace the silver screen since the advent of Jar-jar Binks. I really did find her that annoying. First let me make it clear that I have nothing against Gwynyth Paltrow, she does well the material she has to work with and she looks the part perfectly, but I found the character she plays wholly unlikeable - she's deceiptful, arrogant, and, on more than one occasion downright stupid. What the good Captain ever saw in her is lost on me. As a couple they seem to lack the sort of chemistry that's required for their sparring to be effective. There are a couple of good moments between them, but too few considering the amount of time they spend together on screen. Conversely Angelina Jolie makes a wonderful foil for Jude Law in her all to brief appearances, hamming things up beautifully in comparison to the too earnest Paltrow. I can't help but wish there'd been more of her characters and far less Polly Perkins.

Um... did I mention the lovely visuals?