It's Digital. Can You Dig It?

A trio of ambitious new films envisions the world of tomorrow: luscious, fantastic and not quite human

ARE PEOPLE OBSOLETE IN MOVIES? HAVE we seen the last of actors--actual human beings playing fictional ones--who perform on a set constructed by burly artisans, under lights operated by fellows with quaint guild titles like gaffer and best boy? Maybe we have. Maybe it's time. I mean, if there's one thing that holds cinema back from being a 21st century art form, it's people. So let's go with pixels. They're cuter, cheaper, better behaved. They can simulate funny sea creatures (Shark Tale), re-create 1939 Manhattan or Shangri-La (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), visualize a future dystopia (Ghost in the...

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