MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Electronic’: Candy for Eyes Fun in Small Doses

“Electronic Theatre,” a two-hour program of the latest computer animation, showcases the strengths and, inadvertently, the weaknesses of this newest entertainment technology. It is being shown tonight at the Anaheim Convention Center in conjunction with the annual SIGGRAPH, a trade show and conference devoted to all aspects of computer graphics.

Happily, the flying metallic TV network logos that defined computer graphics for most viewers during the ‘80s have given way to a variety of more interesting effects--smoke, flames, water, light and intricately textured and patterned surfaces. The often astonishingly realistic results can be striking when used to support an interesting idea.

Unfortunately, the flashiest films often juxtapose technical legerdemain with an intellectual void. Exploiting the ability of the computer to move the point of view through three-dimensional space, the filmmakers take the audience through more halls and doorways than Bluebeard’s last bride. This eye candy can be fun in small doses but it soon cloys, leaving the viewer wondering why such sophisticated technology is being wasted on video games and simulated roller-coaster rides. (Wayne Little pokes fun at this syndrome in “The Dangers of Glitziness and Other Visualization Faux Pas” (USA), a droll inside joke.)

Still, three disparate films reveal the power of computer-generated imagery as a teaching tool. In “Project MATHEMATICS!” (USA) James Blinn uses simple, two-dimensional figures to illustrate geometric relationships that seldom seem clear in high school math classes. “Air on the Dirac Strings” (USA) from the University of Illinois at Chicago demonstrates an arcane principle of quantum mechanics that anyone but a physicist otherwise would have trouble grasping. “Young Indiana Jones and the Scandals of 1920” (USA) uses footage from the Lucasfilm series to show how modern technology can turn a few dancers into a complex Busby Berkeley routine.

*

In the striking “Legacy” (USA), Darrin Butts brings motion to a horse copied from the Cro-Magnon cave paintings at Altamira and Lescaux. But most of the films that strive for this degree of artistic purity fall short of the mark. Taiyo Kikaku explores a minimalist aesthetic in “Stripe Box” (Japan), but the results suggest an OpArt piece about 20 years out of date.

Furthermore, while computer animators can generate convincing mechanical motions for the thrill-ride pieces, they still have trouble creating believable organic movements. The two sea cows in “Manatees: The Last Generation?” (USA) from KBD Innovative Arts float along like a pair of dirigibles.

Similar problems afflict the stiff little characters in “Go Fish!” (Canada) by Sherry Xiaoyuan Tu, Demetri Terzopoulis and Eugene Fiume. Anyone who’s looked into an aquarium will recognize that fish don’t move this way. Only the lumbering beast in “Tyrannosaurus Rex: Reconstructed” (USA) by HD/CG and computer-generated dinosaurs from “Jurassic Park” suggest real flesh and blood in motion.

Many of works in “Electronic Theater” are excerpts from longer works or portfolio pieces. Only “Gas Planet” (USA), a flatulent little comedy from Pacific Data Images, really works as a film, with recognizable characters and a beginning, middle and end.

* “Electronic Theater” begins tonight at 7:30 at the Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim. A limited number of $40 tickets was available at press time. (714) 490-2132.