If nothing else, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow at least has a lot of moxie. First-time director Kerry Conran spent years on this project alone, working with the most advanced technology possible in order to create not just a film, but an entire world. With the exception of the lead actors, every element of the movie-the sets, the props and beyond-are created entirely from a blue screen and computer-generated imagery. And it's not even as if all this work is going toward making some spectacularly ultramodern alternate reality. Quite the opposite actually, Sky Captain has been designed as homage to the countless pulp sci-fi serials of the 1930s, complete with robots that Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers would be proud to do battle against. The movie overall embodies an episodic structure that starts the audience off in the middle with barely a single character introduction in sight. Of course, as all filmgoers know, it's not the effort that counts, but rather whether or not the movie is any good. Certainly, as far as its appearance is concerned, Sky Captain scores a home run. Every single frame looks like it could have been a painting pulled from the pages of "Amazing Stories" magazine. In one scene, hordes of robots the height of skyscrapers mysteriously descend upon New York City, casting their streamlined shadows across the buildings. They gradually start to appear, one gleaming foot after another. At this point it's impossible not to feel a quiet sense of awe for the power and strength these menacing machines seem to radiate from every nut and bolt. The rest of the movie is just as stunning, from a visit to a Shangri-La that looks so lush and ripe one could almost pluck it off a tree and eat it, to a floating airbase filled with all sorts of neat sci-fi goodies, and so on and so forth for 107 breathtaking minutes.

It must be said, however, that the actual story is quite silly. Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan (Jude Law, Artificial Intelligence) begins the movie trying to halt the onslaught of destructive robots in his spiffy jet because, well, that's what arrogant young fighter pilots do. What before was mere duty soon becomes personal when the robots make off with his scientific sidekick, Dex Dearborn (Giovanni Ribisi, Cold Mountain), for purposes unknown. Sky Captain valiantly embarks on a quest to find his friend. He reluctantly takes along a companion in Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love), the intrepid reporter with whom he has the mandatory love-hate relationship.

The movie takes place in New York in the 1930s (albeit a fantasy version where the Empire State Building is used as a zeppelin docking station and a ray gun can come in handy). Naturally, an imperialistic plot is at the heart of all this, involving a sinister doctor with plans to take over the world.

This is just the start of a fast-moving tale that can best be summed up by the phrase, "stuff happens." The plot itself just serves as a necklace, a wiry thread on which all the different battles and wacky sights may be strung.

Nevertheless, Sky Captain has one accomplishment that bumps its value up several rungs: It revels in its sci-fi serial background. The ludicrous, slam-bang plot is certainly goofy-which is exactly how it should be. Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers seemed preposterous 70 years ago, and they seem even more so now. However, these movies were fun as they blatantly ignored the rules of logic and dramatic pacing in order to keep the audience on the edge of its seat by giving one thrill after another.

We are currently in an age of action flicks which attempt to rise above the pack by administering a dose of gravitas when a simple exciting spectacle would work best, recently displayed again by the sloppy dramatic overtures in the environmental fiasco The Day After Tomorrow. Yet Sky Captain comes off as an excitable puppy, performing one trick after another with such eagerness that its enthusiasm ends up putting that proverbial smile onto the face of anyone who cares to look on. It has no qualms about being ridiculous (try to spot the hilariously blatant King Kong and Godzilla references). In doing so, it provides viewers with a neat little way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The film also pays a warmhearted tribute to the enduring ability of sci-fi movies, even the silly ones, to instill a sense of wonder and excitement in the young at heart.

The actors freely jump into the merriment. With the exception of Bai Ling (My Baby's Daddy), who frowns it up as the mysterious and redundantly named Mysterious Woman, the entire cast alternately smirks and deadpans its way through the film, devoting itself to histrionics when the absurdity of a scene calls out for such behavior. Jude Law's boyish Sky Captain stares with determination and occasional love-struck mooning, and Gwyneth Paltrow's perfectly comic-book interpretation of Polly ensures that Sky Captain, for all its eye candy, maintains an appealingly human aspect as well. Even Hollywood oddball Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider) slices off a piece of the action in the role of the cynical Captain "Franky" Cook, commander of the airbase and (you guessed it) former love interest to Sky Captain (the guy gets around).

Sky Captain does lose points as a morally ambiguous testament to the capabilities of modern computer technology by casting the deceased Sir Laurence Olivier (A Bridge Too Far) as the Nazi doctor Totenkopf. Fortunately, his screen time is brief enough to avoid being too much of a nuisance to outraged film buffs. It's pretty safe to say that if using the late Sir Laurence is the worst flaw a movie makes, then that movie doesn't have too many problems to deal with.

By its nature alone, Sky Captain leaves room for a sequel or prequel or two, neither of which would probably be nothing new in the way of character or plot development. In fact, it would most likely be much the same as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow itself. But who's to call that a bad thing? I, for one, am certainly not.