As has been
commented on here, the forthcoming film(s) will have a "photorealistic" level of detail, including pores on the skin, etc., and be shot in 3D, which has left people wondering what this will do to the faithfulness to the original look.
Having seen
Monsters vs Aliens (made by Spielberg's Dreamworks) in 3D last night, I think that that could give some indication of what sort of "look" might be achieved. The characters in that have been given an overall cartoony look, but are rendered with textured skin, complete with freckles, colour variations, translucent finger nails and indeed pores, plus detailed hair, and the result isn't as off-putting as I might have at first thought.
On the 3D side, that was generally impressive: when it worked well, it was great - there are some fantastic space shots at the opening, a great free-floating character in a jet-pack (who hovers in the auditorium), and duck when the alien makes tea!
However, there was a tendency for the effect to be lost or spoiled by characters or things being placed near to the camera but also partially hidden by an edge of the screen, which messes up the ability to make them look solid and convincing (I don't think my brain could resolve the geometry of what half a head hanging in space should look like, so it didn't).
Still, all in all a pretty good introduction to Dreamwork's technique, and I am sure that there will be improvements all the time (plus
A vs M was a pretty enjoyable film!
