Tron Legacy Has Virtual Characters with Heads Too Small and Necks Too Long

Tron Legacy is another one of those movies that take things a step up from the original with a better story, better graphics, and of course, better animation. Also, let's not forget that this sequel to Tron is going to be released in high-definition 3D. How's that for a movie that was inspired by the most basic and mother of all video games, Pong? It's movie-making history as it happens!

Anyway, the time has come for the world of Tron to really take shape. When the original had to rely much on rotoscoping to get the backlit animations to acceptable quality, Tron Legacy uses state-of-the art computer graphics together with live animation (or something in between) - a feat that filmmakers of the 80s only dreamt of and hoped to happen. Now the technology is here and you'd guess everything would be perfect in this sequel. Well, maybe not quite.

While the movie as depicted in the teaser looks slick and cool, one thing does get your attention and gives you a quirky feeling that says "that's not right!" If you'll just look closely at the movie still above, the head of this rider is a tad small for his body and this also makes his neck too long. It looks as if his face is just projected onto the helmet's visor from the inside. In the real world, the mouth is generally hidden from view behind the chin guard, but in this case, it's not and the whole face can be seen.

Of course there's the argument that it's supposed to be just a representation of the real world or that the helmet used is larger than the typical motorcycling helmet. Still, you can't help but feel that there's something wrong with the proportions. But it's one cinema secret that may not really matter and the movie will still provide great entertainment no matter what.

Cracking Sistine Chapel Effect in 2012 Obviously Overlaid

In the sneak peek at the end-of-the-world movie 2012, there's a part that shows the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel cracking right through Michaelangelo's well-known fresco painting depicting a man reaching out to a bearded Godlike figure. The splitting ceiling special effect is just a few seconds long and seems convincing, but the cinematic magic loses it's charm the closer you look.

If you notice in the two frozen frames, the cracks were obviously laid over the footage or still picture using graphics software. Notice how in the second picture below, that a small portion of the blue outline at the middle-bottom part has been "accidentally" erased when the advancing cracks were being added. Look carefully by comparing the two screen caps and you'll see it. The erasure can actually be seen moving along with the crack in the trailer.

Computer-generated cracking effects are funny in how they are sometimes laid over a scene carelessly with little regard for lighting and how the surrounding visual elements are affected. More often that not, they are simply colored stark black, when in fact, they wouldn't really look that way in reality. Because of the quick editing, mistakes in such graphic effects like those used in the 2012 movie are not obvious. In fact, a lot of the effects you will see in this movie are superb, in spite of the reported budget cut on the movie.


See the 2012 solar eclipse special effects mistake here.