DIGIMON: THE MOVIE

Battling digital Internet monsters isn’t what it used to be. Neither for that matter are animated motion pictures. After a few seizures brought on by its visual blitzkrieg, I was able to sit back and enjoy this ostensible kids’ movie.

Digimon are digital monsters created spontaneously in the “digital world.” When a few of the little buggers start wreaking havoc with the information superhighway (shades of the Y2K bedlam that never came to pass), it’s up to a bunch of intrepid Japanese and American kids to put things right. And these kids know a lot about computers (10-year-olds uplinking to government satellites?). I don’t doubt that many in the audience know almost as much. Still, Digimon may be too much for very small young uns to handle. Superloud explosions and a pounding pop-punk soundtrack are part of it. But it’s the visuals — a sly mix of computer and celluloid animation (its vision of “the inside of the Internet” is an adult must-see) — that had me wondering whether all this virtuosic and chaotic innovation mightn’t overwhelm a little kid.

— Mike Miliard