CyberWorld


CyberWorld is a 2000 American 3-D animated anthology film shown in IMAX and IMAX 3D, presented by Intel. Several segments originally filmed in 2-D were converted to 3-D format.

Plot

Phig shows the audience the "CyberWorld", a futuristic museum of infinite possibilities. Meanwhile, three computer bugs come and try to eat the CyberWorld through its number coding. When Phig knows about them and hunts for the destructive computer bugs, she presents various short stock clips of computer animated productions, such as scenes from Antz and episodes of The Simpsons post-converted to 3D.
In the end, Buzzed, Wired and Frazzled create a black hole, which inexplicitly leads to their deaths for all the trouble they have caused. Phig is nearly swallowed up as well, but not before her "knight in cyber armor" technician Hank reboots the entire system just as she is sucked into the vortex. The movie eventually concludes with Phig explaining to the audience that none of the events caused by the bugs ever occurred. To prove her point, she attempts to summon her battle gear, only to receive a pink bunny outfit in return.

Selected segments

CyberWorld premiered at the Universal Citywalk IMAX Theater on October 1, 2000. It is the first IMAX film to have a PG rating

Box office

CyberWorld was a box office success, grossing $11,253,900 in the domestic box office and $5,400,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $16,653,900.

Critical reception

The film received generally mixed reviews from critics. The film currently holds a 55% score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews with an average rating of 6.18/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a 53/100 rating based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, praised the film for accurately presenting what 3D technology is capable of. He particularly singled out the size of the IMAX screens the film was projected on. He went on to write, " takes advantage of the squarish six-story screen to envelop us in the images; the edges of the frame don't have the same kind of distracting cutoff power they possess in the smaller rectangles of conventional theaters."
Contrarily, Paul Tatara of CNN.com was displeased with the film's over-reliance on 3D effects, continuing on to say, "Unfortunately, you can't escape the sensation that you might end up wearing the contents of your stomach while you watch it."