AND SO THE STORY GOES AS IMPRESSIVE AS CGI ANIMATION IS, IT CAN'T MAKE SKEPTICAL AUDIENCES CARE MORE.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Computer-generated imagery can take film audiences on a train ride to Santa's workshop or to the world of four-color superhero comics.

But for CalArts animation veteran Frank Terry, no amount of gigabytes can suspend disbelief like a good yarn.

``We like to be charmed and entertained,'' said Terry, who heads the character animation program at California Institute of the Arts. ``When you peel back the veneer of adultness, there are really just a bunch of kids that are willing to stay their skepticism.''

Whether it's the super-powered family comedy of Pixar's ``The Incredibles'' or the jaw-dropping photo-realism of the Warner Bros. film ``The Polar Express,'' filmmakers are once again pushing the limits of the digital image, as well as audience members' ability to believe what they see.

``It's this brand-new tool and brand-new movie magic, and it's being used by the motion picture industry to see what's the best thing for it,'' animation historian Jerry Beck said. ``It's taking it out for a test spin.''

But viewers seemed to have a preference, responding in kind to Pixar's latest with more than $178 million in domestic grosses over three weeks. Meantime, Robert Zemeckis' photo-realistic recreation of Chris Van Allsburg's classic children's book lagged behind, with $51 million over 10 days.

Terry, whose CalArts animation program produced ``Incredibles'' director Brad Bird, said viewers can more easily relate to stylized caricatures of people in the Pixar cartoon, while life-like recreations of real actors - such as those made with ``performance capture'' technology in ``Polar Express'' - seem jarring.

``It doesn't carry the same impact to the viewer's eyes,'' he said. ``We can sense the actor inside there that we're not looking at. It's like the 'Wizard of Oz' thing - there's someone behind the curtain.

``As much as we enjoyed Tom Hanks as an (digitalized) actor (in ``Polar Express''), we're still looking at Tom Hanks, whether we like it or not. With (``Incredibles'' protagonist) Bob Parr, somehow, more people can react to that than the reprocessed signals of a live-action actor.''

But entertainment industry analyst Dennis McAlpine cited other factors in the films' box office results.

``The reviews on 'The Polar Express' were almost unanimously talking about (its eerie realism),'' he said. ``The reality is, if you see the movie, after the first 10 to 15 minutes, you don't notice that. And I think kids are probably more tolerant of that.

``But it's going to be difficult (to succeed) after the response - not as much by the audience - but by reviewers. Bad reviews can hurt.''

``We're in kind of a transitional phase with this stuff,'' said Robert Thompson, who studies cultural trends as director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.

Thompson said younger viewers are familiar with digital imagery, realistic or otherwise, while older viewers are still getting used to the idea of animation as more than lush, moving illustrations.

``People do like seeing ... the visual and technological gymnastics they are able to do,'' Thompson said. ``As creepy as it is for some people, it's a spectacle. But that's going to go away.''

It's the strength of storytelling, not technology, that will make or break a digital extravaganza, Beck said.

``There have been (computer-generated) characters people can relate to - they're in Pixar films, they're in DreamWorks films, they're Scooby Doo and Casper,'' Beck said. ``But it comes down to all the elements. It comes down to filmmaking.''

Terry, who has been an animator since the 1960s, agreed.

``The delivery system is really secondary,'' Terry said. ``If it's paper cut-outs like 'South Park,' so be it.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- 2 -- color; 2 -- ran in SAC edition only) The realistic CGI in ``The Polar Express,'' below, did little to convince audience skeptics, but most were enchanted by the stylized look of ``The Incredibles.''