Second, Ari Rapkin, a computer graphics software engineer at ILM, introduces an amazing paradox: What the special-effects crews are doing is often not emulating physics but tweaking it--because storytelling is better served by showing the audience what it expects, not what would actually happen if a 3-foot-tall creature drew his light saber.

FORBES

Well, it's amazing what they can do with special effects these days: Richard Parker is such a fabulous and fully realized creation, perhaps nothing is unfilmable now?

CNN: Review: 'Life of Pi' is bold and wondrous

Yet it is worth jumping ahead, as our special report does rather adventurously this week, and wondering what the social effects will be, for two reasons.

ECONOMIST: A wireless world

Along with Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson, Burton is one of the few magi who know what can be dredged up, even now, from the cauldron of special effects.

NEWYORKER: Chills and Thrills

When it comes to summer blockbusters, Hollywood studios know exactly what will make money: properties that people already know and love with lots of special effects in 3-D.

FORBES: Summer's Top-Grossing Movies

What you get for your money is a brace of decent shocks, a spray of special effects (look out for the upward-raining bathwater), and almost no sense of dread.

NEWYORKER: The Ring Two

Jason, the bike designer works tirelessly in his office to create a visual of the end product in full color and what appears to be 3 dimensions, each design looking like something out of a Hollywood special effects studio.

FORBES: Planning Innovation?