It has trouble juggling all the things it tries to be: a special-effects movie filled with computer graphics; a high-tech slasher film; a joke.

"I managed to turn a romantic comedy into a special-effects movie," she said, grinning at the memory.

"But to make something like this work, it has to be a special-effects movie that kids don't experience as a special-effects movie."

But it was a high-tech special-effects movie just like "Star Wars."

Like the Terminator - an "artificial human" ancestor from the fantasy world of special-effects movies - Robosapien has red electronic eyes, but they glow benignly.

"There are three big special-effects movies this summer, and there's every reason to believe that people will buy tickets to all three," he said.

Had this been a summer with nine special-effects movies, I'd be much more nervous.

The rise in budgets for tough special-effects movies has also been extraordinary.

They are as full of delicious illusion as a good special-effects movie.

Stephen Thomas's complicated distillation equipment hunkered on the floor like some misbegotten creature in a cheap special-effects movie.