School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-10ÄPacked with lots of great movie stills, this introduction is a dazzling, but cursory, look behind the scenes. Novice film buffs will find it appealing; readers seeking detailed information will have to look elsewhere. In 26 two-page spreads (and one four-page spread), Hamilton covers everything from pouring rain to creating computer-animated dragons that can act. The one extended spread shows how a latex, alien head mask is created. The book is beautifully illustrated, but the text occasionally glosses over such details as the difference between the intricate miniature stop-motion animation of the original King Kong and the campy man in a rubber suit of the Godzilla movies. The author touches on the history of special effects with stills from classic films, giving readers a quick introduction to names and films important to the genre. However, the interesting story behind the development of special effects gets short shrift. With no cross references to the names of stars, the index leaves something to be desired. All of this aside, readers will be informed and possibly inspired.ÄHerman Sutter, Saint Pius X High School, Houston, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.