YMMV / Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Totenkopf the actual mastermind of his ultimate plan? Did his machines turn against him before he died? Did they murder him? Was he sane to begin with? Considering how little is shown about him and his plan, those questions have no answer.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The concept of a heroic "army for hire" is puzzling to modern viewers, but is actually where Joe's backstory crosses into Real Life; before building the Flying Legion, he flew for the First American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force; a mercenary organization nicknamed the Flying Tigers.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The miniaturized elephant in the kidnapped scientist's laboratory is never brought up afterwards, as despite the clonation stuff in his island, Totenkopf is never implied to be interested in mini-size lifeforms, and the purpose of that experiment remains unexplained.
• Critical Dissonance: The movie was a box-office bomb and audiences thought the movie was okay. Critics, however, loved it.
• Damsel Scrappy: Done deliberately with Polly Perkins, due to a false belief that girls in pulps always were. Franky and the mysterious woman however are typical modern Action Girls.
• Discredited Trope: Negative reaction to the way that images and recordings of Laurence Olivier were used as Dr. Totenkopf meant that there would be no further technologically-assisted appearances of dead actors in major films until Peter Cushing's "return" as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One.
• So Okay, It's Average: The main consensus of the audience about the movie itself. This trope is averted with critics, who loved the movie.

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