You know, id Squaresoft did it, it would look like a trillion bucks. Love it or hate it, Final Fantasy the movie had stunning graphics. The look of that film was how I've always pictured the Matrix in SR: stunningly realistic, but still obviously artifical.
OF course, however they do this film, I hope it is a triliogy. Compressing the entire War of the Lance into 1 or even 2 movies would just not work. How many people do you think are going to be calling this the Poor Man's Lord of the Rings???
Gabriel