While 'The 83rd Annual Academy Awards' (Sun., 8:30PM on ABC) is a celebration of movies, it has become a television spectacle as well. And no sequence has become more anticipated than the opening number, which often features elaborate stunts or musical numbers.

With this year's hosts -- Anne Hathaway and James Franco -- coming from the world of movies themselves, there was a lot of anticipation as to how they might interpret this tradition. They did so by sticking to what they know best. They brought us into the movies.

More specifically, they decided to use the technology of 'Inception' to step into the dreams of Alec Baldwin to learn how to be the best hosts they can be.

They discovered that his mind was made up of this year's nominated films (or was it?), leading to the pair making appearances within the context of the films narratives -- and rather seamlessly at that.

There were some genuinely funny moments, as when Anne Hathaway announced that the future would have smaller microphones to the audiences gathered to hear 'The King's Speech,' as well as their interruption of Natalie Portman's rehearsal in 'Black Swan' where Hathaway introduced us to the Brown Duck and Franco revealed ... a very tight unitard.

It all wrapped with a very unexpected trip to 1985 where they stole the DeLorean from 'Back to the Future' in order to make their way to the present.

As actors, they owned the various parody parts they portrayed, easily slipping into the various accents from each film, and selling the emotions of their parts. While their live hosting may be a bit more awkward in places, we can't take anything but enjoyment from this wonderful film short.

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