i think the japanese are the ones who place great emphasis on technological achievements, both in real life and in make believe (like anime mechs) for americans, their sense of great tech achievements are things like iphones and macbooks, just my thougths

the question was about MAN flying and not the gadgets flying "man + flying = good movie"

I can speak for Americans, I think. Americans place great emphasis on technological achievements. We are fascinated with gadgets. Also, Western society has a long tradition of speculating about the future, with whole sections of book stores being devoted to science fiction. This affects our films. There is a dedicated market for old fantasy, but it generally doesn't show up in films (Lord of the Rings was a huge exception!) As for Chinese, I can only say from what I have observed. The Chinese value their past, which they should. Chinese culture goes back thousands of years and is very rich. Mysticism has also had a greater hold in Asia than the West. The idea of people in the past flying in a Wester movie would seem a bit strange. In Chinese movies, it just seems somehow natural and not strange at all.