3-D movies get a second look
I swore I would never again go to a 3-D movie, and yet there I
was last night with those funny glasses on, peering through them
and trying to make sense of the screen.
It was a miscalculation on my part. It was my younger son’s
birthday and we decided to go see
”
Despicable Me,
”
a new animated film that is getting all kinds of rave
reviews.
3-D movies get a second look
I swore I would never again go to a 3-D movie, and yet there I was last night with those funny glasses on, peering through them and trying to make sense of the screen.
It was a miscalculation on my part. It was my younger son’s birthday and we decided to go see “Despicable Me,” a new animated film that is getting all kinds of rave reviews.
Seeing movies in 3-D has become the latest thing to do, and it seems like about a third of films now are released in 3-D. Not documentaries or serious films, mind you, but the kind that are in the genres of action/adventure/family/animated/fantasy.
Where I went wrong was in assuming I would have a choice of seeing “Despicable Me” in the normal two dimensions or in 3-D. These days, you go to a multiplex theater and typically, if it has more than a few screens, then you can pick whether to see your movie in 3-D or not.
We went to this particular theater assuming we would have a choice. We didn’t. Turned out it was 3-D or nothing.
I first fell in love with 3-D movies at Disneyland, where for some years they’ve had a theater that shows short films demonstrating the wonders of the technique. The Disneyland shorts were remarkable – extremely clear and sharp, very funny, and calculated for maximum 3-D effect.
A few weeks ago I decided to try out the current technology and coughed up a couple extra bucks to see “Toy Story 3” in 3-D. Unfortunately, it was not quite as good as I’d remembered from my Magic Kingdom viewing.
First of all, the glasses seemed kind of dark. And smeary, especially around the edges. I found out later that this darkness is a common problem with 3-D movies — they often just seem dimmer than normal.
The smeariness? Hard to say if it was a flaw in the glasses I was given, or they just weren’t cleaned properly.
The 3-D experience didn’t seem to add much to the antics of Woody and Buzz, and in fact, the darkness was just a distraction. Plus the smeariness gave me pause, as I began wondering if the plastic spectacles had been decontaminated in between viewings. Normally I’m not very germophobic, but I began to feel the need to dunk the glasses in some kind of sanitizer.
At the end of “Toy Story 3,” I gave back the glasses and said to myself, “I’m never going to a 3-D movie ever again. Not. Worth. It.”
Just goes to show you should never say never, because inevitably you end up eating your words, as I did last night.
And you know what? I’m glad I was forced into giving 3-D another shot.
“Despicable Me” used the technique to much greater advantage – such as when you see things seemingly coming at you out of the screen – and also was a great, clever, charming film that I recommend highly to anyone. (Enjoyable, I believe, in either 2-D or 3-D. Your choice.)
True, I still had some of the fuzziness around the edges of my viewing area, but it was better. And there was not so much of the darkness that I’d experienced previously.
However, I did still feel a little creepy-crawliness regarding any previous users of the 3-D glasses. I must be getting more persnickety about that stuff in my old age. I vowed next time to bring sanitizing wipes, or something, to give them the once-over before wearing them.
I have to admit that the extra $2 charge per ticket sticks in my craw a bit. Is 3-D worth it, after all?
I grudgingly admit that in this case, it was. Next time around … well, who knows. It will probably depend on the movie, how much money is in my wallet, and whether or not I have a choice in the matter.
