Why 3D?



It's everywhere. It seems as if every film coming out these days is available with 3D glassses. This of course has a lot to do with money. Ever since that groundbreaker Avatar came out & stormed the Box Office, the studios wanted to take advantage of the 3d medium by releasing every mediocre effort with an extra pair of glasses. When conceived, most of these movies were not meant for 3D viewing, compared to James Cameron's Avatar which was born and bred as a 3D experience. Don't waste your money watching Toy Story 3 in 3D, it is not essential & the film does not benefit in any way shape or form from it. Watch it sans the frames, you'll thank me later for it.

The reason why these studios are releasing everything they have in this form is simple- money. The 3D glasses make the movie ticket 3$ more expensive, meaning that the average 12$ ticket price gets boosted up to 15$ for 3D. It's a Hollywood studio Exec's wet dream to have his ticket price boosted. I'll be the first to admit that 3D could quite possibly be the future of filmmaking, Martin Scorsese is planning to shoot his next movie that way, so are other key Hollywood filmmakers.

Cameron's 2009 film was a curse and a blessing. It brought out the best and the worst in movies. Its influence on the next generation of film is limitless. Film will be more focused on visuals and filmmakers will surely try to outdo themselves with visionary eye popping images. This is a positive but at what cost? The negative is simple, while a 3D film will focus on the visual it might just forget the most important part of a film- The story, the narrative, the structure.

How To Train Your Dragon did not forget the rules of  the technology, which is why it's the best 3D movie of the year thus far. Its story is heartfelt and well told, ditto its visuals which pop out & blow your eyes away. The story might be old fashioned and tiresome but it has an old school vibe that had me hooked from its colorfully inventive dragons to its innocently told tale. Cliches come about in many ways, but the key to enjoying it is letting yourself go to the images directors Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders conjure up in this medieval tale. There are far more gripping movies playing at the moment but none are as eye popping or colorfully transportive as this B movie dragon tale.