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Thursday, October 8, 2009

To infinity and beyond... and beyond... and beyond...

9:40 PM / Cinema / 2 Comments

On Monday night, we went to see a screening of the limited theatrical re-release of Toy Story in 3D. (In the US, both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have been re-released together, but on this side of the pond, Disney have decided to fleece us by making us pay to see them separately. The UK isn't nicknamed "Treasure Island" for nothing.) I didn't have any particular desire to watch the film in 3D - I simply wanted to see it on the big screen, and would probably have gone to a 2D screening had one being available (as I will be doing with Up when it is released here tomorrow). Still, having so far only experienced 3D in the form of the crummy two-colour bastardisation that exists for home video releases, I was slightly curious to see what the real thing actually looked like.

"Passable" is the answer. I was aware that it was there - well, it was hard not to be aware of it, since I had a pair of plastic glasses perched on my nose - but I doubt it made a jot of difference to my enjoyment of or engagement with the film. I understand that Disney and Pixar's approach to 3D is different from that of the makers of, say, My Bloody Valentine 3D, whereby the aim is to wow you with pick-axes flying out of the screen and bloody flying over your head. In a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, John Lasseter said that his aim was to use 3D to immerse the viewer in the film world without drawing attention to the technology. The stumbling block, for me, is that it's hard not to notice it. Despite the claims of proponents of the technology, the result is not an illusion of true depth so much as the feeling of watching various flat layers being displayed at varying distances, much like a children's pop-up book. To me, the depth of 3D is no more convincing than the illusion of depth created in a traditional 2D movie using tricks such as depth of field.

As for the film, I've seen it many, many times before, but this was the first time I'd experienced it on the big screen since its original UK release in March 1996, and like just about any movie, it plays much better in this form than in a home environment. It's also a film that benefits from being experienced with an audience, although we were careful to choose a weekday night-time screening to avoid being surrounded by mewling brats, so the mostly adult audience was laughing at the jokes rather than just shrieking uncontrollably at every opportunity. (Forgive me if I sound bitter, but I still haven't forgotten a disastrous screening of Finding Nemo that I attended during the October week holidays. I very nearly walked out.) There's also something rather curious about a Pixar film featuring dialogue clearly written by Joss Whedon - it's like a bizarre meeting of two very divergent worlds, but a very enjoyable one. ("I've set my laser from stun to kill." "Great, and if anyone attacks us, we can blink 'em to death!" Come on, you can just imagine Buffy Summers saying that.) It's a terrific film and one that will last for eternity...

...in 3D or 2D.

2 Comments

 
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