Livin’ it up in 3D for a day
I didn’t want to miss the final week of the “Wild Ocean 3D” IMAX performance, so I dragged Travis to downtown Vancouver for an afternoon viewing at Canada Place.
The only way I am able to drag Travis to a movie theatre is if there is a movie playing currently that he cannot replicate the sheer quality in high definition or surround sound with his home theatre system.
I agree in some aspects of being “anti-movie” theatre:
- Can’t choose your seats (unless you’re willing to come early)
- No pausing in movie (risk missing a crucial part of a movie for a “potty break”)
- Can’t laugh out loud (unless you laugh on cue with everyone else, or else you’ll be that weirdo who laughs too early or too late.)
Hm, I guess there are not many good reasons to leave the comfortable setup of your own living room.
However, after our home 3D-movie-viewing fiasco a few months ago (we didn’t get quite the same effect by buying the 3D version of Polar Express with the included glasses), we return to the outside world to watch three, 3D movies on a slow Monday.
Wild Ocean 3D movie site screenshot
First up: Wild Ocean 3D
This was the main reason for going to the IMAX theatre in Canada place, because the last showing was on April 9th, 2009.
I think there were about less than a dozen people at this 3PM showing of Wild Ocean 3D.
I loved how they told the story of Man VS Nature.
Well, the focus seemed to be more on the sardines off the coast of Southern Africa.
So I guess it was Sardines VS Every-other-animal-in-the-food-chain VS Man.
It was so cool to see the crazy sardine run, with people running from the shore with crates and crates of sardines, and under water with all the creatures hunting to eat the sardines.
The ugliest creature I have ever seen move under water- Cape Gannets. The most ungraceful creature underwater, yet when they’re diving from the air, it’s such an astonishing site and such a strange sound experience. It felt like I was watching a war movie, with water animals.
IMAX Under the Sea 3D movie poster
Next: IMAX Under the Sea 3D
Do you think Walt Disney has brainwashed me completely?
Every time I hear the words “Under the Sea”, I picture that crab orchestrating sea creatures playing “Under the sea, under the sea…”
Anyways, quick break and we went back into IMAX to watch another 3D flick, this time narrated by Jim Carrey. (Sorry ladies, this edition was not narrated by heart-throb Johnny Depp.)
Travis and I were glad to have seen Wild Ocean 3D first, Under the Sea was so much more bright and colourful. For the promo, he yelled “Holy F*ck” when one of featured creatures snapped out and grabbed lunch. Just remember, there are likely going to be children with their families around, especially with summer break coming really soon….
For some odd reason, we thought perhaps they “layered” and retouched Under the Sea for 3D viewing differently. A lot of elements seemed to pop out at us more.
Before the movie, I viewed sea turtles to be such gentle and slow creatures…
I was such in shock to see one eat a jelly fish ever so slowly.
Ow, that poor jelly fish.
Monsters vs Aliens
Last: Monsters VS Aliens
(warning: make sure your system sound is down low when you visit the site)
Yay!
We squeezed three 3D movies in one day.
Technically, two viewings in the afternoon, a walk around downtown, and raced to Richmond to view the last showing of Monsters VS Aliens in 3D around 10PM.
We watched the “behind the scenes” promo on TV about a couple weeks ago, so I was so stoked to go see Monsters VS Aliens.
Okay, maybe it was also because of the star power behind it.
Who doesn’t want to go see a movie featuring the voices of Reese Witherspoon (tooooo many movies to mention… sadly Legally Blonde is the first that comes to mind), Seth Rogen (Knocked Up and others), Hugh Laurie (House), Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Kiefer Sutherland (24), Rainn Wilson (The Office), Stephen Colbert (The Colbert Report), and Paul Rudd (I Love you, Man).
Could you tell I liked it?
I broke the rule of not giggling out loud… too hard.
Travis rolled his eyes when we left the movie.
Gee- I’m just THAT INTO puns.
: )
Luckily there were just a few people, like around ten of us in the theatre.
We thought there would be more people, who knows whether there were more people in the other “viewing” areas: regular, digital, IMAX, and Digital projection 3D.
For those wondering what were the differences between the types of viewings:
Regular viewing: costs regular ($11.95), looks regular. Sometimes I’d rather wait to see movies on DVDs so I can see extra behind the scenes stuff.
Digital viewing: costs a little more… depending. Again, I’d rather wait.
IMAX VS Digital Projection for 3D: Apparently, IMAX is a much larger screen in height so you would feel like you’re IN the movie, and Digital projection offers the viewer a much more crisper experience. It’s about a couple dollars difference (IMAX was around $14, where Digital 3d).
I like watching all three of the movies.
The way the promo hyped up the Monsters VS Aliens movie made us expect the 3D viewing to be such a mind blowing experience.
Travis summed up what we both thought about Monsters VS Aliens:
“Maybe we shouldn’t have gone to watch the real-life showings of animals in 3D first.
MVA was good, but I couldn’t really buy into the whole experience because this is an animated flick.”
Until consumers have the ability to install and setup their own quality 3D home theatre experiences, in the meanwhile it’s fun to go out once in awhile to check out the latest in the theatres.
