To 3D Or Not To 3D??

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So as many of you have might have noticed there has been a TON of the new Real D 3D movies coming out in the past few months.  And although it seems like this started with the release of Avatar, there had been a few rather forgettable movies before this... anybody remember Beowulf??   That being said...this year has been slated as the year of the 3D movie, with more than 20 new major motion pictures scheduled to be released in that format.   After reading up on the subject and on the advice of a good friend... I am going to weigh in and give my two cents worth.  :-)

So to start off with, in my mind there are basically two distinct approaches to making a 3D movie.  The first and best way is to set out to MAKE a 3D movie in the first place.  Using specially designed 3D camera's to capture the live action scenes, and computers to render the animated scenes in 3D.  As you are filming in 3D the director is keeping this in mind when designing his shots so as to take advantage of the depth he is going to get from the effect.   The best example of this of course is Avatar..  which I truly believe set the bar for 3D movies in general.  Say what you want about Cameron's epic... like it or hate it..  the 3D is spectacular

The second approach is to convert a standard 2D movie into a 3D movie in post production.  This approach I feel is where its possible to get into trouble.  On one end if you have a fully animated movie then you still can get a great 3D movie... as the 3D is handled completely through computer rendering.  An example of this would be How To Train Your Dragon.  Which is also a fantastic 3D movie.

On the other hand, where you have a movie that is a mix of live action and animated shots you will almost inevitably get mixed results, depending on the amount of animated shots you have.  Alice In Wonderland for instance was largely done with animated shots, with the actors filming against green screens... and in the end the 3D was decent and enjoyable.  (Although some may have noticed that the early scenes with Alice in the real world looked rather flat in comparison to when she was in Wonderland itself)  

Finally on the opposite end of the spectrum you have Clash Of The Titans...  (awesome 2D movie BTW) which was converted, only, to try to cash in on the 3D phenomenon... looks downright awful, in my opinion.   The 3D, what there was of it... was too little to be compelling and in fact became distracting. 

So in the end, I think that this year we are most likely going to be seeing a wide range of quality and as these movies COST more to see it makes sense to be wise in picking which ones we decide to fork over the extra dough.  To me movies shot in 3D or fully animated movies are the best bets...   anything else is not worth the money.  And really what's WRONG with 2D...  some of the best movies to date have been filmed in that manner and will continue to be so for some time to come.   Anyways that is my opinion...  and I would LOVE to hear yours.. Talk soon.. Dave.