As they say on the interwebs: “meh.” UP (2009) in 3D whelmed me. I only went so I could get a taste of this new digital 3D business—quite a clever tribute that Pixar started off the film in the age of the dirigible and the newsreel, watched by a transfixed little spectator who wears his own special (not 3D) goggles in tribute to his favorite explorer.
The 21st-century goggles of RealD, with their circular polarizing lenses, aren’t meant for people like me who already need specs. Though they have a nice Poindexter quality, wearing them over frames puts too much pressure on the bridge of my nose, lower down. Uncomfortable. They shoulda told us to bring our contact lenses.
The RealD people say “While ‘your grandfather’s 3D’ was known for mediocre visuals viewed through flimsy colored paper glasses, RealD’s digital technology not only looks a quantum leap better than old fashioned 3D, it creates an exceptional visual with no flicker, no need to hold your head upright and no silly paper glasses, replacing them with lightweight, recyclable plastic shades.” And if the above screen capture reminds us of anything, it’s that an audience will mutely bear any indignity to drink in the magnificent images on a big screen, even “flimsy colored paper glasses,” or dressing as a geek (though I guess that’s chic now) in recyclable plastic shades, or sitting through interminable previews (now) and newsreels (then), or a $3 3D surcharge and the mall-bound, ghost-towned, Century Theater in San Francisco.
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