I am a doubter no longer. Alas, I was not at that screening. Our flight arrival was a day later. All I really miss is seeing the Cannes crowd put on the glasses. My official review is scheduled to run when the movie opens in late May, but there will be hundreds online and in print from Cannes, so I see no harm in making some unofficial observations. Such as, this is a wonderful film.
It tells a story. The characters are as believable as any characters can be who spend much of their time floating above the rain forests of Venezuela.
They have tempers, problems, and obsessions. Two of the three central characters are cranky old men, which is a wonder in this era when the captain of the Starship Enterprise must be three years out of school, lest fans be asked to identify with a veteran officer. No, this will not be an entry about 3D. It may be that the wonderful new glasses are unlike all other 3D glasses and are perfectly transparent, but given their purpose, how can they be?
Unlike the tinted glasses used for most 3D glasses, which cost a dollar or less, these babies use lenses that flicker open and closed at the shutter rate of the projector. I predict the Cannes screening will look better than almost every U. There is also the annoyance of 3D itself.
It is a marketing gimmick designed 1 to justify higher ticket prices, and 2 make piracy harder. Yet as most of the world will continue to use 2D, pirated prints will remain a reality. The effect of 3D adds nothing to the viewing experience, and I have never once heard an audience member complain that a movie is not in 3D. Every single frame of a 3D movie gives you something to look at that is not necessary. Now, then. This is a story as tickling to the imagination as the magical animated films of my childhood, when I naively thought that because their colors were brighter, their character outlines more defined and their plots simpler, they were actually more realistic than regular films.
