Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada invited me to an advanced screening of Bolt this morning, but they had one request. They asked that I not review the movie until it opens on November 21. As a result, this is not a review of Bolt, merely some notes about the experience.
Upon my arrival my daughter and I were handed pairs of glasses. I must plead ignorance, I had no idea Bolt was in 3-D. I don't think I've seen a 3-D movie since I caught a nature film at the Ontario Place Cinesphere over a decade ago. 3-D has come a long way...
These weren't those crappy paper red and blue framed 3-D glasses from the 80s, these were full glasses that looked like a pair of shades Elton John might have worn back in the day. Our first taste of 3-D action came with the trailer for Pixar's Up, and damn that was cool. My daughter wanted to reach out and touch the action before her and I just wanted to see Up.
A full length feature film in 3-D is a bit of sensory overload. It's almost too much. You have to focus more and viewing the entire movie through glasses lost it's cool after about 30-minutes. Although it added an extra layer of wowism, I wonder if it's worth all the extra effort required to absorb this additional dimension.
I'll review this film next week. If you're curious about the 3-D technology used by Disney in Bolt, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Digital_3-D. It sounds like I'm going to have to get used to this Real D Cinema technology because starting with Up all Pixar films will be released in 3-D.
Maybe I should have held on to those glasses.
