Real-D 3D - The way forward in cinema

I went and saw BOLT this evening, the new disney CG movie. The odean up at uni is odeonDIGITAL, which means they can show stuff in Real-D 3D. Plot was quite good, if a little too much like homeward bound with regards to animals trekking across america. But that's not what i'm going to write about.

3D has always been regarded as a bit silly. A thing of a 70s/80s fad, where you had to wear silly cardboard glasses with red/blue acetate in, which merged 2 red and green images into one with some depth in it. Generally it was only used for special effects though, like the shark coming out the screen in jaws 3, or jason slashing around in Friday the 13th part III. It got revived a bit in the early 2000s by Robert Rodriguez with Spy Kids 3, and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl (I am proud that I have seen neither, considering I am a massive fan of Rodriguez - El Mariachi trilogy is fantastic, and Sin City kicks ass), but again it was used as an extension of visual effects, and looked cheap and cheesy, especially with the advent of imax and similar.

In recent years, there's been an increase in 3D using polarized light. The kind you get at themeparks and IMAX screens, where they give you a pair of glasses like Joe 90 had, and they're just clear. The video is projected from 2 projectors still, but each uses light polarized slightly differently, and the lenses of the glasses each pick up one stream of light, so each eye sees a different image - resulting in 3Dness. Generally themeparks use it crappily though, with things poking out the screen, or combine it with water and air jets for a "4D" effect. Muppets 3D is the only 3D themepark film that I've liked, as it didn't use the 3D as some crazy gimmick.
Within the past 2 years, disney and a few other studios have taken it a bit further, removing the necessity for 2 projectors. Infact, you don't even need one, the film is shown on a giant digital screen (Hence the D in "Real-D"), and I honestly have no idea how the polarisation works on it. What I do know though, is that it is mindblowing.

Disney have released a few films in Real-D previously, notably Meet The Robinsons, and the 3D Re-release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. At that time, only about 5 cinemas in the UK supported it, now there's a lot more. Most big cinemaplexes in the US also now have at least 1 digital screen.

What I loved about Disney's use of it in BOLT is that it's not a gimmick, not some way of extending visual effects, it's a way of adding more scope to the film and allowing you to see it as a complete environment that the characters interact with. There's only 1 shot right at the end where they fall into the cliched something big and pointy coming out the screen at you.

With Bolt, he's running through fields and they extend miles back towards the horizon, overhead shots of the city extend downwards to give a real feeling of height without the tops of buildings coming out of the screen at you in silly ways, and characters actually are at different distances throughout the screen, giving a feeling of depth and interaction. It actually feels like a real, interactive world that the characters are in. Rather than just feeling like watching a film, this feels as if you're actually THERE in the environment watching the characters. Soaring aerial shots are rich and gorgeous, with trees popping up, the horizon miles away and a distinct feel of yes, this may be a cartoon but it could also be real. I spent most of the film staring around at the environment, mouth open, amazed at the depth and vitality of it all. It was astounding.

I honestly believe this is seriously the way forward in film, it puts you there in the film, it is a much more immersive experience and makes it all the more believable. It just (literally) adds an extra dimension to the film, drawing you in. What also impressed me is all the trailers beforehand were 3D, for Pixar's new movie UP and Dreamworks Animation's Monsters Vs. Aliens. Both again look awesome in 3D, neither using stuff jabbing out the screen and simply adding more depth to the imagery.

The only thing I disliked about Bolt is that it's CG. Whilst the CG was impressive and looked lush and clean, the end credits were done in traditional hand animation and were still 3D. Disney should go back to traditional and leave CG animation to Pixar.

What else can I say? Bring on James Cameron's AVATAR in 3D. This is the way forward in movies.