My Avatar 3D Experience

The movie Avatar was released in December 2009, just a few days before the Christmas holidays. It was rated one of the most ‘enchanting’ movies of the year, and as it was done all in 3D it’s something different from the average cinematic experience. I was never caught in the surge of excitement surrounding this flick; but after a few weeks of hearing about how amazing it was I thought I’d finally jump on the ‘giant Smurf’ bandwagon, after all I did like Smurfs as a kid.

When I think about 3D cinema, the first memories that pop into my mind are the experiences I’ve had in American theme parks, where we would sit in abnormally large seats and wear these goofy white rectangular glasses, with the odd pane of red and blue lenses. That was back when I was aged 10, these days 3D glasses are technically advanced in quality and follow the Ray-Ban design (which are always in fashion-a plus). The major downfall to my Avatar 3D experience was that that after a while I started to get slightly dizzy from watching through a pair of ‘sunglasses’. When I think back at it, if anybody was to walk in halfway through the movie, the audience would all look like a blind crowd facing towards a fuzzy screen. Let’s just say I was not enjoying it in 3D.

3D flicks are becoming more and more popular, 3D cinema will soon conquer average cinemas and become the norm cinema viewing experience. It’s a new way the film industry is adopting to prevent movie piracy. So that means if I was to download the Avatar on my laptop or watch it online in 3D, the images would be fuzzy and the general quality would be pretty rubbish.

I think 3D and Avatar was so hyped up, that when it came to watching it I had such high expectations, as if I myself was going to morph into an Avatar at the end of this artificial journey. But in actual fact the 3D I was receiving were a few menial bits and bobs irritatingly floating about now and again. Although the picture was slightly more entertaining, there were a few scenes I particularly enjoyed, like the dragon flying session, where I felt like I was also flying around on my invisible dragon. Agreed that the image was enhanced, but it was definitely not worth the headache and the price (and we weren’t even allowed to keep the glasses!)

Movie critic and Dr. in film Mike Kermode is also no fan of 3D cinema. I’d come his video on YouTube commenting on the glasses, I agreed with everything he said. That the film has an overall great storyline and that is most importantly what made the movie a blockbuster. Kermode commented that; “occasional people pointed spears out of the screen, and occasionally people fell down at very great falls. And occasionally in those moments you’ve got the sense that the 3D is doing something, but you know what? Unless you’re making a movie about skydiving spear chucker’s, that’s a limited use of 3D.”

So the question is ‘would I go and see another 3D film?’ Answer is no, unless I was visiting an American theme park watching a short show reel of me diving off a cliff etc. I strongly believe that it’s the film plot that captures the audience, not the odd 3D butterfly sweeping across my face. Avatar is an epic film and one of my favorite plots as it’s undeniably fantastical. Arguably it does mirror the plot for Pocahontas, which is a childhood favorite; James Cameron has done a great job in trying to captivate a surreal experience, which unfortunately isn’t to my taste.