And now that I know that 3D is an emerging technology that the studios are mostly using just to help curb piracy is even more infuriating. Especially when the product doesn’t “snap” quite as well on screen.

Ya young whipper-snapper!

as far as the movie goes, I loved this. LOVED it. very imaginative.

“I didn’t really care for the characters at all, especially Coraline, who even in a 3d movie is pretty 2d.

She spends all her time being bored, declaring that she’s bored, and is unhappy, and then out of nowhere we’re supposed to believe she cares so much and regrets it. In terms maybe Jay can understand, imagine if in Home Alone we didn’t have any of the spots of the family trying to get home, and it was nothing but Kevin’s adventures. You could still get laughs and entertainment, but you’re missing a whole other level that actually is supposed to make you connect to these people.

In general, the problem isn’t so much as what’s there, it’s what is missing.”

Adults found this scary? Even Monster House was scarier than this.

The story is slow, shallow, and the characters aren’t very interesting. If it weren’t so pretty it would have been boring. It takes a good while to get going, and when it is going, its going ‘on rails’ and I don’t know if that would have worked without the 3d.

In general, I’m coming to terms I’m not much of a Gaiman fan, in either book or movie form. Nightmare and James and the Giant Peach are both way better than this, and a lot more fun.

3/5

Two questions for anyone who knows:

Will my glasses from MBV3D work for Coraline?

Will they charge me a glasses “rental” even if I bring my own?

Cameron’s 3D is going to have to work a bit differently to live up to these immersion ambitions. I’ve heard people describe AVATAR 3D as like looking through a window, rather then stuff coming out at you, which might be more effective.

But yeah about Coraline. Yeah i didn’t really get that much out of the 3D, but I also thought the film was a bit problematic. (really weak pacing, and the narrative’s video game like objectives drained the film of real dramatic tension).

Liked the film for the most part, but its definitely inferior to Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.

But maybe I’m biased. Maybe I just wanted a TMBG musical.

If that’s the case, theaters should band together and simply blacklist certain studios. See how they like it. And again, Coraline didn’t do that well = not much in concessions.

Theaters crave a decent children’s film. They are huge money makers for them as kids=concessions and concessions=profit. And theaters are basically at the whim of the studios, because if they told one to fuck off, then the studio will blacklist them. I know the Weinsteins are blacklisting at least one rather large mainstream chain at the moment and they have to rent films at a huge additional cost through a different chain just to get the occassional print.

Basically the entire business relationship between theaters and studios/distributers is truly fucked up with the theaters getting the short end of the stick from studios and then are stuck feeling the ire of the customers. The bigger chains can dictate terms better do to the sheer number of screens they have, but even they are making jack squat off of ticket sales. Something like 85% of the price goes to the studios while smaller chains will give back 95%.

As for some theaters showing only 2D I’m fairly certain every chain showing a 2D print is showing a 3D print as well, at least in the Cities. Any that are showing just a 2D print would be doing it at an extra cost to them (typically as a much higher print fee), which means they are taking in even less money. Its a double edged sword.

I’m pretty sure Southdale only has one 3D projector, and they are by far the biggest money making theater in the Cities. Some theaters choose to have both prints for variety, others like Southdale only go with 3D as a take it or leave sort of deal. Southdale can get away with that simply because of how many people they draw. The Mann 6 doesn’t have that sort of leeway to take that sort of a risk.

So the extra two bucks did not influence my opinion on the film.

Whatev. You and I both know you hated it because of your stupid $2. Go bug John Cusack for the money if it is so important to you.

So that’s three of us at different screenings that had this problem. Anyone else?