Saw it in 2D, but had a fun time with this film. Both the story and the animation are pretty good, and Chowder had me rolling throughout most of the first half and finished up well, and DJ was a nice straight foil to play off.
It's not playing in IMAX, but in 215 regular theatres in digitally projected polarized 3-D.
The 3-D is amazing; the depth really added to the atmosphere. I can't imagine seeing the film flat. If you have choice, see it in 3-D.
I liked the fact that the film was more adult than most of these things; some of the kids seemed really scared!
I was glad to see the 3-D trailers for Disney's MEET THE ROBINSONS and the dimensionalized NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, both upcoming films in Digital 3-D.
THE ANT BULLY opens in IMAX 3-D on Friday, and later this year OPEN SEASON and HAPPY FEET will also both play in IMAX 3-D as well as regular flat showings.
Wife and I saw this yesterday at a late matinee. The 3-D is absolutely WONDERFUL! The story kinda caught me off guard in a good way. As has probably been said before, this movie is not necessarily for the youngest of kiddies. And, yes, I realize that you are the ultimate one who really KNOWS if your little ones can 'take' the story. That said, I'd definitely see this one again - AND not complain about paying an extra $1.50 on top of the regular ticket price for the technology!
Say... The Carmike Cinema here in Fort Wayne didn't show the MEET THE ROBINSONS trailer! :frowning:
The 3-D was well done. The stereo (3D) base is not extreme, so eyestrain should not be a problem for those who may feel cross-eyed after viewing an IMAX 3-D feature. The 3-D glasses fit well over my prescription glasses, and because MONSTER HOUSE uses circular polarized 3-D, one can even tilt their head without ghosting, with is a big no-no in standard linear polarized IMAX 3-D presentations.
Is there any way to screw up the 3-D depth when projecting this film? I saw it last night and there was very little if any 3-D depth in the presentation. Nothing came out of the screen. I have seen many 3-D films and this was pretty bad. You could watch the film without the glasses and for many scenes, it looked fine would no overlapping. The scenes with two images looked OK with the glasses but there was no depth.
The stereo base is obviously set lower than usual in this film (as was CHICKEN LITTLE). It's a lot like watching DIAL M FOR MURDER, which isn't as "deep" a 3-D experience as most other stereoscopic features.
I've heard this was done intentionally to minimize eyestrain in audiences; personally I could do with a bit more depth too, but I still found MONSTER HOUSE great fun in 3-D and far superior to the flat version.
I couldn't tell if it was just shallow at times or that I had simply adjusted to the effect, but I lost some of the depth sense by midway into the film. There weren't a lot of "3D moments" in the film to put it in your face anyway. However during the opening with the little girl riding her trike around the neighborhood the effect was very powerful.
BTW, this was my favorite animated film of the year so far. To me it had the most fleshed out and interesting characters in this year's crop. I think they managed to beat out Pixar and should have a legit shot at the Oscar this year even.
I saw DIAL M FOR MURDER at the Film Forum in New York years ago and it had a lot more depth than MONSTER HOUSE. CHICKEN LITTLE was between MONSTER HOUSE and DIAL M FOR MURDER as far as depth.
Have any of you seen THE ANT BULLY in 3-D? How is it?