[Philip Lelyveld comment: useful insight on theatrical 3D and children]

[By Carey Bryson, About.com Guide]

As I discussed before in my last post about On Stranger Tides, I never was able to decide if I liked the new Pirates movie in 3D or not. The 3D fog in the beginning was a cool effect, but some parts of the movie looked fake because of the 3D. That’s the way it is for me and 3D in general, though. I like the added dimension, but I don’t like the drawbacks — wearing the glasses, lack of detail in the background images, and the dimming effect of the glasses. So it really depends on the movie and how well done the 3D is as to whether or not I think it’s worth the extra money.

In some of the best 3D movies, the 3D actually adds a lot to the movie to the extent that the movie is just not as good in 2D. How to Train Your Dragon and Avatar are examples of excellent 3D that enhances the story and the film. Other films just should never have even tried it. What I found interesting, is that although I have been a 3D fence sitter and haven’t even gotten around to getting a 3D TV to review movies at home yet, I really missed the added dimension when we went to see Rango in theaters. I felt like the movie looked really flat, and I wanted to feel like I was walking around that little desert town with all of the characters.

No matter how we feel as parents, though, most of the 3D movies are kids’ and family movies, so we also have to take into consideration the kids’ preferences. In talking to kids and families, I have found that the older kids are really into 3D. But, little kids generally don’t keep the glasses on, so that becomes a problem for parents. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D yesterday (in theaters May 26th), and it was the first time my 3-year-old has kept the glasses on for the whole movie. Still, I could tell she was really starting to get bugged by them toward the end.

Coming up in the first month of summer, we have Cars 2, which is Pixar so the 3D will be fabulous.  We also can look forward to a couple of 2D family flicks that will be a lot of fun for kids:Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer and Mr. Popper’s Penguins.