A Christmas Carol: The 3D IMAX Experience (2009)

A Christmas Carol is, above all else, an astounding visual experience. Other studios either use 3D to enhance already superior films or attempt to hide mediocrity. Robert Zemeckis stands nearly alone is using this newfangled version of old-fashioned technology to push the boundaries of 'immersion'. Like The Polar Express in 2004 and Beowulf in 2007, A Christmas Carol is not simply a movie to be seen, but rather to experience. If the film is not as haunting and thrilling as Beowulf or as intoxicating as Henry Selick's more surreal Coraline, this still sets new marks for realism in the painted world. Zemeckis's artists and performers have partnered stunningly lifelike animation (there are no 'dead eyes' this time) with at once astonishing and invisible 3D effects work, creating the illusion of living inside a movie better than anything I've yet experienced.




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Where the Wild Things Are: The IMAX Experience

It is often said that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a children's novel that adults can enjoy, while The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an adult novel that children can enjoy. This statement in itself constitutes a form of elitism. Just because Huck Finn is a better, richer novel than Tom Sawyer, it must be presumed that the second story must not have been truly intended for children. This idea rears its ugly head in the discussion of family films as well, as poorly made family films are often labeled 'just for kids', while superior family entertainment is often accused of being secretly made for adults. The very idea of high-quality entertainment that is specifically directed at children seems to be some kind of oxymoron in the critical community. I have no idea for whom Spike Jonze crafted Where the Wild Things Are, but the film is a very much a high-quality children's movie.




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