Star Wars EPI 3D - Feb. 10th, 2012

[The_Chosen_1]

Had an absolute blast at my local theater last night for the midnight release!!! The film itself was everything I expected and more. The 3D conversion was fantastic!

[Bryancd]

I'm back!!!!

OK, first the previews. I saw "Wrath of the Titans" and the 3D looked AWFUL. I mean utter, annoying, bad, crap. Avoid this in 3D like the plague. Then "Spiderman" 3D and OH MY GOD! THAT is how you do 3D. It looked amazing and just goes to show when it comes to 3D, it all depends on how much they want to spend. Now I want to see "Spiderman" in 3D whereas I was kind of heh a few days ago on it. The last was "Madagascar" 3D and it looked beatiful and funny as all get out and I've never watched this movie series! Oh and they had one of those "Stitch" short films which was great as well.

So, "The Phantom Menace". In a word: SPECTACULAR. The 3D during the opening crawl was so amazing. All the 3D is from the screen back, nothing jumps out at you, and overall it's VERY subtle. It gives some nice depth perspective but often simply belnds into the scene seemlessly. At many point I forgot I was even watching it in 3D. Even if you are not a 3D fan, there's nothing here I think that will cause offense and the picture quality is simply out of this world. The image quality alone is worth paying the money to see this in theaters again, it's so clear and sharp. Looking forward to hearing others thoughts, but I for one plan on going again for sure!

[cbspock]

I agree the 3D was well done. The way it was done you felt you were there in the battle of Naboo, the fight between the droids and the Gungans I noticed a lot more going on than I did with the 2d. There was a lot of hand to hand combat going on, it was pretty interesting. Some of the panning shots on Courscant were amazing, the overhead shot of the Queen's ship on the landing platform you really got a feel for how high they were.

I can't wait to see the asteroid chase in Empire. Let's skip the prequels and get to the meat.


-Chris

[JediStretch]

I got to share the Star Wars in theater experience with my 7 year old daughter. We had fun. At this point, she wants to skip ROTS when it comes out, but that's another 2 years away, so we'll see how she feels then.

[Jorbex]

I saw it yesterday with my son. The movie was great, but getting to see SW on the big screen with him was even better.

[Mike_S]

Saw TPM 3D on Saturday afternoon and really enjoyed it. What really impressed me, was the way ILM have handled the conversion of the film. It wasn't all in your face & gimmicky - it was quite subtle but yet still noticeable. I was expecting to walk away with a headache but that never occurred.

CG characters like Jar-Jar, Watto and Yoda are a vast improvement in 3D. They actually look like they have weight. Previously, the CG animated characters looked flat, but now in 3D they really look like they belong in the scene - a lot more than they did before.The crowd really seemed to enjoy the film as well. It was made up mainly of adults, with only a few kids, but I expected some moron to start disrespecting the film, but people just sat back and watched it.

Darth Maul's full appearance and Yoda got some positive audience reaction and even some of Jar-Jar's antics got a laugh which was unexpected. The 3D effect enhances and doesn't detract from what I consider to be a really beautiful looking film.

The only problem I had with today's viewing, was that it wasn't loud enough! I just hope Lucasfilm's SW3D venture, is profitable enough, so they will release the other five films in the series as well. Come to think of it - wouldn't mind seeing TCW in 3D also.

Check out my seat number

[RogueNine]

Yeah. It was awesome.

[Brad_Bane]

The only 3D I was impressed with was the very beginning during the pre-title sequence and during the crawl. Other than that, I wasn't all that blown away. Also, the glasses and/or the print itself made the viewing very muddled and dark and sometimes hard to see. Luckily, I had seen TPM about fifty times before, so I could easily follow the film, but all in all, I really was disappointed by the whole 3D experience. I hope it was just the theater I saw it in, because otherwise, next time I think I'll just save my money and just watch the gorgeous (and bright) BluRays at home.

[darthblu3]

I went to a midnight showing to TPM and was so glad I did. From the get go, and I'm talking about the 20th Century Fox logo, I was amazed at how the 3D aspect improved the overall viewing experience. The new 3D Lucasfilm logo was awesome too. Then....The Crawl. Oh man, it was amazing to sit there and hear the Main SW theme, see the title STAR WARS fading away into the starry background - all in 3D. As the movie continued on, I was enthralled as if seeing TPM for the first time, as everything in the background was crystal clear. Throughout the movie, I caught myself just watching what was happening in the background. I'm glad that they used the Blu-Ray format for the conversion to 3D. The combination of the HD quality of the film and the new 3D aspect made it appear as if I was watching the events of TPM through a large window. Several times I found myself craning my neck as I would try and peer around the corner to see what was just out of view of this "window".
To watch The Podrace in crisp, clear 3D was also a highlight of the movie. The audio and visual aspects of these scenes were exhilirating to experience it once again on the big screen. The Final Battle composed of the Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul lightsaber duel; the Battle of Naboo between the Naboo and the Trade Federation Battle Droids; and the Space Battle were just as fun to watch as they were 13 years ago. It appears that the space battles will be the most amazing aspect of the Star Wars films in 3D. The endless depth of space that the 3D format adds to these scenes is phenomenal.
Also, an unexpected occurrence happened while watching TPM in 3D, it was the laughter that I heard during the scenes that had Jar Jar Binks in them. Yes, the infamous, hated Jar Jar Binks. I noticed that whenever Jar Jar would say his silly lines and step in "icky goo", people (and yes, adults too) were laughing, or at the very least chuckling. Now mind you, the whole theater wasn't in an uproarious laughing fit, but people were finding Jar Jar comical. I found that to be very interesting, considering all the hatred that has been spewed at the poor Gungan over the past 13 years. Could it be that Jar Jar is on his way to being redeemed? I think that as new generations of Star Wars fans grow up and experience Jar Jar from a fresh perspective for the first time, all this hatred for Jar Jar from my fellow old school, OT Star Wars fans will have disappeared. However, only time will tell.
I recommend seeing SW TPM in 3D in theaters. I made this comparison on twitter and facebook shortly after seeing it, "

Star Wars Ep 1 The Phantom Menace in 3-D is definitely worth seeing in theaters. It's like when your hot wife gets a new haircut, she's still looks good, but now she's even *****r."

[Bryancd]

Seriously folks, if you walk into the theater expecting a film shot in 1997-1998 in 35MM and then converted to 1080 and THEN up converted to 3D is going to look like AVATAR your a deluding yourselves. If anything, LucasFilm showed great restraint to not go overboard to try and make it more 3D, which would have looked terrible and then people would still be complaining. Try and keep in mind the technical aspect of what they accomplished rather then complain about what your unrealistic expectations were.