Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace in 3D

[moyer777]

Andrew and I went this afternoon.  I was a bit disappointed as well.  The previews all looked great and then the beginning of the movie looked awesome.  As the movie went forward I started to forget it was in 3D.  Every once in awhile I would remember because the effect would be really strong.  But here is where I had the problem.   I have seen this movie many times...  but somehow sitting in the big theater after paying a tidy some of cash for us to see it, I grew bored and even annoyed at the script and acting.  I know, I know.  I guess I just shook my head and thought... I liked this?  Don't get me wrong, there are some really great moments, but they are very few compared with the original trilogy.  The graphics are stunning, the music is amazing, but the story is very dull.  Somehow I thought that the 3D would fix that for me...   silly huh?  I actually thought about leaving an hour into it because I was getting bored.  Then I thought... "Hey I just paid a lot of money to see this and get these cool Darth Maul glasses."  So I stayed, not before nodding off a couple of times.  I guess it was cool to see Star Wars in a theater again.  I think I'm spoiled with Clone Wars each week, now that show rocks.  Maybe they could do that in 3D?

Congratulations George, you are now making even more money.

[Jobydrone]

I'm sure the flying car chase in AOTC will be amazing in 3D. 

[jedijeff]

So, I went to see this today in a good size theater.  Not a really big crowd at all.  Overall, while I enjoyed seeing the movie again on the big screen I found the 3D effect fairly mediocre.  It appeared obvious to me certain scenes that were effects heavy they were able to add some depth and "3D-ness" to the view, but much of the movie had nothing really altered.  I slipped the glasses up and down several times during the film and it was interesting, the scenes that didn't seem to be touched much looked like a standard movie picture.  When a scene with a little 3D showed up the scene would then show two distinct images that the 3D glasses trick your eyes and brain into seeing it with added depth or 3D.  I have to say overall I was a bit disappointed.  It appeared like many other converted to 3D films.  Actually to me the picture wasn't nearly as bright, crisp and sharp as the Blu-Ray image on my HDTV. 

Ok, now I know I've made my view on 3D films pretty well know but I went into this with as much of an open mind as I could.  But ultimately I just still feel it's a gimmick and didn't add much at all to seeing the film.  In fact like I said above I find the picture more vibrant and stunning on Blu-Ray.  So, that's my initial impressions of this first converted film from GL.

P.S.  I will say "The Hobbit" preview (filmed with 3D gear) looked amazing!

Andrew and I went this afternoon.  I was a bit disappointed as well.  The previews all looked great and then the beginning of the movie looked awesome.  As the movie went forward I started to forget it was in 3D.  Every once in awhile I would remember because the effect would be really strong.  But here is where I had the problem.   I have seen this movie many times...  but somehow sitting in the big theater after paying a tidy some of cash for us to see it, I grew bored and even annoyed at the script and acting.  I know, I know.  I guess I just shook my head and thought... I liked this?  Don't get me wrong, there are some really great moments, but they are very few compared with the original trilogy.  The graphics are stunning, the music is amazing, but the story is very dull.  Somehow I thought that the 3D would fix that for me...   silly huh?  I actually thought about leaving an hour into it because I was getting bored.  Then I thought... "Hey I just paid a lot of money to see this and get these cool Darth Maul glasses."  So I stayed, not before nodding off a couple of times.  I guess it was cool to see Star Wars in a theater again.  I think I'm spoiled with Clone Wars each week, now that show rocks.  Maybe they could do that in 3D?

Congratulations George, you are now making even more money.

At the end of the day, good or bad, TPM is still the same movie it always was, and not the best paced. But not to be to much of an apologist, for a movie that is not well received, and nearly 13 years old, to get released again to the big screen is an accomplishment. There are a lot of academy award winning movies and other blockbusters that no one would ever think about re releasing, as there would not be the interest. These Star Wars movies have a bit of a legacy to them that span generations, as when I went to the theatre, I saw a lot of parents with their kids, so whether a person views this as a good or bad movie, it is still a bit special.

The 3D was not overly strong, but I think at the end of the day, it was more a vehicle to get Star Wars back into the theatre's and on the big screen. Sort of like the Special Editions back in the 90's, it gives people a reason to go see these again on the big screen, or for that younger generation who did not see these at the theatre, and only TV. My nephews are 7 and 11, and they never saw the prequels/sequels in the theatre, they get their chance now. Maybe I will get some flack for this, but maybe more movies should do this. As the Marvel movies get older, maybe they should re release some of these so parents can share them with their children at some point. January, February and March is pretty dead for Movies that we like on this forum, so maybe if they went back and revisited some of the older movies and updated them a bit, would be more fun to go to the movies, then to see some half baked action movie, or sci-fi movie that is not strong enough to be released in the summer blockbuster season.

I know a lot of folks resent George Lucas, and feel he is dipping into the well to many times, but he has gotten a lot of life out of his movies. Star Wars has endured, so he has done a good job of keeping them in the public's conscience. Love him or hate him, it sure would have been nice if there was someone like that on the Star Trek side of things that would have shepperd it along, and we did not get that neglect after Enterprise got cancelled. They are doing much better now, with the new movies and going back and remastering the older series, but for a time it was pretty much left for dead. I suspect Paramount/CBS has seen how Lucasfilm has managed the Star Wars property, and that a little care can makes things go a long way. I have always thought, I will take George Lucas making his money off of Star Wars as we have a choice on that, over greedy execs and CEO's that affect people's standard of living and livelihood. I suspect George releasing his movies over and over again was not the reason the economy is in the state it is now.

Just my two cents :)

[X]

Andrew and I went this afternoon.  I was a bit disappointed as well.  The previews all looked great and then the beginning of the movie looked awesome.  As the movie went forward I started to forget it was in 3D.  Every once in awhile I would remember because the effect would be really strong.  But here is where I had the problem.   I have seen this movie many times...  but somehow sitting in the big theater after paying a tidy some of cash for us to see it, I grew bored and even annoyed at the script and acting.  I know, I know.  I guess I just shook my head and thought... I liked this?  Don't get me wrong, there are some really great moments, but they are very few compared with the original trilogy.  The graphics are stunning, the music is amazing, but the story is very dull.  Somehow I thought that the 3D would fix that for me...   silly huh?  I actually thought about leaving an hour into it because I was getting bored.  Then I thought... "Hey I just paid a lot of money to see this and get these cool Darth Maul glasses."  So I stayed, not before nodding off a couple of times.  I guess it was cool to see Star Wars in a theater again.  I think I'm spoiled with Clone Wars each week, now that show rocks.  Maybe they could do that in 3D?

Congratulations George, you are now making even more money.

And you summed up the exact reasons that I won't be seeing it. I love 3D, but I still remember how much this movie did not entertain me. As curious as I am to see what it looks like, I can't see myself ever paying money for this movie again. It could be in immersion VR and I'd still pass.

Jeff, I get what your saying, but there is no special bar from being re-released.  If you want to do it and have a distributor, you can do it. It's not that hard. I've seen Star Trek on several re-releases and they even did it with Star Trek V. It doesn't say anything about anything other than a distributor wanted to show it again.

It also not like other films don't do the same thing. If they think they can make a dollar, then they do it. It has nothing to do with how George is handling the franchise or how it's being managed at all. It's about the dollars and I think it might be a play to try to get the title back from Avatar. Star wars has for a long time been in the top five of top grossing films ... until recent years. They aren't even in the top ten, but re-releases count to add dollars to that total and Right now Cameron is king.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

The general reviews from you guys plus the high price tag of a 3D movie definitely do not make me interested in seeing this film.  I don't mind TPM that much, but I certainly don't love it enough to see it for $15 a ticket...

King

[ricdude]

I took the whole family went to the special event in Denver yesterday (90 minute drive!).  The kids had a blast checking out everyone's costumes (Thanks 501st!).  We all chipped in to help build the lego version of the poster.  I think my daughter was so excited by the light sabers, she's ready to blow her entire saved allowance on one!  My son (as Anakin) received a particularly warm greeting from a lovely woman dressed as Shmi right as we walked up  - "Ani! Ani!" - many pictures taken and shared.

For me, the day was never about just the movie.  At least for me.  It was entirely about being able to share an amazing story from my childhood with my kids.  They (6 and 10) weren't even born for most of the prequel releases.  But they have been able to watch them at home on VHS, and now Blu Ray.  And the Lego Star Wars game is lots of fun for all of us.  But still, I felt something was missing...

No, yesterday, my kids got to see one in a series of movies that I devoured as a kid.  On the big screen.  In a theatre full of fans.  In costume.  With all the extra entertainment provided with the special event.  It didn't matter that the 3D upgrade was so-so., quality-wise.  I mean, it's not like the scene where they babble on about midichlorians is going to benefit from 3D.  Now, the pod-racing, the ending duel, and the ending battle in space - 3D was at least entertaining there.  And it felt like it was something special for them, too.

As for 3D movies in general, I'm decidedly on the fence.  I think it *could* be used to fantastically augment a well-storyboarded movie.  I think upgrading a movie that was "choreographed" for a 2D medium will only ever produce so-so results, unless lots of reshooting goes along with it.  Let's face it, I never thought this release was made for me - you known, one of those kids who saw this in the theatre at 7.  It was made for me to share.  In a way that could never happen in a home video release.  If a 3D upgrade is the necessary excuse that allows that to happen, I'm ok with that.  Besides, we got in on Matinee prices, so it wasn't as big a hit to the wallet as it could have been...  Still, for the full experience, well worth the price of admission.

P.S. Han shot first. Even my daughter knows that. ;)

[jedijeff]

Andrew and I went this afternoon.  I was a bit disappointed as well.  The previews all looked great and then the beginning of the movie looked awesome.  As the movie went forward I started to forget it was in 3D.  Every once in awhile I would remember because the effect would be really strong.  But here is where I had the problem.   I have seen this movie many times...  but somehow sitting in the big theater after paying a tidy some of cash for us to see it, I grew bored and even annoyed at the script and acting.  I know, I know.  I guess I just shook my head and thought... I liked this?  Don't get me wrong, there are some really great moments, but they are very few compared with the original trilogy.  The graphics are stunning, the music is amazing, but the story is very dull.  Somehow I thought that the 3D would fix that for me...   silly huh?  I actually thought about leaving an hour into it because I was getting bored.  Then I thought... "Hey I just paid a lot of money to see this and get these cool Darth Maul glasses."  So I stayed, not before nodding off a couple of times.  I guess it was cool to see Star Wars in a theater again.  I think I'm spoiled with Clone Wars each week, now that show rocks.  Maybe they could do that in 3D?

Congratulations George, you are now making even more money.

And you summed up the exact reasons that I won't be seeing it. I love 3D, but I still remember how much this movie did not entertain me. As curious as I am to see what it looks like, I can't see myself ever paying money for this movie again. It could be in immersion VR and I'd still pass.

Jeff, I get what your saying, but there is no special bar from being re-released.  If you want to do it and have a distributor, you can do it. It's not that hard. I've seen Star Trek on several re-releases and they even did it with Star Trek V. It doesn't say anything about anything other than a distributor wanted to show it again.

It also not like other films don't do the same thing. If they think they can make a dollar, then they do it. It has nothing to do with how George is handling the franchise or how it's being managed at all. It's about the dollars and I think it might be a play to try to get the title back from Avatar. Star wars has for a long time been in the top five of top grossing films ... until recent years. They aren't even in the top ten, but re-releases count to add dollars to that total and Right now Cameron is king.

I don't disagree about making money being the primary objective and they would not re release this if they did not feel that there was money to be made. But for a Movie this old, and in this day and age of so many movies out their, I think it is special this got the wide release it got. Other movies have been released, you are right, but not with as much promotion, and the only ones I can think off the top of my head, are the Disney ones.

I am not sure if the final goal is to beat Cameron, as I think Avatar has eclipsed whatever Star Wars could ever get, looking on IMDB Avatar leads the way, and by a big margin. The returns for these Star Wars movies will be modest in todays standards, I think they are projecting between 20 to 30 million for TPM and I saw it opened at 23, so suspect whatever it earns in the next few weeks will be considerably less, so that will not get it anywhere near Avatar. I think more so they just want to try and keep the Star Wars movies relevant with movie goers, and keep it in the minds of the public and younger generation, which then keeps the merchandise machine going.

Titanic is coming out in 3D, will be interested to see how that does, my gut tells me it might be more successful, since it has a wider appeal then TPM, so at the end of the Day Cameron is still King of the Box Office.

[jedijeff]

I took the whole family went to the special event in Denver yesterday (90 minute drive!).  The kids had a blast checking out everyone's costumes (Thanks 501st!).  We all chipped in to help build the lego version of the poster.  I think my daughter was so excited by the light sabers, she's ready to blow her entire saved allowance on one!  My son (as Anakin) received a particularly warm greeting from a lovely woman dressed as Shmi right as we walked up  - "Ani! Ani!" - many pictures taken and shared.

For me, the day was never about just the movie.  At least for me.  It was entirely about being able to share an amazing story from my childhood with my kids.  They (6 and 10) weren't even born for most of the prequel releases.  But they have been able to watch them at home on VHS, and now Blu Ray.  And the Lego Star Wars game is lots of fun for all of us.  But still, I felt something was missing...

No, yesterday, my kids got to see one in a series of movies that I devoured as a kid.  On the big screen.  In a theatre full of fans.  In costume.  With all the extra entertainment provided with the special event.  It didn't matter that the 3D upgrade was so-so., quality-wise.  I mean, it's not like the scene where they babble on about midichlorians is going to benefit from 3D.  Now, the pod-racing, the ending duel, and the ending battle in space - 3D was at least entertaining there.  And it felt like it was something special for them, too.

As for 3D movies in general, I'm decidedly on the fence.  I think it *could* be used to fantastically augment a well-storyboarded movie.  I think upgrading a movie that was "choreographed" for a 2D medium will only ever produce so-so results, unless lots of reshooting goes along with it.  Let's face it, I never thought this release was made for me - you known, one of those kids who saw this in the theatre at 7.  It was made for me to share.  In a way that could never happen in a home video release.  If a 3D upgrade is the necessary excuse that allows that to happen, I'm ok with that.  Besides, we got in on Matinee prices, so it wasn't as big a hit to the wallet as it could have been...  Still, for the full experience, well worth the price of admission.

P.S. Han shot first. Even my daughter knows that. ;)

Cool Picture and Story Ricdude, sounds like you had a great time, as well as your kids. Must have been great to share Star Wars with them at a Movie theatre, with some of the excitement we got to experience when the movies came out the first time.

[Dangelus]

So, I went to see this today in a good size theater.  Not a really big crowd at all.  Overall, while I enjoyed seeing the movie again on the big screen I found the 3D effect fairly mediocre.  It appeared obvious to me certain scenes that were effects heavy they were able to add some depth and "3D-ness" to the view, but much of the movie had nothing really altered.  I slipped the glasses up and down several times during the film and it was interesting, the scenes that didn't seem to be touched much looked like a standard movie picture.  When a scene with a little 3D showed up the scene would then show two distinct images that the 3D glasses trick your eyes and brain into seeing it with added depth or 3D.  I have to say overall I was a bit disappointed.  It appeared like many other converted to 3D films.  Actually to me the picture wasn't nearly as bright, crisp and sharp as the Blu-Ray image on my HDTV. 

Ok, now I know I've made my view on 3D films pretty well know but I went into this with as much of an open mind as I could.  But ultimately I just still feel it's a gimmick and didn't add much at all to seeing the film.  In fact like I said above I find the picture more vibrant and stunning on Blu-Ray.  So, that's my initial impressions of this first converted film from GL.

P.S.  I will say "The Hobbit" preview (filmed with 3D gear) looked amazing!

It's no surprise you didn't find the picture any better than your blu-ray. Unfortunately George for some reason didn't encode his digital masters at 4K like most studios have been doing for years but went with 1080p. So all his 3D conversions will be sourced from this too.

[Rico]

Great pics ricdude!  That's awesome to get the family into SW.

[X]

So, I went to see this today in a good size theater.  Not a really big crowd at all.  Overall, while I enjoyed seeing the movie again on the big screen I found the 3D effect fairly mediocre.  It appeared obvious to me certain scenes that were effects heavy they were able to add some depth and "3D-ness" to the view, but much of the movie had nothing really altered.  I slipped the glasses up and down several times during the film and it was interesting, the scenes that didn't seem to be touched much looked like a standard movie picture.  When a scene with a little 3D showed up the scene would then show two distinct images that the 3D glasses trick your eyes and brain into seeing it with added depth or 3D.  I have to say overall I was a bit disappointed.  It appeared like many other converted to 3D films.  Actually to me the picture wasn't nearly as bright, crisp and sharp as the Blu-Ray image on my HDTV. 

Ok, now I know I've made my view on 3D films pretty well know but I went into this with as much of an open mind as I could.  But ultimately I just still feel it's a gimmick and didn't add much at all to seeing the film.  In fact like I said above I find the picture more vibrant and stunning on Blu-Ray.  So, that's my initial impressions of this first converted film from GL.

P.S.  I will say "The Hobbit" preview (filmed with 3D gear) looked amazing!

It's no surprise you didn't find the picture any better than your blu-ray. Unfortunately George for some reason didn't encode his digital masters at 4K like most studios have been doing for years but went with 1080p. So all his 3D conversions will be sourced from this too.

Yeah, I didn't get that either at first. My only guess is that he shot in 1080p as an early adopter and can't go up.

[ricdude]

Actually, Phantom Menace was filmed on 35mm, the last Star Wars film to do so...

[Bryancd]

I really felt the clarity of the picture was much better then what I can recall. I also could see there were scenes which had no 3D compositing, noticed when I went to go the bathroom and removed the glasses. But that didn't bother me in the least. To be honest, I appreciate they exercised restraint in the up-conversion. I can't help but think that had they really gone and tried to make every scene appear 3D it would have looked clunky and people would have been complaining about that. I think they appreciated the limitation of doing this conversion. So I have an opportunity to see these movies with an amazing picture quality and some fun 3D effects. Well worth the $ IMO. I'll see it again and support their efforts to continue to do these releases.

[QuadShot]

No offense, but I am one (probably one of the ONLY ones), that like all 6 of the Star Wars movies. And I will most likely see this in 3D.

[Bryancd]

No offense, but I am one (probably one of the ONLY ones), that like all 6 of the Star Wars movies. And I will most likely see this in 3D.

None taken. :) TPM has really grown on me, I think visually it may be the prettiest STAR WARS movie, perhgaps because it was filmed in 35MM and not digital. I think I might actuall prefer it to ATOC.