Holiday time is drawing so near, and surely enough a new Grinch is here! For Christmas cheer a little to early, there's no movie better than this one, green and surly. Ok, so we're not going to rhyme this entire article, but how can you not throw out a verse or two in tribute to Dr. Seuss' iconic miser of merriment? Though, with a new animated version of this holiday homewrecker in theaters, we have to ask ourselves, should The Grinch steal our 3D money, or would it be better served buying a nice roast beast for a Whoville level feast?
Fear not, as To 3D Or Not To 3D is here to show you the way! We won't be Grinching on the film's actual content - you can head over to our official review to see how we felt about the third film interpretation of this legendary story - but for now it's time to pack up the sleigh, and fly into action, as The Grinch's 3D will be measured for third dimensional satisfaction!
An animated film with as many sight gags and vistas as The Grinch practically screams for the 3D treatment. Animation seems to be the last stand when it comes to third dimensional enhancements, as it's almost always used for this sort of film. When done right, the 3D effect can turn an animated film into a whole other beast entirely, as it's somewhat easier to generate effective thrills when your film is entirely computer generated.
Everything The Grinch has to offer is laid out in pretty detailed fashion. The care and time that went into this film's conversion is easy to see, as there's a lot of visual treats for your eye to consume in all three dimensions. With only a bit of dimness in the picture's brightness factor being the main shortcoming, the rest of the film's 3D polish is pretty spectacular.
We're truly lucky to have The Grinch and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in our 3D theaters at the moment. Much like the Wizarding World's latest adventure, The Grinch has some exciting material that springs forth towards the audience. Both The Grinch's misadventures in planning and actually stealing Christmas make for a lot of objects flying towards the audience, with the various devices dreamed up by Seussian loyalists also lending some visual panache to the overall product. Even the closing credits get in on the action, with the first couple of minutes containing some cute bits that stand out.
The material popping out of the screen duringThe Grinch is equally matched by their counterparts on the other side of the window. Characters and their environments are separated and well drawn when in the scope of the picture. Even more impressive is the fact that the backgrounds on display have a fantastic field of depth to them as well, with layers of objects being depicted far into the background.
For a film as gorgeously colored as The Grinch, the prospect of 3D is a bit scary. The reason for that is because between putting the typical 3D glasses on, and the condition/upkeep your local theater visits upon their projectors used for 3D showings, your dimness of picture may vary. In the presentation of The Grinch that was viewed, the picture wasn't terribly dimmed, and still totally visible. However, there was an undeniably grey wash over the image, which slightly dials the pigments on display down a notch.
While watching a 3D movie, there's always the temptation to lift up your glasses and see the picture in its natural form. If you were to do that, you'd see a varying degree of blur that is usually indicative of how much the picture has been manipulated to create a 3D image. In the case of The Grinch, there's a fantastic amount of blur that occupies quite a bit of the screen. Even in close-up shots, you can see a mixture of extreme and subtle blur, allowing for shots such as The Grinch looking down on Whoville to really stand out on both sides of the glasses.
For all of the action and slapstick comedy that The Grinch has to offer, there's a chance that some of the action will get quite dicey in the 3D shuffle. There are definitely some sequences that do play around with your eyes a little, as some of the action is a little too fast for the third dimensional enhancements to stay solid. But for the most part, the visuals won't kill your eyes too much.
The Grinch is a pretty beautiful film to behold, and the 3D conversion is pretty solid as well. With only a couple fast paced sequences wonking out the visual quality, and the brightness levels being a bit of an issue, it's 3D done exceedingly well. If you know a theater that's pretty good with keeping its projectors nice and bright, you should take your family to see this Christmas caper's 3D version.
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