It's not often that I get to go see a major motion picture directed by someone I know (in this case, Gil Kenan, husband of my good friend and former roommate Eliza Chaikin), so this past Friday I coughed up $10.50 to go see Monster House, that new computer animated kids horror movie. It's definitely a cartoon for kids -- even though it's ostensibly a horror flick, it never gets too scary or intense -- but what made it watchable was the movie's clever sense of humor (they don't rely on making grown-up pop culture references in order to appeal to adults) and the fact that the theater we went to was screening it in 3D (you have to wear glasses and everything). 3D's been a movie gimmick for decades, so I was a little skeptical walking into the theater about how good it'd be, but they're using a relatively new technology called RealD, and I walked out impressed. There wasn't a whole lot of the "stuff floating out in front of you that you try and grab" kind of 3D (remember Captain EO?), it was more about using the 3D to add texture and depth to everything, something which made Monster House seem like more than just yet another computer-generated cartoon. Best of all, I didn't leave the theater with a headache.
Coincidentally, I'm supposed to see a demo of Philips' new 3D television system this week. 3DTV is still years, if not decades, away from mainstream adoption, but I'm very curious to see how it compares with what I just watched.