by Staci Layne Wilson [1]

Is 3-D the wave of the future or are we just channeling 50s schlockmeister William Castle? (He of Smell-O-Vision, "The Tingler" theater seats, the gimmick of having "nurses" stationed at his horror movie screenings, and of course, 3-D movies using old-fashioned anaglyph technology with the red and blue paper glasses.)

If DreamWorks' big-wig Jeffrey Katzenberg has anything to say about it, 3-D is beyond the trend phase and it's here to stay as a serious vehicle. He might be right. In the whole of last year, I think I saw two 3-D movies — in January alone, I screened two (My Bloody Valentine: 3-D, and Coraline), plus I saw a major portion of DreamWorks' upcoming animated feature Monsters Vs. Aliens.

Katzenberg makes some good arguments for the medium, saying, "In real life, our eyes work in such a way that they always enable us to know precisely where we are in an environment. This is how we experience what is going on around us at all times, and this is why we feel a part in the events taking place around us." He makes further comparison, arguing, "Sound also enables us to feel emotions, as well as the sense of touch, smell and all the information provided by our senses. If we analyze scientifically the human capacities of information perception, the area that we cannot technically reproduce well (yet) is the sense of vision.

"We're able to synthesize odors and flavors pretty accurately. We can record and play sound perfectly, and that makes us feel deeply. Listening to our favorite music in the best conditions elevates the soul and transports us. However, as far as sight is concerned, we are still very limited. We keep recording and seeing all our images in 2-D. I think that 3-D cinema is the first step of a revolution in theatrical experience that will take place during the next 20 years. This will completely change the way we will entertain ourselves in the future."

To help prove his point, some 150 million 3-D glasses were given away for Super Bowl viewers to watch a three-minute sneak preview of Monsters vs. Aliens. While 3-D telecasts are nothing new (remember when Elvira did it? She was definitely busting out all over!), this marks the first time it's been done for such a huge, mass audience.

Katzenberg called the stunt "perhaps the biggest media-advertising event in history." Katzenberg promised the quality of the 3-D will be above and beyond to what has been done in the past. He said the glasses will use Intel InTru 3-D and ColorCode 3-D, which completely does away with old anaglyph system. Don't want to bother? Not to worry — the technology will also allow those without the glasses to see an almost ordinary image on their TV screen.

Personally, I think the best use of 3-D to date has been in the live-action arena with My Bloody Valentine. Sure, there are gimmicks (buck-naked chick alert! Bloody body parts coming at-ya!), but overall the filmmakers did an impressive job of making the entire experience organic. I gladly saw it twice, and I didn't get the usual 3-D tension headache either time.

Still, those new-fangled, heavier polarizing glasses do make a rather unattractive red mark across one's nose. I wonder when they'll have the technology to counteract that?