ENCOUNTER IN THE THIRD DIMENSION

DATELINE - Los Angeles, California February 1999

I had the distinct pleasure to attend an industry screening of a new IMAX movie, ENCOUNTER IN THE THIRD DIMENSION, produced by nWAVE PICTURES and IWERKS ENTERTAINMENT with producer CHARLOTTE HUGGINS and director BEN STASSEN. It's a 3-D film, and let me tell you, everyone must see this to believe it, and then you'll want to see it several more times just for fun, and then you'll see it a few more times to take your friends and loved ones to experience it. I've never really been a 3-d fan. It's never done much for me. The exhibit at DISNEYLAND-CAPTAIN EOS, and its' replacement HONEY I SHRUNK THE AUDIENCE are entertaining indeed. But this new 3-D uses computer graphics and technology like never before, and it is indescribable.

But let me take a stab. Remember the very first time you rode a roller coaster, or running through the streets as a kid on Halloween, recall the first time you saw STAR WARS or JURASSIC PARK or bodysurfing on a day when the waves roll in nice and smooth, or even swooshing down a powdered slope in Utah. It's all of these and more! I was literally screaming like a child out of excitement, apprehension, and astonishment. It was 48 minutes of exhilarating fun. And the script/plot was irrelevant. 3-D technology has achieved what virtual reality has been promising for nearly a decade now. You are made a part of the film, as the image moves out from the screen and right before your nose. At one point I had to hold my hand in front of my eyes because a steely image of a spider-like monster was about to zap me, and I couldn't stand it. Wow, the applications of this technology are astounding, and all you have to do is put the goofy glasses on, sit and enjoy.

The movie is about a clumsy professor, played by STUART PANKIN, and his flying robot assistant, MAX, in an elaborate laboratory which you can stare at seemingly for hours, marveling at the detail. The camera movement puts you right in the lab. The professor is trying to get a virtual ELVIRA-MISTRESS OF THE DARK to demonstrate his new 3-D discovery, and she ultimately takes over the lab. In the process the audience is given a bit of a history lesson of 3-D, and taken on a ride to the center of the planet and out into space, and places in between. Yeah, yeah. The screenwriter needn't purchase a monkey suit for the Academy Awards, but the technical people sure should. The effects are enough to have you gawking for the entire show and reacting for days after. It is unbelievable, you must see it!

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