Beowulf and the New 3D

This weekend marks what must be the seventeen-millionth 3D revolution in the last 50 years, with the premier of the movie Beowulf in IMAX 3D. There's no doubt that the technology keeps getting better, and the IMAX experience is unparalleled. But Beowulf could be a key test for this new iteration of 3D, an indicator of whether it's really going to catch on.

The movie is a CGI-animated re-telling of the classic man-vs.-monsters tale. It's the original Jaws. Some critics have protested the transformation of the titular monster's even-more-fierceful mom into a temptress played by a digitized Angelina Jolie, but that seems off-the-mark. In real life she's a maneater, so why can't she play one onscreen?

Back to the technology, though. The early reviews of the 3D experience have been mixed—there are still reports of the shadow-image effect called "ghosting" that the engineers behind the new technology swore they had eliminated—but if you're in the mood for a monster flick, find the nearest IMAX and decide for yourself.—Gregory Mone