Went to see Toy Story 3 last Thursday (I wanted to see Shrek, but the rest of the family wanted Toy Story).

Actually, it was quite good – far better than I had expected. In many ways it is similar to last years movie ‘Up’, though, instead of dealing with the theme of unfulfilled dreams, Toy Story 3 deals with the theme of growing up, letting go and moving on.

While it is a 3D movie, not much will be missed if you see it in 2D. Nothing “pops” off the screen. The movie is much more like watching a diorama with all the depth presented behind the plane of the screen.

The only annoying aspect was the 3D system used by the cinema: XpanD 3D. This is an active 3D system using LCD screens to alternately shut out images from the eyes.

The 3D effect is good, my main gripe with it is the weight of the glasses – they are thick and very front heavy. As I munched on popcorn, they tended to slide down my nose. The lighter RealD glasses (passive polarizing filters) don’t have this problem.

As to which system is better … well, each manufacturer is going to claim theirs. Personally, I don’t know. There are a lot of factors involved: image brightness, crosstalk, viewing angle, cost of converting the cinema to 3D (polarizing systems require a silver screen). And none of the companies are really forthcoming with the details. And I haven’t seen any side-by-side comparisons / objective tests – which, I suspect, would likely be prohibited by various non-disclosure agreements.

Anyway …

Toy Story 3 was a pretty good movie. I’d give it between 3-1/2 and 4 out of five. It is more than satisfying, but not quite enough for me to want to see it again.

Cinemas in Madrid are not very unlike those found in Canada. There are newer ones and older ones. Newer ones have the steeper seating and more comfortable chairs. The older ones have much flatter seating (the kind where a tall person can obscure the view for a shorter person sitting behind them).

The two principal differences are: (1) when you buy a ticket, you have a seat number (you can choose from available seats). In Canada, you purchase an admission and seating is first come, first serve.

(2) Cinemas show either show dubbed versions or original language versions with subtitles (V.O.S – Version Original Subtitulado). The V.O.S. movies are shown in the older cinemas (such as Cinema Ideal – i.e the seating is flatter). In Canada, very few foreign language films get any major distribution and, generally, tend to play in smaller speciality cinemas (such as the ByTowne in Ottawa).

What I find surprising is how many of the movies shown hear are Hollywood movies. While there are other films shown, easily 95% are the Hollywood ones. A bit disappointing, actually.