OMG! That Was So Cool!--Sea Monsters in 3D

      My wife's six year old nephew and his family have been in town this week, so we've been looking for interesting entertainment options for them in the Triangle. Today we decided to take in Sea Monsters: a Prehistoric Adventure in 3D at the IMAX theater in Raleigh. The last time I saw a 3D movie was about twenty-five years ago, trying to balance on my nose a pair of those cardboard red/blue glasses that they used to use to create the 3D effects. That was also a sea monster movie--Jaws 3--and it was wretched, wretched.
      Well 3D has come a long way, baby. Obviously aimed at a young audience, and despite a few moments of dubious theorizing and over-dramatization a la the Discovery Channel, "Sea Monsters in 3D" was nevertheless enthralling from beginning to end. Mostly computer animated with a few live-action scenes of actors playing paleontologists and amateur fossil hunters, "Sea Monsters" dramatizes the lives of a few of the sexier species of prehistoric marine life. The visual effects are truly impressive, to the point that objects seem to actually pass behind you as they cross your field of vision. The theater was filled with school groups, and every menacing approach of a toothy leviathan elicited delighted screams of terror from the crowd. They would also wave their hands in the air in a futile attempt to grab the floating objects that did in fact seem within the viewers' grasp.
      I'm not sure who enjoyed it more--my nephew or me.