Jeffrey Katzenberg, for all his attempted promotion of digital 3D as the future of entertainment as we know it, may have done irreversible damage yesterday by attempting to advertise DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming digital 3D feature Monsters vs. Aliens by way of an anaglyphic 3D Super Bowl commercial necessitating outdated red/blue glasses. Here is a collection of scathing reactions found around the blogosphere:
- Cinematical is polling readers for their reactions to the 3D ads, and so far the majority response, at 43%, is “I never picked up the glasses to begin with.” The most popular response from those who did have the glasses: “They were okay.”
- One Cinematical reader asked the most important question in the poll’s comments section: “Why promote the amazing current gen tech that would wow the majority of public that hasn’t seen it with antiquated red/blue-lackluster crap?”
- CrunchGear also has a poll, and the current majority is of the opinion the 3D ads were lame.
- A sample comment on David Poland’s Hot Blog: “The unanimous opinion here was that the 3D in the Monsters Vs. Aliens ad sucked it” and simply. “
- Alex of FirstShowing.net rants against the ads: “This whole Monsters vs Aliens gimmick, or publicity stunt, or whatever you want to call it, only achieved the act of being a gimmick and nothing more. All of those millions of people who did have glasses were caught up in a frenzy of enthusiam over the novelty rather than genuinely interested.”
- I Watch Stuff also complains about the gimmickry: “I thought all the animation studios were pushing hard to legitimize 3-D as more than a gaudy bell and/or whistle. If that’s the case, maybe they should starting cutting all the look-at-this-coming-at-the-screen!-for-no-reason crap. A paddleball zooming at me? Come on. And furthermore, a paddleball at all? Does this generation of kids even know what a paddleball is? Why not a guy using a stick to roll a hoop out of the screen?”
- Too little too late? DVICE got a response from someone who will be harmed by the responses: “The good news: The CEO of RealD Cinema, the technique in which Monsters and Aliens will be shown in theaters when it’s release this March, assured us this morning that his effects are much better. ‘It’s important to recognize that today’s RealD 3D in theatres is a quantum leap better than what they saw on TV or may remember from years past.’ The only thing we can gather from that damage control: RealD sucks less.” Exactly, and this still doesn’t explain why millions of viewers were marketed to with the outdated effects.
- At Defamer, Seth ignores the 3D issue altogether and instead offers some criticism regarding the film itself, but ultimately he notes that negative responses don’t matter, because “This will make a gazillion dollars.” Well, if he’s right, then this won’t be a misstep for the technology after all. But I completely disagree with that box office prediction.
- And now, in case you found the glasses (I hear some people had trouble getting their hands on them) and want to watch the commercial again (or for the first time), here is the Hulu embed:
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It’s beginning to look a lot like 1991. A former Disney starlet is on track for a Best Actress nomination. One of cinema’s greatest villainous performances is a sure thing for an acting Oscar. And, due to a relatively disappointing crop of Academy Award contenders, an animated feature is being talked about for Best Picture. One major difference between now and 1991, however, is now there’s a separate Oscar category for Best Animated Feature. While that doesn’t mean Wall-E can’t be the first animated film nominated in the top category since Beauty and the Beast, it does potentially mean that it shouldn’t be.
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The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences 
