Last year, between the two of us, we watched an average of 317 movies.
This year our goal is to top that by watching at least one a day.
And as an extra special torture, we've decided to write about all of them.

21 April 2008

Jaws 3-D, dir. Joe Alves (1983)

NIKKI says:
The skeleton hand! Ahhh!

This movie kinda restored my faith in the art of the 3D sequel. After Friday 3, I was a bit concerned that the gimmick had worn thin. As awesome as those opening sheets were in that movie, the package as a whole felt like a waste of time. The movie underneath the 3D effects was just that terrible.

This one, though, wasn't so bad. And it was the perfect setting for a 3D film -- under the sea. It's not set under the sea, as such, but there are lots of shot of underwater worlds, with fish swimming right by your face. The sharks pop out, we get stuff in a syringe splurted in our faces, the skeleton hand comes right out and grabs you by the head (pretty much), and it's all very tense and scary.

Okay, so it's not tense or scary, but there are moments in the end when you think one of the dolphins has perished. And that was pretty moving.

Dennis Quaid, if I've got this right, is an architect at an underwater, sea-based theme park. His girlfriend takes care of the dolphins. They learn that a shark family has broken through the sea barriers and entered the park. It's potential devastation for all, obviously. So, they devise a plan to get the sharks out, before everyone visiting the park perishes.

Fairly standard, but not boring. And Bess Armstrong is just a great heroine -- she's dedicated to her dolphins, in love with her boyfriend in a cool, non-obsessive, non-bitchy way, and she's sure of herself. Not once do you hear cries in this movie that a chick can't save the day.

Not the best movie of all time, but certainly right near the top of the list of 3D sequels.

3/5

STEVE says:
The best part about watching any 3-D movie is the first few minutes, when Nikki is just getting used to the effect. Priceless.

Though I've only seen this movie once before (in the theater on its initial release), I remembered quite a bit of it - a whole lot more than I do from other films I saw only once 25 years ago: Shawn Brody's fear of the water (which he got over real quick, by the way, thus making it a set-up with no pay-off); the POV shot as Simon "Manimal" McCorkindale gets smashed up inside the shark; the fact that there were two sharks involved this time (which Benchley would later echo with giant squids in Beast); the massive underwater shark explosion and the triumphant dolphins. Clearly the film had an impact on my young mind. I mean, it's not a great movie, but the fact that I recalled as much as I did has gotta be testament to something.

Compared to Friday the 13 part 3 in 3-D, Jaws 3-D was a freakin' masterpiece. On its own, however, it was really just kind of average. But I'm giving it an extra half-point for effort.

3/5