This week I spent some time with my neice & nephew before the new school session begins and I got to take them to watch a movie they have been wanting to watch for a while, Spy Kids 4 Movie: All The Time In The World in 4D.
My ears pricked up when I heard the phrase ’4D’ and I was truly looking forward to it. According to my neice, 4D means you get to smell all the scents on screen.
Hmm, intriguing. How was that going to be acheived? Via some special fragrance being sprayed at regular intervals in the movie hall? I couldn’t wait to see it.
I am not going to go into too much detail of the film as I do not wish to ruin it for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. However, I would discuss my overall experience.
I was a bit worried that the price would be exorbitant due to the 4D element. It turned out that it actually cost about £30, which for 1 adult and 2 kids was kinda reasonable. Perhaps going to see the movie midweek and early afternoon helped keep the ticket price down.
Anyhoos, after ordering our usual movie snacks – popcorn, sushies, nachos and hotdogs – we made our way towards the screen room. At the entrance, we were given 3D glasses and a card with several numbers on it. Um……huh?
The movie itself was quite good. The special effects, the acting, the one liners, and the overall storyline seemed to cater well to the mixed crowd of both children and adults. Jessica Alba’s character kicked butt and looked hot while doing it, even though she was in her latter stage of pregnancy.
What completely and utterly ruined this movie was the numbered cards we were given. Now these cards were meant to add that extra D factor to transform this movie from 3D to 4D.
In my opinion, they shouldn’t have bothered. The way it worked was like this. At various intervals during the movie, a number from 1 to 8 would flash up on the screen and then you have rub the corresponding number on your card to smell it.
What the? Firstly, a majority of the smells all seemed the same and secondly, a lot of people seemed quite frustrated as they were not able to rub it vigorously enough to release the scent. As a result, rather than being absorbed in the storyline of the movie, many of the veiwing customers spent a large portion of the movie trying to scratch and sniff those smell cards.
Our 3D Glasses
Since when did a scratch and sniff card make a 3D movie 4D? This movie would appeal to toddlers for visual effects and for being quite loud. For the kids old enough to understand and follow the storyline, it was quite annoying after a while.
Many complained that all the numbers smelt the same, of bubblegum, which may actually be a good thing as I do not think people want to smell baby diaper poo.
Others, like myself, were able to distinguish 3 different smells: bubblegum, citrus, and old feet on the scene that was meant to be baby diaper poo.
In addition, did the movie producers stop to consider that some children might actually be allergic to some of the smells. My 11 year old neice who is severly asthmatic and has chronic eczema seemed okay, but I was relieved to have her Epi-Pen (adrenaline shot) nearby, just in case.
The Smell Card
Back View of The Card
Like I said, great movie, nice SX, good storyline, but the Spy Kids 4 movie should have remained a 3D movie.
