What's up with movie tickets? The price, that's what!

Last week while doing research for How to Train Your Dragon I went onto Fandango to check out the times for the show, plus I had head some prebuzz about just how good the 3D was for the film. The film was showing in regular 2D, Real 3D and IMAX. Well, IMAX Lite as my local Regal Cinemas don't have the full size IMAX. Suprisingly the only place on Oahu to see IMAX is at the Polynesian Cultural Center and they show mostly enviromovies. My mouth dropped when I saw the prices.

For the privilege of seeing a film in 3D, my local theater was doing an up charge of $2.50 per movie. The price would fluctuate between an evening time and the matinee time in the late afternoon and earlier. For IMAX Lite, it was $15 regardless of the time of day. Regular movies were $8.25 for the matinee prices. I really couldn't tell you what the regular price of the movie was as I hadn't paid full price in a long long time. Over at Consolidated Theaters big Ward Center complex, I almost never go there. One of the reasons is that on the weekend they bump up the prices on all showings plus they don't have a rewards program.

SO, I thought I'd splurge and see the 3D version of Dragon. When I looked at the price on Fandango, my jaw dropped open. The ticket price had gone up to $12.25 from $10.75. A 14% increase in price, but when you look at where the increase was, it was the 3D up charge, now an extra $3.75 for seeing a 3D film. The regular matinee price is now $8.50 up $0.25 or a modest 3%. Seeing a 3D movie as compared to a regular movie is now 44% more expensive. The real shock is when you look at the up charge by itself. $1.75 is a HUGE increase when you consider that the old base was $2.50. In other words, they, meaning the movie companies, think that a 70% increase is OK. On top of that, they ask you to recycle the glasses and if you bring your own, you don't receive a discount for being environmentally aware. Bummer.

Now movies are fighting for IMAX lite and 3D theaters because they think people are willing to shell out extra money for the experience. I personally don't think in most cases that the 3D in the movie is really adding much. Most of the movies that are going 3D now are not shot in 3D with two cameras to create the stereoscopic images needed in order to produce the effects. Most of them are now shot with regular cameras and then post processed for the 3D effects. Personally, I would love to seem them invest in digital projectors. In the last two movies that I saw there were issues with the projection system. Many times I see movies on opening day at the first show of the day. This should be the pristine print. I can't tell you how many times I've had to get a hold of the manager to let them know about scratches in the film or there are color problems especially around the end of the reels.

In past depressions/recessions people flocked to the movies as a release. Same is happening now. After all, taking a family of 4 to the movies on a per person basis is cheaper going to let's say, a Disney park. But, when you add in the extras it still gets expensive and people would probably go to the movies more often than a Disney park. I didn't check the prices at the concession stand. The prices for snacks has been high for some time. I've found that if I don't eat before I go to the theaters that I have a tendency to purchase the food. Luckily where I go there is a five minute walk to the Costco. For $1.57 I get a really big hot dog AND a drink for less than anything that the theater has to offer. The only thing the same price is the flavored salts for flavoring the popcorn. Getting that beef or polish dog really hits the spot and keeps me from buying the expensive stuff! So the theater is not getting my concession money due to the cost of their food and most of the ticket price does not go to the theater.

Even though the prices are going up I don't want to give the theater any more money than I have to. Luckily for me, at Regal they have a loyalty program and with the price of the ticket now $8.50 they round up to give me 9 points instead of just 8. That allows me to get the freebie rewards sooner! When I get my free small soda, I pay $1.00 extra to move up to the large and for $1.50 the popcorn moves from small to large when I receive that as a freebie. Unfortunately, with the free movie ticket, they won't apply the cost of the free ticket against the cost of a 3D or IMAX Lite movie so if I ever want to see those movies, I don't have any discounts available.

Why did the price of the tickets go up? According to CNN and Wall Street Journal, after the success of Avatar and Alice in Wonderland the movie companies and theaters think that you're willing to pay out the extra money. But a 70% increase for 3D....that's a bit excessive in my book.

My suggestion to combat the rising prices is to let your local theater manager know. Also let them know that the rise of the ticket price has affected your ability to purchase any of the food from the concession. I don't know if this would work at your theater but at mine, inspection for items like soda and snacks are not conducted. Having said items in plain sight they will say something, but if in your cargo pants pockets or back packs or handbags make it in just fine.

I'm just sayin'.

Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon

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The guys who brought us a fuzzy blue genetic experiment designed to bring havoc bring us a sleek black fast, dangerous and endearing dragon in DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon.

Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders were brought in about a year ago to get this story back on track. They bring us a story about understanding our own strengths and weaknesses, finding our place and challenging the accepted norm through a viking village and its residents that gets attacked by different dragon species. Because Dean and Chris were the creators of Disney's Lilo and Stitch, you'll see a number of resemblances between Stitch and the Night Fury dragon in both form and action.

Tickets for this show were available in 2D, Real 3D and IMAX at my local theater. I thought about the 3D for this film as there was some pre-buzz about how the 3D really added to this film which I hadn't heard anyone say for Alice in Wonderland and to a degree Avatar. Upon looking up information on Fandango there had been a change in 3D pricing that made me very unhappy and will write about later in another blog posting. The price for the 2D film had gone up too, only $0.25, so not too bad, with the bright side being now the loyalty points that I get for the film will be rounded up from 8 to 9 rewarding me with soda, popcorn and free movies faster!

Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is the son of the viking village leader, Stoick (Gerard Butler). While most of the male vikings look like offensive line football players, Hiccup is not that. Instead of getting any brawn, he's got the brains. To keep him safe Stoick has Hiccup work for Gobber (Craig Ferguson) as an apprentice in the metal shop. The other teens of the village Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut (America Ferrera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, TJ Miller, and Kristen Wiig respectively) are allowed to help battle the dragons with water as we know they can breathe fire and water puts out fire. Being this was back in the day they didn't have sodium bicarbonate foams to use. Being viking, they all aspire to be dragon slayers but are too young to tackle the killing part.

What adds to the depth and fun of the story is the details presented as to the different packages that dragons come in. Each has their own physical characteristics and methods for destruction. It is sort of like in a role playing game where some have strength, some speed, others very powerful fire breath and their weaknesses like only having so many shots of fire before they have to reload. I loved the different back stories of the distinctive types of dragons. If they don't have it out already with the release of the film, I'm sure that there is a card game like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh based on the array dragons presented in the film.

While wanting to fit into the role of a dragon slaying viking, Hiccup realizes he needs to do things differently. One of his inventions actually works and he lands a dragon but he doesn't have the heart to kill it to prove himself. By observation he learns about dragons and the way they act and behave which is nothing like the young vikings are now being taught in their dragon slaying classes by Gobber or by what's in the books. After becoming friendly Hiccup names him Toothless and helps him with a prosthetic tail wing.

Hiccups ends up enlightening the villagers on many levels. He has to work through the preconceived notions of what a viking is supposed to be with his Dad and Goober. On a different level he and Astrid work out what is bravery. When two forces oppose each other can they put down their differences to work for a common good? The story line emotionally works well. Toothless didn't "speak" except for some occasional growls but the animation of the face, especially the eyes, let you know what was happening within his mind and emotions. In the theater there were a number of laughs, a couple of gasps, some uh ohs and at one point someone yelled NOOOO!

Not seeing the movie in 3D affects my ability to say if they maximized the animation to it's fullest affect. The set designs with the landscapes and building designs were very good. The carvings and totems in the buildings were highly detailed as were the skin textures of the different dragons. There were even a couple of shots from the perspective looking up through the surface of water as compared to looking down into the water that were unique. The hair modeling, especially for the facial portion of the vikings was impressive. Stoik has a big red beard with knots and Goober had his blond mustache tied by material bands which were detailed where you could see individual hair strands and how they were twist or run through a bunch of gathered hair. Again, impressive. Hate to be the person who had to sit around and wait for the rendering to finish on those frames! They probably grew a beard themselves just waiting for the work to complete.

There were a few areas where I did have a problem. On a couple of occasions the movement of the characters and the lip sync weren't quite right. Within the plot there did seem to be some holes. Ancient vikings having no fear or apprehension of flying was one. The biggest being how Toothless ended up having lost part of his tail wings. It was glossed over probably because it would have lead to a much more complicated plot conflict they would have had to work out but didn't want to get bogged down in detail.

One other thing I did notice about this film was three of the main character voices have other movies currently in theaters this weekend. America Ferrera has Our family Wedding, Gerard Butler has The Bounty Hunter and Jay Baruchel is the main character in She's Out of My League. The beauty of doing voice acting!

The film runs 98 minutes and is rated PG for sequences of intense action and some scary images, and brief mild language. Despite some flaws, there is something for everyone in the family to enjoy.

The Movie Monkey

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Memories of Captain EO

Well, it's official, Disney has announced the opening of the Captain EO Tribute at Disneyland. Michael Jackson as Captain EO and his rag tag band will once again grace a big screen on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. Instead of living on the small, grainy digital files of YouTube a reconditioned large version will be projected for everyone to enjoy.

My first experience with Captain EO was in 1986 at the then EPCOT Center in the Magic Eye Theater the day after Christmas that year. I had worked for Disney on the Walt Disney World College Program on the Spring 1986 program and then stayed on through the summer. I had left a week before Labor Day to return back home to UMass Amherst to finish up my degree. At school my cast member friend Martha mailed me a copy of the internal cast member news letter the Eyes & Ears that announced the opening of Captain EO as well as the flier given to people going to the Captain EO Blast Off event.

I had flown down on Christmas day with another WDWCPer Bob to work at Disney during the Christmas break and we were joined by Sheilagh who had flying privileges through her dad, a pilot. Bob and I had convinced Sheilagh to stay another day, Friday, in order to go into the parks, enjoy ourselves and see the show. She pulled a couple of strings and we enjoyed the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center that busy holiday season. We spent the morning at the Kingdom and then moved over to EPCOT that afternoon.

The crowds at the Journey into Imagination were huge for two reasons. The first was just being that time of year for crowds and the second being the new show staring Michael Jackson who was as at the height of his popularity. The line was LONG and took close to two hours of patience and hanging in a hot, crowded pre-show area. We finally got into the main theater and put on our purple 3D glasses. I'll never forget the lights dimming and stars appearing on the screen spreading around the side of the theater and then all of a sudden becoming 3D with stars pushing back towards negative infinity, the swirling galaxy, the floating rock and the laser blast clearing the way for Captain EO's ship.

We startled and watched intently as to when we'd see Michael appear. When he finally appeared everyone cheered and clapped. It was an exciting show watching his ship crash, spot lights searching for him, his capture, his rag tag band turning into the band, the singing, the whips, the dancing, Angelica Houston turning from the Evil Supreme Leader to a beautiful Grecian-like ruler. We had a good time!

I remembered towards the end of the movie Michael walking out and smacking the back of one hand into the palm of the other as well as yelling OOOOOOOHHH in his high pitched voice several times. I didn't know it at the time, but these combined action would be used over and over again while I was working at The Land pavilion by my leads Jay and Kathy to call us to action when they wanted to get something done.

Over the next month I saw Captain EO several more times as the crowds died down a bit. It was so popular that the two characters Fuzzball and Hooter were made into plush figures that many people, including myself purchased. They are in my trunk back at my parents house. I checked ebay and didn't find any Hooter plushes but a Fuzzball plush was going for $50 buy it now!

I was fortunate as another MKCPer Joe had stayed on to work the 15th Anniversary event that kicked off on October 1. He had sent me a copy of the press kit they were giving out. Included were 2 promotional photos dealing with Captain EO. The first was Captain EO with Fuzzball sitting on his right shoulder and the second was of Hooter. Those two got all the attention, Major and Minor Domo and Idee and Odee didn't get much fanfare at all as far as merchandise was concerned.

So something that I never thought I would see again outside of YouTube is coming back. While I know that it won't be the same, with the Captain EO Tribute Show releasing in Disneyland, I look forward to reliving the experience that was Captain EO. Michael Jackson is no longer with us, but we can enjoy what he left behind. I'll be at Disneyland for the Disney Podcast Network Westfest Event and a couple of days before and after. If you'll happen to be in Anaheim from April 28 to May 5 and you'd like to get together with other Disney and Michael Jackson fans to either experience Captain EO for the first time or you're hundredth time, use one of the contact options on the side of the column to let me know you'd be interested in seeing Captain EO.

In the mean time as Captain EO might suggest remember to give people the key to unlock the beauty that is within side them just waiting to get out!

All pictures copyright Disney 1986. Watermarks added by me.