The IMAX experience at Lido

Ever since I’ve watched Avatar in 3D, I’ve had very high expectations for 3D movies. There is everything to love about it- the crystal clear clarity, the vibrant colours and just the way the whole movie seems to jump at you at the most exciting and crucial moments transporting you right into that moment.

So when it came to selecting the cinema to catch the Pirates of the Caribbean 4 for my date night with the hubby, we decided to watch it at Lido for the IMAX experience. The Omnitheatre also boost of it’s IMAX technology, but seriously how many of us would travel all the way to the Science Centre to catch a movie?

 

Upon setting foot into the refurbished Lido, I was wowed by the minimalist and clean look which exudes class with a capital C. Someone did get a S$20 million facelift after all. Immediately, you’ll notice that gone are the fastfood outlets and Starbucks that provided cinema goers the convenience of a quick bite before catching a movie. All you get now is MovieBites, which is Shaw’s in-house snack bar. So if you enjoy your movies with snacks do give yourself some buffer time for the queue as they can get pretty long speaking from experience.

In place of Starbucks and the tables that used to be in front of the huge trailer screen, there is now a centralised waiting lounge area. I’m surprised that the lounge are all circular in shape. After all isn’t it odd to have people sitting opposite you staring as you cosy up with your partner before your show? Just a thought 🙂 If you see from my photo above, there is alot of stark space around, so why not create more seats for people to wait around. But the hubby feels that if they did that, it might make the place less “atas”, you know the whole less is more idea.

Before the movie started, they screened a trailer of the upcoming “Born to be wild” movie, a show about orphaned animlas who were rescued, raised and then released back into the wild. The 3D effects for this movie definitely wowed me and the animals felt like they were right in front of my face! I have a feeling this movie is going to get lots of raves because of the lovely baby animals and the brilliant 3D effects.

The 3D effects for Pirates however was not as spectucular. But the IMAX experience nevertheless made it an enjoyable watch. At some point during the movie, I found the 3D effects “blurred” when I leaned my head on the hubby. Our seats were already almost in the middle, cant imagine what the guys sitting at the sides saw.

Another movie that ought to be good in 3D is the Kungfu Panda 2. After all, it is an animation show so adding more drama with 3D should be a breeze.

So have I convinced you to pay $22 for the IMAX experience? The price of the peak hour IMAX movie tickets goes for $22 while off peak tickets are priced at $19. In comparison,  the normal 3D tickets goes for $11 from Monday-Thursday and $14 from Friday-Sunday/Public Holiday. Don’t be too put off by the price tag for the IMAX experience, after all we Singaporeans know all about being the first to try the latest thing that comes up in our boring little city.

And before I end this post, a piece of ironic news, Johhny Depp cant watch his movie in 3D as he has, in his words, funny eyes! That’s just too funny not to share.

Tagged: 3D, IMAX, Lido, Movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 4