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The Phantom Menace 3D: Did it Look Good?

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. The Phantom Menace 3D is the only post-processed 3D film worth seeing.

Before we dive in any further, it’s important to talk about what those three words mean: post-processed 3D. From a simplistic view, there are really only two ways to create a 3D film. One method is to shoot natively in the format. The best example of this would be James Cameron’s Avatar, a film that was shot with custom-designed cameras that sport two lenses recording simultaneously. This allows the filmmaker to shoot in 3D right at that moment by having one lens film at one depth and the second lens film at a different depth, naturally creating the effect of looking into the distance rather than looking at a series of flat images on a screen.

The second method is what’s called post-processed 3D, the method used with every other 3D movie you’ve seen since 2009. There’s a reason critics and filmgoers possess a certain amount of hate for movies edited in this manner. Often it’s a cheap gimmick used to make a few extra dollars, one that usually looks terrible. Characters look as if they’d been flattened by a steamroller and then dropped onto the background, blatant fourth-wall violations, odd strobing.

Post-processed 3D is usually regarded in a lesser light than natively shot 3D for a pretty good reason. Native produces better films, post-process produces significantly more garbage and dreck. Avatar is the golden standard of 3D movies because it was designed, shot for shot, from the beginning to be 3D. Just about every post-processed film wasn’t, and it clearly shows when you show up in the theater to watch it. The question now is this: can Industrial Light and Magic avoid the pitfalls these other films fell headfirst into?

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