Last night I sat through Alice in Wonderland with my daughter and got to see Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and company in a Tim Burton epic. We watched it on DVD.

I had low expectations but was surprised when I really liked it. The story starts off in usual visual Tim Burton fashion and grows from there on. Alice ends up in the Rabbit Hole and by the end of the movie it’s all connected and works out.

What I can’t get is how would this, or most movies, benefit from being in 3D? When I saw Pocahontas Avatar on Blu-Ray, I liked it. I could easily see how the movie was shot and generated for 3D, but the predictable story line played out well.

I’m not criticizing Avatar; who doesn’t like it when the hero beats the bad guy and gets the girl? James Cameron really knew what he was doing. He had a vision to show and kept with it. Everyone I know who saw it in 3D says that it doesn’t distract from his movie. With the right application, 3D can complement the experience. But the same movie in 2D will still work if the story line is any good.

Now 3D is a gimmick for getting people in the theater *cough* Last Airbender *cough*. But it can’t make a bad movie better. Alice in Wonderland was a good movie and I think that the 3D gimmick would distract from that.