Hollywood is missing the point with 3D!

This post is going to make me sound like a cranky old lady, but I don't care. Add this to the list of things that really irk me: the sudden increase in the number of 3D films for kids.

You know what? I don't want every movie I take my little girl to see to be in 3D. First of all, they charge WAY too much for the extra "delights" of 3D. Guess what people — little kids don't need to see meatballs zooming out of the screen at them at 60 miles an hour! Adding insult to injury — they charge an arm and a leg just to get a pair of the cheap disposable glasses most kids don't keep on. You can't opt out, because then the film looks blurry if you don't keep your spectacles in place. Of course, if they made the glasses CHILD SIZED my daughter might keep them on for more than 5 minutes. And you can't save them and bring them back and get a discount. Isn't that wasteful? Some adults have even complained that the 3-D glasses are too cheap.

Don't get me wrong. There is a time and a place for 3D and I had fun going to see "Coraline" (without my 4 year old of course — that was way too scary for her!). We adults had a good time at the theater. But when we were kids, 3D was an occasional, special treat. Now? It's everywhere and every day. My daughter did see "Up" this year, with her uncle, and it sounded great. That's cool.

But why must everything that comes out for children now be in 3D? I took my daughter to see "Ice Age 3" (she was getting over a cold and we needed something to do indoors.) We liked "Ice Age 1" a lot, and "Ice Age 2" was OK. "Ice Age 3," of course, was terrible in more ways than I can detail here, but what made it worse?

We had to watch it in 3D.

I thought my daughter might have fun going to see the recent, special re-release of Toy Story 1 and 2, since these are huge favorites of hers and she has never seen them on the big screen. But who wants to pony up that much money for something we have on DVD — and do I really need to see Buzz and Woody fight and wrestle in 3D?

No, folks. No I don't.

Recently a friend at my husband's job had some free movie passes. They have to be used by tomorrow. The one theater near us that would accept them is showing one kid's flick. It is, of course, in 3D, but the passes have tiny print on them that say they can't be used for 3D movies. Nope — cause those cost extra!