Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - was my first foray into 'the world of 3D cinema' (yes I'm aware of the 'I wish everything was in 3D' gag - I keep spreading it after all!) & it was immediately apparent that there was something different about the presentation of the film - the screen seemed more alive than ever before.It was quite bizarre to see Manny's tusks & trunk (he's the Mammoth don't you know!) pop out of the screen - bizarre but good. Also because 3D is effectively messing with your perspectives & depth perception, it took a little while for my eyes to adjust. One thing that I thought was useful for this was one of the adverts (for Real D, the 3D glasses company) which had a dog with a ball which he chased round the screen - nice.

Alice in Wonderland - a very good film, but the 3D element was almost unnoticeable (apart from the traditional & necessary running through the trees clip). However, the film was (pardon the obvious pun) wonderful. I'm vaguely familiar with the source material (I must have seen Disney animate version at some point in my youth) & knew some of the characters. I also know that the author was based in Oxford. However, it was exciting to see a fresh take on everything & Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat was brilliant. All the characters seemed authentic & magical and it really did feel like a dream most of the time. Jonny Depp was his usual mad self (sorry!) as the Hatter & Helena Bonham-Carter was great as the selfish Red Queen. I think it's definitely worth watching, but I'm not sure that the 3D element was essential, as it's difficult to see where it was used. However, this might well be the beauty of the medium.
For further reading: this BBC article looks at the current trend of fast releases for home use (Blu Ray & DVD) - an interesting read.
And while the debate about DVD release windows goes on, a further element in the mix is the dawn of 3D television.3D sets are already on sale in the US, and manufacturers hope to launch their products in the UK and Europe over the next couple of months. Sky rolls out its 3D service to customers later this year."3D in the home is coming," says Mr Cooper, "but those TV sets are going to be a bit more expensive than the standard top of the range 2D HD TVs - and if people want to watch 3D films it is a question of buying into a 3D enabled Blu-ray player."The debate continues...