Titanic 3D, same story but with more D's

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing Titanic 3D with a few friends. I was a little apprehensive about sitting through an almost three-and-a-half-hour movie that I’d already seen, but it ended up being well worth the whopping fourteen dollars. It was also my first experience watching a movie in 3D (not including Disneyland’s “Honey I Shrunk the Audience”), and although at first I found the glasses somewhat annoying and the effect a little distracting, I left thinking it was super cool!

The experience of watching Titanic again presented me with an opportunity to revisit something that I had first experienced in my childhood with fresh eyes. Even though I was only seven when Titanic was released, I can still remember “Titanic fever” and how crazy excited I was to see it in theaters with my family. With equal clarity I can recall the crushing disappointment I felt when, after stepping into the theater, my sister realized she was positively too scared to see it, forcing my parents to admit that Titanic was probably a “renter” (but not for them of course, they saw it the next night).

Although this was a blow, I didn’t miss out completely because after my mom saw it she spent the better part of the next morning telling my sisters and I the entire story with impressive accuracy; even James Cameron would have approved of her attention to detail. While she was telling the story I listened with wide eyes, and clung to every word. Even now I’m completely unable to divorce her version of the story from the actual film. I’ll never be able to watch the scene in which Jack teaches Rose how to spit like a man without picturing my mom’s ridiculous impression of Jack hocking a loogie. [[MORE]]

When Titanic was released on VHS and I finally got to see the real thing, I was blown away by the massive scale of the film, the wonderful melodrama of the romance, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s boyish charm. This is a tough reaction to match, so I was concerned that seeing Titanic again as an adult would be disappointing; but while it was a very different experience, for me, the general feeling was the same. I still can’t believe that anyone could afford to make the movie without completely relying on green screens. Even 15 years later, the elaborate sets, costumes, hundreds of extras, and special effects still look perfect.

The romance and the characters were a little less convincing as an adult, but it was hard for me to tell if that was because the dialogue was rote, or because I remembered the lines so well (I had to restrain my self from joining in when Jack shouted, “I’m king of the world,” and when Rose said, “I want you to draw me like one of your French girls”). And Rose’s fiancé Cal, and his valet struck me as a little too evil — like absurdly evil. Why would Cal give up his spot on a lifeboat just to try to kill a fiancée he never loved, and who would probably die anyway?! Come on, Cal! But there are other great characters that make up for the flat ones, including Kathy Bates’ character, the lovable and sassy women of “new money”.

But every hole and cliche I noticed was completely made up for by that gosh-darn excellent score. The music managed to bring me back to that state of awe I’d experienced as a kid, and enhanced my appreciation of the beauty in the tragic story. I still feel a pang in my heart at the moment when Kate looks up at Jack while being lowered into a lifeboat, and flares are exploding in the sky, and the music is playing — oh man, such a great scene.

I totally broke my New Year’s resolution of being more frugal by paying $14 to see a 15-year-old movie, but I would recommend Titanic 3D to anyone that really likes the film, is like me and was cheated out of seeing it in theaters when it first came out, or is interested in what makes a truly timeless movie.

Did any of you see Titanic 3D? Does the story still make you cry 15 years later? What’s your personal most-timeless movie?

- Jessie

Photo by flickr user canburak