Movie Review: A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
Screenplay by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg

Kal Penn as Kumar
John Cho as Harold
Neil Patrick Harris as himself

How long is A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas? 90 minutes.
What is A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas rated? R for strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence.
CLR Rating: ★★★½☆


‘Harold and Kumar’ Tries for Christmas Green

3D Glasses

Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of the post-Avatarugg for kids ugg for kids ugg for kids 3D revolution. Also admittedly, I have not seen any kids movies or cartoons in 3D, so I don’t know the impact of the style on The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl, Puss In Boots, The Smurfs, or Despicable Me. However, I found the use of the gimmick on Captain America: The First Avenger, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows Part II to be lacklustre at best (though I know at least two of those were converted after the fact). That’s why I was surprised by how much I liked the 3D in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Without wanting to sound like I’m aiming for a quote on a commercial, it actually featured the best 3D I’ve seen since, well, Avatar — both in use and in look.

Unlike a lot of films that co-opt 3D solely for financial gain, VHK3C understands that paying extra for the 3D ticket should offer something unique to the theatergoing experience. It’s not just about making backgrounds looking further away (that, from my experience, only Avatar pulled off successfully), but also about expanding the foreground. In this film, smoke, car parts, and eggshells go into the audience ugg for kids ugg for kids ugg for kidswhile stylized flashback sequences actually do gain more depth because of the glasses.

Another reason why the 3D in VHK3C works is because the film itself is very bright and colorful, as opposed to grey with saturated colors like the aforementioned three films, so dark lenses do not take away from the look of the film; every scene maintains its clarity. While the 3D isn’t used/noticeable most of theugg for kids ugg for kids ugg for kids time, VHK3C uses it just enough and uses it well enough to warrant paying the heightened price.

But enough about the 3D, what about the movie?