You've Never Seen Such BIG Feet: The Hobbit in 3D IMAX on Tuesday, 1 January 2013

After yesterday's long day of travel, we figured it was best to take a relax.  We'd heard great things about Thai movie theaters - and the Siam Paragon in the heart of Bangkok, in particular - so that was our destination today.

While the film selection is limited - a lot of the North American new releases aren't in Thai cinemas - and the other movies that fill out the offerings are in Thai exclusively, The Hobbit seemed like our best choice.

There are a multitude of options at the Paragon.  You can buy a regular seat for 240 baht ($8), a privilege seat for 270 baht, or a pair of seats in the super-deluxe Bangkok Airways Theatre a whopping 1700 baht (around $55 Canadian at the time I'm writing this).  We opted for the privilege seats but, just as we were about to pay, I spotted the IMAX theatre from across the lobby.  We wandered over there and picked up 4 tickets priced at around 300 baht each - one for myself, Lockie, Maeve, and Gramps, snagged our huge 3D glasses, and made our way into the cinema just before the 11:30 am showtime.

What a treat this theatre was.  This was an excellent IMAX experience - the screen was huge, the sound was booming, and the theatre was nearly empty.  The highlight of the entire experience for me might have been the 5 or so minutes of 3D footage from the upcoming Star Trek sequel that was screened in advance of The Hobbit.  We saw an action-packed scene that featured...SPOILER ALERT...

Kirk and Bones running through a jungle of bright red plants with the strange looking locals in hot pursuit.  This scene was  intercut with one of Spock jumping down to the planet's erupting volcano in an effort to set off a cooling device that would interrupt the eruption and, thereby, save the planet.  I think this footage is exclusive to IMAX viewers and that made it a very pleasant surprise indeed.  To the right is a trailer of sorts for the footage we saw and the whole movie, of course:

I was so wrapped up in the new Trek footage that I nearly forgot to stand for the national anthem that's played before the start of every movie in Thailand.  Oops!  The music is accompanied by a series of images of the king doing good works.  Once the anthem ends, audience members sit and the film starts.

Meghan had indicated The Hobbit was bloated and dull but I found it to be fast-paced and exciting ove the course of its long running time (150 minutes or so, I reckon).  I did doze off a bit during the troll scene but it's not unusual for me to take a kip in a film of only 90 minutes or so.  I think we were buoyed by the fact that the image was so large, the sound so loud and the overall experience was so unique.

After the film, we headed home to meet Meghan who had made an epic journey to Mo Chit Bus Station north of Bangkok - and, as it turns our, north of the Mo Chit BTS station where we thought the bus station would be.  She had purchased our tickets for tomorrow's journey east to Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, the first leg of our overland adventure to Siam Reap, Cambodia.   More on that in the next post...

- LH