4DX Cinema: Star Wars VII

We saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 4DX at the new Lalaporte Fujimi Toho theater. It was a trip, at least. This was our second time to see SW7 (first time 3D IMAX). I'm glad I'd already seen it once because as fun as all the "toys" were (moving seats, air jets, strobe lights, ticklers...), they ultimately kept yanking me out of the "moment," reminding me that I was in a movie theater. It made it impossible to get lost in the movie. The worst part were these kickers in the seats. These are bars that thump your back and butt whenever a character falls down or gets injured. Usually it's a light thump. But about three times one of them smacked me in the back so hard I cried out, and after the first one I couldn't quite relax, waiting for the next smack. Was was regretting checking my coat in a locker--I could have used it as protective padding. I'm thinking something was wrong with my seat because no one else seemed to be getting hurt by theirs. The strobe lights mostly illuminated the theater showing you that you're in a theater. Toward the end, our row malfunctioned and maintained a loud rumbling sound until the end (bad pump or something). They also periodically puffed out what was supposed to smell like smoke, but it wasn't quite smokey enough so it also made me aware of it. The leg ticklers were oddly one of the better gadgets. The temperature changing air was nice, too. The 3D wasn't too bad, though not nearly as good as IMAX. But in the end I'd have to say that while this sort of carnival attraction is effective with short movies made with it in mind like at Disneyland, it's tiresome in a two-and-a-half hour movie. And again, it's irritatingly distracting. My son liked it, though. He said it's the only reason he was able to enjoy SW7 a second time. But I'm glad I went. Like I said, it was a trip. I'd like to try it with Fury Road. But for the time being I'm going to stick with 3D IMAX for the vastly superior audio and visuals.

I'd trade all the gadgets in for a theater that could provide say, 20 or 30 accurate smells. That'd be great (something better than Smell-o-Vision).