Without immediate work to do, and without a desire to do any, last Friday I decided to go see Beowulf in IMAX 3D at the only place in the city limits of Chicago playing Hollywood movies on IMAX: Navy Pier. Besides the other people in the theater, a particularly obnoxious group of tourists/Chicagoans, the movie was great. I can’t imagine that this film will do to great on DVD; unfortunately, the film seemed to demonstrate that the art of films in 3D has not moved far beyond waving random things around in front of the screen. Granted, with the amazing CG on IMAX 3D, I enjoyed the experience of watching it, but I have to agree with the many critics who point out how much more shallow this movie is compared to the original poem, as much as I like Vikings in any context.

Anyways, as the title of this post suggests, I wasn’t so satisfied with Navy Pier. Friday was in fact the third time I have sworn never to return to Navy Pier as well as the third time I have been there. I suppose it is little more than a tourist trap, but I think that gives it a little too much credit. The main problem I have with it is that I can’t think of anything that is actually there. There are plenty of crap shops there, but if you really want to get pointless Chicago junk, you are about a ten minute walk away from the most trafficked part of Michigan Ave (the so called “Magnificent Mile”, as I have never referred to it as). Why anyone would want to go to Navy Pier instead of Michigan for shopping is a mystery to me. There are boat tours that do down the Chicago river or go around Lake Michigan, but the benefit to these seems to be that they in fact take you away from Navy Pier to something more interesting. When it is not freezing cold outside, there are vendors along the paths. In the summer, I can understand the attraction to a point. On the one hand, you are on the lake, which is nice, but it is still kind of like going to Disney World for a drink: you just don’t do it. Likewise, the ferris wheel is all but useless outside of summer, given the freezing temperatures and gusting winds. As I wondered around for I while, I noticed that there was a sign that said something about how the ferris wheel was brought to you by McDonald’s, complete with there slogan, “I’m Lovin’ It.” Beyond the ferris wheel and the IMAX theater, there is the Chicago Shakespeare Company’s theater, for reasons that are far beyond me. If you have a kid who needs to go to the children’s museum (I am doubtful of the quality), then it might make sense, but all in all, Navy Pier is a worthless piece of trash. The restaurants are all chains of course, which adds to the pointlessness of this place. Again with Michigan so close, I don’t know why anyone would want to go the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company or to the McDonald’s of the future (complete with the generic science museum plasma ball). After I got my ticket, I wondered over to Billy Goat Tavern for lunch–always a good time. To an otherwise great city, I consider Navy Pier to be a pretty horrid blemish.