My hubby and I are in Cape Town on vacation. The first 4D movie cinema happens to have opened recently at the V & A Waterfront showing the latest Star Wars flick. We had already seen the movie but what an experience to try out, since it was the first of its kind in Africa. We booked our tickets and went to see the film. Again, loved the movie. If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?! 

So let's get to it. The theatre is small. I'd say about 40 people max. When climbing into the seats, there is a little step (where you place your feet during the movie) there are four chairs on each heightened row. The screen is the same size as a normal theatre. You need to use 3D glasses in this theatre.

The movie starts and lights start flickering. No, not flickering, flashing. A very uncomfortable flash. I would say if you're epileptic, don't go to this cinema.

The seats start moving along to the aircrafts flying by. When the seats stop moving, they vibrate.

There is a scene with explosions, a smell hissing out of the vents. More on the smells just now.

With each explosion, the seats move and the lights flash. Interesting combination.

Another scene you splash into water, mist is dispersed into the crowd.

A robot shocks someone's leg and underneath your seat, a light vibration makes as if it was you being shocked (not painful).

The 3D is impressive, although the screen has lines down the middle which was very distracting.

When outside (in the movie) if there was wind, a fan would blow. Cool effect however, on a hot planet, the wind would be warm, not cold. The fan was over powering and often on for a few seconds but not the whole scene. Very distracting!  I felt they could immerse you in the film if they had hot and cold air options as well as strength.

Now the smells. They release odours into the air at certain points to create the atmosphere. To me, I could tell no difference between them. All smells like bathroom spray.

What I liked:

->The seats moving - although it could be subtler

->The mist 

->the leg vibration when being "shocked"

->comfy seats

->decent sound

->decent 3D

What I didn't like:

->the fan was inconsistent and cold

->the lines down the screen

->those flashing lights

->the odours that had no differentiating smells. I really thought this would be done better

Overall, for R150 a ticket, it's an experience that is worth going for. I feel that movies such as the "Fast and Furious" franchise would do well in the 4D cinema world. I hope however that the technology and programming for each film gets better soon as a lot of the effects felt overdone for pop value and detracted from the movie itself.