The Lion King and some thoughts on 3D cinema

Last night I went to see the Lion King in 3D at the theater down the street. Lots of critics and filmmakers think of 3D as a gimmick to jack up movie prices. I recently saw Harry Potter and Captain America in 3D, and in those cases I certainly understand the gripes. All those movies converted from 2D look like a bunch of people are standing behind the screen pushing and pulling. I would compare it to the colorized black and white films that look like some gross Andy Warhol experiment. However, I love seeing 3D animated films, and live-action originally shot in 3D. You are seeing actual depth, instead of a depth artists' interpretation of it.
The Lion King in 3D is a very interesting mix of the two. Disney unarchived all the digital files and spread the layers in true 3D space. They also did an amazing job of giving dimensionality to the flat characters, something that really has to be seen. It is fortunate that the animators paid such great attention to the volumes in their drawings, making the illusion very effective. Of course there are some bits that I could scrutinize about, like lion whiskers appearing to be painted flat onto their faces. It makes me wonder what Disney could accomplish if they were to make a new 2D feature from the ground up with these details taken into account.
One thing that kind of breaks the 3D illusion for me is the frame rate. In all 3D movies, I am more aware of the low frame rate of film compared to the refresh rate of my own eyes. Traditional animation on 2's looks even more odd to me. I would really love to see a 3D animated film at a full 60 fps. Not achievable with film, but with the digital projection nowadays, it is technically feasible.
I would recommend for anyone who enjoyed the Lion King to see it in 3D. It is a just a beautifully made film. It had always bothered me the plot is basically a kung-fu movie, where instead of spending years training, Simba eats bugs and becomes a hippie. The whole vengeance thing doesn't really come across. But the fans have spoken with their wallets, and I hope that this opens more doors to the potential of stereo 3D in the movies.