A relevant source seems to be
A Psychophysical analysis of chart readability, 2001
Sadly, I don't have access to it.
Anecdotes
If you have an area chart, giving it a 3D-effect and rotating slightly can help readability. But I don't remember a context where you could not have used a line chart in the first place.
Bad sources
- PRO: Looks good (targetdashboard.com)
- CON: Values are harder to read from the axes only - you need to add values to the bars themselves (targetdashboard.com)