I'm excited as well by the potential vr has. I've been playing around just with google cardboard. I was watching some simple video clips of my son taken on my iphone. When played in the vr player with cardboard, it felt like i was there reliving the memory.
What i am most excited about 360 VR for family videos is perspective! Normally my videos are of my son or wife for instance. I am not in the video since im filming. With the ability to capture in 360, i can follow my son like normal, but if my son or wife or myself wants to watch it, lets say a few years from now. I/she/he can decide to watch watch what they're doing or watch the other people who were there.
It's funny looking at old photographs of myself when i was a kid. What the photograph shows might be me in front of a monument, but what i was actually seeing while the shutter sprung was the person with the camera, but i don't have that memory anymore. Only the photo, but, if you shot in 360. You could have both!
I'm excited that by christmas there will be a couple affordable 360 cameras that will be out. The nikon action camera and the vuze camera are the two I'm most looking forward to.
For narrative, I agree with you that for 360 fov is too much. It only works if you have a swivel chair and there is usually too much to focus on, so it's difficult as a filmmaker to have you audience look where you want them to, so they don't miss it. Also transitions will be a mess. I think 180 FOV is where filmmakers should begin with for the reasons you mentioned. You still feel present with the VR experience, but you don't feel like you are missing something that could be behind you. And you won't look like a total idiot if you are using vr on a plane or in public.