Movie Review: Avatar

Avatar (Rated PG-13)
Directed by James Cameron
Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez
Runtime – 2 hours 32 minutes

Now on its way past $1 billion dollars worldwide, I finally caught Avatar 3D in a nearly packed theater on a Wednesday night. This is one of the few films that, more than 3 weeks into it, has barely seen a drop in attendance. Which means it’s all word of mouth.

So how was it? Worth the hype? If you’ve waited this long to see it, here’s the key points:

* Yes, you should see it in the theater.
* Don’t even consider not seeing it in 3D or IMAX unless it is unavailable
* It’s long…the plot moves fairly slowly…but it doesn’t seem like a 2.5 hour movie.
* The visuals and special effects alone make whatever the ticket price is fully worth it.
* It’s much better than the trailer implies.
* It’s probably not as good as your friend described it to you that saw it opening weekend. But almost.

I am not really the target for this movie. I rarely see 2+ hour movies in the theater, I don’t like movies with weird alien creatures unless it is called Star Wars, I really hate movies that are mostly CGI, and I don’t really appreciate left-wing “preachy movies.” And I liked it. But how??

Visually speaking, the film must be seen to be believed. The visuals are so amazing that they proved me wrong that CGI mixing with real was the death of movies. But it was obvious that 5 years of intense, and artistically brilliant, work was put into this…something George Lucas has no idea about. CGI causes a wild imagination to destroy a film because there are no boundaries…from Star Wars Episode I to countless others, impossible worlds with clone-like animations of millions of onscreen characters don’t interact with the real people. When a CGI character is onscreen, you know it.

In Avatar, the lush world of Pandora where the movie takes place feels like a real world. You’re excited to see where they go next. The non-human characters (the Na’vi tribe), which are fully CGI, actually pop out of the environment. The strange animals on the planet move like real animals. When there are 10 on screen, each one has depth to it and unique movements that were carefully crated individually..from veins, to muscle, to lighting. It wasn’t a copy and paste job.

What really impressed me was how the film’s 3D wasn’t a gimmick…it was actually necessary to put you into the action and shouldn’t be seen without it. It’s also the first 3D film I’ve ever seen that doesn’t use the “popping out at you” gimmick. While most 3D movies abuse the area closest to your eyes, Avatar uses what’s furthest away to give it depth. When you are soaring hundreds of feet into the air…you feel like you’re going too high. Still images do not do it justice.

But enough of the visuals (which I’ll get back to later) what about that other little thing …characters and plot?

To be quite honest, this unoriginal plot was Dances With Wolves part II almost frame by frame. It also preaches to the audience in no subtle terms about war, colonialism against the indians, the environment, and the evil of capitalism. On top of it, the mediocre characters aren’t developed, written, or acted all that well, the leftist message is very clunky and un-nuanced with a plot moves along fairly slowly.

The basic plot is that the humans are out of gasoline on earth in 2054, so they go to this planet where there’s an endless supply of some new type of fuel. The tribes that live there won’t leave their land, so we set up a base and plan to take it over ourselves. This is accomplished by mentally inserting the humans into “avatars” that look like the tribes so they can live among the native people. They really don’t explain how any of the science works Though I swear I saw an Apple Tablet on the ship.

But the very simple message is pounded without much attention to the complexity of different kinds of war. Is the Iraq war the same as the war against the indians? What about WWII? Terrorism against the Jews? Are all military people that bloodthirsty (according to the film they are)? There is a scene in the movie reminiscent of 9/11….was that on purpose and what were they trying to say? ..and then there’s always the whiteman condescension take.

Fortunately the visuals and a few key scenes at the right times lift the movie past the message into levels of epic adventure, action, and drama. Can a man fall in love with a large blue woman? I now, in fact, believe he can.

Though I can’t properly describe it, the world created on Pandora with CGI takes you there, and by doing that it does something that no movie I’ve seen really has done. By going into that world, you accept that world for 2.5 hours and are fully into it….nonsensical plot points and all. You may find yourself crying frequently, as a matter of fact. It’s that powerful a visual combo.

Is it as good as Titanic? No. Is it as good as The Dark Knight? Also, no. But it IS an experience unlike any other I’ve had at the movies. In the past you go for the plot, special effects, to laugh, or whatever. You base your like of the movie on what it was trying to do. Avatar is trying to give you a new experience unlike anything you’ve had at a theater before…and in that, it does. And it will stick with you for a long time to come.

3 stars out of 4

3 Different Takes from around the web

if you only see one film in a 3-D cinema this year, make it Avatar. - The Sydney Morning Herald

The narrative would be ho-hum without the spectacle. But what spectacle! – New York Movies

A movie whose effects are clearly revolutionary, a spectacle that millions will find adventure in. But it nevertheless feels unsatisfying and somehow lacks the pulse of a truly alive film. – AP Review