Movie Reviews  |  PG-13  |  View Trailer  |  Dec 18, 2009

For years now – without having seen a single frame of footage – fanboys across the globe have been drooling blindly over Avatar – writer/director James Cameron's first feature film since 1997's Titanic. When the film's teaser trailer finally made it's way online earlier this year and the geeks were freaking out, I watched it asked, “That's what all the hype is about?” The teaser was so unimpressive that I deemed it early on as “Jar-Jar Binks: The Movie,” failing to live up to it's expectations much like George Lucas' Star Wars prequels. But I made a mistake. I judged the Avatar book by it's cover – and I was wrong.

Much like early reviews are claiming – as well as a South Park episode titled “Dances With Smurfs” – the story of Avatar is far from being original. Yes, it's almost the exact same story as Dances With Wolves – only set on an alien planet called Pandora and aliens taking the place of the Native Americans – but it's the stylistic journey that Avatar takes you on that will make it stand out.

Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation) plays the lead character in Avatar, Jake Sully – a human soldier left paraplegic from battle wounds that's recruited to fill in for his deceased twin brother in the special Avatar project on the rain forest planet of Pandora. Because their DNA is identical, Jake can plug his mind into and control his dead brother's artificially created Na'vi body – nearly identical to those of the Pandora's native people (who are a spiritual and primitive people much like the Native Americans in Dances With Wolves). Jake especially enjoys plugging into his new body – or “avatar” – because he once again has the ability to use functional legs.

Jake's mission on Pandora is to gain the trust of the Na'vi people and convince them to relocate their tribe so that the corporation he's working for can excavate the largest amount of an extremely profitable precious metal found below their home – a substance poorly titled “unobtainium.” Upon completing his mission, the corporation will cover the expensive cost to have Jake's spine corrected, giving him the ability to once again walk with his natural legs.

Much like Dances With Wolves, just as you would imagine and as shown in the trailer, once Jake becomes part of the Na'vi people, he begins to question which side has the most just cause and which side is worthy of working for – of course, under the heavy influence of a young, attractive Na'vi woman (Zoe Saldana, Star Trek).

For possibly the first time ever, Avatar uses a new technology of special effects that makes it often impossible to tell what on the screen is real and what is fake. Approximately 60% of Avatar is computer generated – most of the time fully computer generated: the characters, animals, plants, ships, the sky, the rain, the weapons, the explosions. Any time you see one of the ten-feet-tall Na'vi, they are computer generation images of motion captured actors – meaning that an actor stood in front of the camera and acted that scene out while a computer regenerated the actor's complete performance in a computerized Na'vi body. And to make it more personal, instead of having each character look original and unique, each Na'vi character's face is generated to look just like the actor's who gave the performance, simply enhancing it to an alien-like form (unlike the unnecessary and wasted motion capture effects used in Polar Express, Beowulf and Disney's A Christmas Carol in which the actor's performances were motion captured and regenerated to look identical the actor, unaltered). Jake Sully's avatar looks just like Sam Worthington. Neytiri, his Na'vi romantic interest, looks just like Zoe Saldana. And so on. Even though you wouldn't think it, the special effects never become distracting.

The world of Pandora (that I called “Jar-Jar Binks Land”) is another strong point in the way of special effects; it is so rich in detail and beauty that it becomes more of a character to the story than a backdrop for the actors to be seen in front of. It creates a bold contrast between the simple, beautiful life of the Na'vi and the busy, destructive and mechanized human world.

Yes, Avatar contains a small “green” message. The humans are looking for unobtainium because Earth is almost dead due to mankind's wastefulness. But said message is so minute in comparison to the big picture of the film. It's not preachy in that small message. And because of the amount of fun to be had in the rest of the film, it's easily forgivable.

Before seeing it, the last thing I expected from Avatar was to have a “good time.” It didn't look entertaining to me. But I was wrong. And I'm glad I was wrong. Avatar is one of the most fun movies of the year. I put it up there with Star Trek (and I'm hoping Sherlock Holmes plays off the exact same fun way). You're guaranteed to have fun with Avatar. It takes you on a great journey – one that I don't expect will be easily forgotten or disliked.

I have been asked by many eager moviegoers how the film plays out in 3D, if it's worth it. I'll say this: if you like the new form of 3D – known as Real D – then you'll like it. It's not used as a gimmick. They never throw anything in your face in an attempt to get you to duck or move. It's used as a visual enhancement, giving depth to what you're watching – never making anything come out towards you. Is it worth the extra couple bucks? If you're willing to pay it. As for me, I'd be just fine with it in the standard 2D – but remember, that's me saying it and I haven't seen it in 2D. It might make a world of difference, but I can't say at this time.

To put it simply, Avatar is one of the most fun films of the year. Does it deserve the supposed “Oscar buzz” that's it's getting? No. But it's a whole lot of fun – a film that I will definitely see at least one more time in theaters – because Avatar is a film definitely meant to be seen on the big screen.


Photo credit: 20th Century Fox