AVATAR

Before I saw Avatar I heard a lot said about it - that it's the most expensive movie ever made, that the CGI is unbeatable and that it actually has a good plot.  The first time I saw the preview I wasn't all that impressed, but nonetheless, like everyone else I needed to see it to judge for myself.  So, we waited three hours for a sold out performance on a Saturday night and made our way into the theater.  In many ways, I was pleasantly surprised.  In many others, it was what I expected.

Everything I heard about the CGI was correct, it IS unbeatable.  Until now, I considered Lord of the Rings the gold standard of CGI, seamlessly blending live action and computer animation.  Avatar makes the Lord of the Rings looks like the Muppet Show.  While, yes, sometimes it feels like you're watching a cartoon, the majority of the movie you're so enthralled by the images that you don't realize, or care, whether it's computer generated or not.  Kudos to the creative team that worked on Avatar, I see many Oscars in your future.

Beyond the effects, James Cameron does a good job at creating a visually stunning world, Pandora, that I personally wouldn't mind visiting for myself.  The people of Pandora that Cameron's conjured up, and the scenario they find themselves in, are both imaginative and creative.  The only problem is, everything and everyone is a bit one dimensional.  All the characters fit easily into a nice box of "good guy" or "bad guy" and even the blue humanoid people of the planet, or Navi, are so underdeveloped that they just come off as a bunch of tree huggers.  We got it, you love your planet, we don't love ours - but for an entire new species of people, there must be more to them...I guess Cameron didn't get that far.  Pandora and its people just appear to lack significant texture that I would've appreciated.  A world of potential left right there on the creative table.  I'll say this right now, Ebert downright disagrees with me on this one.

Within five minutes of the movie you've nailed down the entire plot, how it's going to unfold and how it's going to end.  Halfway through the movie I thought, "there must be a twist coming...wait for it...wait for it..."  It never came.  Alas, the movie plays out exactly how you would expect it to, which I find somewhat disappointing.  Many times it felt ripped right out of movies like Braveheart - in fact at one point in the movie I found myself choking on the urge to stand up and yell, "they can take our land, but they'll never take our freedom!"  It's all just a big set up for the big battle royale, which wasn't even the best part of the movie in my opinion.  And of course the environmental, kumbaya theme is beat over the audience's head so hard you might get a migraine.   My biggest plot criticism actually stems from a few George Bush/Global War on Terror references that will sorely date the movie and really are unnecessary.  

All that said, while it was easy to see through, the plot, with significant help from the CGI, keeps you engaged throughout.  It's highly entertaining, and well worth many of the awards it will undoubtedly receive, though don't expect any in the acting category.  Sigourney Weaver is by far the most engaging, but I am partial towards her.  Why we chose a no name, mediocre actor to play the leading man I'll never understand, but don't worry, he's so memorable you won't even remember he was in the movie after an hour.  ACCENT ALERT - Once again we have a leading man that can't decide if he's Australian or American!!!  Really, $500 million and we can't find an actor who can hold onto an accent for 2.5 hours?

I'm a big soundtrack person and I have an affinity for original scores - they make up nearly a quarter of my personal music library.  I think music can define a movie and is its heart, particularly in dramas or epics.  Music is one way I think movies can really affect viewers emotionally.  Unfortunately, James Horner missed the mark a bit on this one, though his fan reviews on iTunes remarkably disagree.  I made the mistake of purchasing the album myself to which Ebert responded, "there was even music in that movie?"  Yeah, it was that memorable.  Only one track worth even noting - the commercial theme song sung by Leona Lewis, "I see you."

After seeing this movie in digital 3-D, I'm really curious if that significantly enhanced the movie for me, as I suspect it did.  I'd be interested in what others who didn't see the movie in 3-D thought of it.  All in all, a very entertaining movie worth seeing, especially in 3-D.  While I don't think it's the timeless epic Cameron was aiming for, I do recommend it and give it a solid DO A MATINEE.

See the trailer!