AVATAR Nearly Makes It

I just got back from seeing James Cameron's new movie AVATAR. The bottom line is that is worth seeing and worth seeing in a good theater. I didn't opt for IMAX or 3-D and I'm glad I went the more traditional route. There is a LOT going on in this movie. I'm pretty sure that I would have gotten sick if I would have seen it on an IMAX.

First the good news, the visuals are absolutely revolutionary. I've never seen a fantasy film look this good or seen the different elements of effects meld so seamlessly. The alien characters are so well done that the subtle facial expressions of the actors really shine through. Cameron also sets the majority of the action in the alien tribe which only makes those characters seem more "normal." When you spend more than two and a half hours with the aliens, you start to forget that they are meant to look strange.

Cameron's command of filmmaking technology is at an all-time high. Say what you will about "Titanic," but the second hour of that film is a showcase of technical craftsmanship that still holds up more than a decade later. But AVATAR crushes it. Cameron has pushed things further than anyone else. Further than Spielberg. Further than Peter Jackson. Further than George Lucas (who shot most of the recent Star Wars trilogy against green screen and using motion capture to astoundingly poorer results than Cameron). Watching AVATAR is like seeing the future of movies.

On the other hand, it was also like a blast from the past. The story and dialogue are pretty stale. It's clear that this script sat in Cameron's desk drawer for several years (supposedly he wrote it more than 15 years ago but had to wait for the technology to catch up to allow him to realize his vision). The script could have used a polish or some freshening up. Honestly, if I see another movie set more than 150 years in the future and people are still using phrases like "let's boogie," or "You're not in Kansas anymore," I am going to scream. Does anyone think these phrases will have any social context more than a century from now?

You'll get the general story from any number of reviews, or the trailer, so I won't go into that here. Except I will note that the motivation of the human characters is vastly underwritten. Why go through all of this? Why engage this alien species on a planet which is a six-year trip from Earth in a violent war? Is it really for a rock? What does the rock do? Is it merely valuable? Is it used as a fuel? Can it save humanity back on Earth? It would add a lot to the story to know that there is more to this endeavor than capitalistic greed.

In the end, the story is serviceable and much of the dialogue passes muster. The visuals, however, are the reason to get out and see this one. The planet itself, inhabited by dozens of beautiful, dangerous, and highly interesting animal species as well as bio-luminescent flora and fauna is breathtaking. I would pay money to watch a fake nature documentary on the planet Pandora. The rich, fully-realized world that James Cameron has created is worth visiting. The most exciting aspect of the whole venture, however, is the thought of all the other worlds that this new technology has opened up to all of us.

Check it out.