Avatar is James Cameron’s latest film and comes highly anticpated by his fans and movie fans in general. It tells the futuristic story of handicapped US Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his involvement in an operation to cultivate a valuable rock mineral from the planet Pandora. However, to do this he undergoes a new procedure to live through a body identical to the indigenous race of people. They are tall, blue, have tails and sometimes act like wild animals. During his time as an avatar he tries to be accepted by the natives, develops a love interest and finds himself struggling to maintain and understand his identity. The film’s supporting cast includes Sigourney Weaver (Grace Augustine), Zoe Saldana (Neytiri), Stephen Lang (Col. Quaritch), and Giovanni Ribisi (Parker Selfridge).

ALLAN'S TAKE

THE LIKES: The best thing about this movie was the CGI special effects. It was easy to tell that a lot of time and effort went into this movie to make it look good. A lot of attention was paid to detail. Sometimes it was quite difficult to believe that, apparently, everything on Pandora was generated by CGI. My favorite visual effects were visible during the night scenes. Seeing how the natives lit up their environment and the way it looked was very impressive to me.

THE DISLIKES: However, there are a lot of aspects I couldn’t get on board with. I felt the movie was too long and drawn out in similar fashion to 2012. It lasted about 30 minutes longer than it probably should have. Also it didn’t really care for the political overtones throuhgout the movie. The natives are obviously based on the American Indians with the theme of their civilization being overun by an outside people. Also the US Marines in the film were not represented in a positive way for the most part. Usually for me, political overtones of any kind from any viewpoint are a turn off. One reason I watch movies is to get away from all that kind of stuff.

The overall story development seemed too obvious and too predictable as it follows the usual basic formula with the obligatory love story. Though I will say I think this movie has a better story than 2012. Also the dialogue was not always that good and the acting by the supporting cast didn’t seem consistent.

RATING: This is not a horrible movie but it’s not a classic either. It’s certainly a very well made film from the perspective of CGI and visuals. But story wise it’s just not on the same level as Cameron’s scifi movies Terminator and Terminator 2.

…RENT IT

JAMES' TAKE

AVATAR is trully one of the most amazing films I have seen in a long time. If you have read any reviews of the movie, this will not be any different than what people are calling the film, "Visually Stunning." What enhanced the experiece, was seeing it in 3-D. This was the first 3-D movie I have seen for a major motion picture and was simply blown away. Besides the incredible CGI, the story and characters are well done and they do not get lost in the CGI, like some movies end up (Star Wars 1-3). What i was particularly intrigued by was the terrain and landscape and how it seemed to flow naturally into the story. Jim Cameron had written the movie over a decade ago, if i am not mistaken, and wanted to wait till the technology was ready to make such a film. Well, it was definitely worth the wait Mr. Cameron. Lastly, a lot of blockbuster movies are leaving the films open at the end for sequels, prequals, spin-offs, etc. Without giving away any spoilers, this movie began strong and had an brilliant ending. You almost do not want to ruin a franchise of any kind (Terminator 3) by beating a dead horse. As much as we would love to see the lives of 10 foot tall navu's talking to mother earth and pinning their tails on every thing on Pandora all day, this should be probably left for a one time movie deal.

So here is my rundown:
THE GOOD: Characters, CGI, 3-D is only way to see it!
THE BAD: Too Much Tree-Hugging/Mother Earth references. Also, I wish they would have told us how Pandora was found?
THE UGLY: Sorry, no complaints here.

Final Verdict: GO NOOOOOOOOWWWWWW...and see it in 3-D, and use the bathroom before the movies starts (run time - 2 hrs, 42 minutes). But be sure and recycle your 3-D glasses, for Eywu's sake (Pandora reference...have to see it to get it)!