Director/writer: James Cameron | Rated: PG-13 | Review date: 31-Jan-2010

James Cameron’s Avatar, quickly being called one of the greatest films of all time, has already placed itself as the highest grossing film of all time (not considering inflation). The big questions are: Is it worth the hype? Is it really that good? Isn’t it just glorifying the use of CGI while ignoring the basics of film making? No doubt those questions will long be debated, but one thing is certain for me after viewing this piece: it rocks!

Now I’m not going to jump on the wagon and call this the greatest film of all time, but I can confidently say after viewing this imaginative masterpiece in 3D that it will be one of the most remembered films for a long time to come. Yes, the main things that stick out about this film are the spectacular visuals. After putting off seeing this film and doubting the significance of seeing it in 3D, I am glad that I did choose to see it in 3D in the end. The fantastical world of Pandora was purely stunning and the extremely detailed 3D made the viewer seem as if they were experiencing the world first-hand.

Anti-CGI fanboys bash the film for its large use of the computer effects. While normally I have mixed feelings about use of CGI, I think that the fantastical nature of Cameron’s vision simply required that much detail that couldn’t have been replicated using more traditional approaches. The effects in this movie are truly a work of art, make no mistake. Rather than replace a human’s real and emotional performance, the effects in Avatar enhance them to a certain level required by the unique nature of the creatures and environments.

Regarding the story, we have a pretty straight forward plot that is nothing we haven’t really seen before. Many comparisons have already been drawn and debates have been staged involving the “sources of inspiration” for this movie. In this day and age it’s quite difficult, if not impossible, to find true originality when it comes to movies. However, I think that James Cameron did a great job taking something that’s been seen more than once and putting his own unique spin on it and taking it to a whole new level.

For those not already familiar, the story follows a paraplegic Marine named Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington. Sully enrolls with a group of scientists led by Dr. Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) to serve as military protection from the Na’vi, the hostile natives of Pandora. Behind the scenes, Col. Miles Quaritch, played by Stephen Lang, propositions Jake to infiltrate the Na’vi so that they can take advantage of a precious material housed beneath the Na’vi’s land. With the promise of getting his legs back, Jake accepts.

Stripping the film down to its bare components, the film isn’t absolutely perfect, but is not bad by any means either. The acting is fairly solid all around. At times though it seemed that Worthington had a little trouble controlling his Australian accent, but this wasn’t overly noticeable. Zoe Saldana did a fabulous job playing Neytiri, princess of the Na’vi Omaticaya Clan. As a matter of fact, all of the actors playing Na’vi characters did a brilliant job as their performances were not hindered one bit by CGI. I felt the film was very well cast, even down to the extras. All of the actors fit their characters’ persona. The dialog however was not quite as strong. Most of the time it was very generic, even slightly predictable. Either way, there was plenty else going on that made up for some of these flaws. Would the film be as strong and be able to achieve the same effect if any particular aspect had been done a different way? Probably not.

I entered this film expecting some excellent visuals and an average plot. I ended up being thoroughly surprised with the visuals as no attention to detail was spared. The film had a scary ability to make the viewer feel like part of its world. The story for me was predictable for the most part, but even though it lacked a bit, Cameron really did make it a thing of his own. Through the 3 hour runtime there’s never a dull moment, and I found myself really feeling for the characters and caring about what happened to them. For me in the end I didn’t feel like it was the best movie ever made, but surely one of the most memorable. I would compare it to the way Jurassic Park made me feel when it came out, as it really made the viewer believe what they were seeing and become in love with the world being presented.

You really have to see it to judge it for yourself, but I recommend doing so by watching it in the best quality possible to get the intended effect. Sci-fi and CGI still may not be everyone’s bag for one reason or another, but those who understand and appreciate the two will really admire this film and leave the theater with a great feeling.

Official movie website | IMDb

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