Avatar

Even if you aren’t an avid movie viewer and don’t pay attention to movie ads, you’ve probably heard of “Avatar”. With all the buzz and blitz promoting this movie and with all the articles written about the groundbreaking technology developed for it, at it’s base there’s a highly enjoyable movie.

Humans have established a base at the alien world of Pandora in search of a highly valuable mineral. The only thing that stands in the way are the hostile-to-humans environment and the natives, the Na’vi: large blue-skinned creatures with tails. Humans have developed a small number a alien bodies called avatars that can be controlled remotely by a person whose genetics are encoded into it. Jake Sully, a marine who lost his scientist brother and the use of his legs in battle is given the chance to walk again using his brother’s avatar, in the hopes that he can connect with the Na’vi and negotiate with them. There are themes here that have been explored before (technology vs. nature, diplomacy vs. war, science vs. faith) and they all have been woven together in a solid and very satisfying action-adventure. If none of the new technology used in this film existed and the film was told in a more tried and true process like animation, this film would still have a very solid story to make it worth seeing.

The process used to apply an actor’s performance to a CG character here results in some amazing work. The Na’vi look and act as natural as if they were actually alive, not just in the body but in the crucial area of facial expressions. The actor’s performances really shine through their characters with all their nuances and subtlety. It deserves to be seen on the big screen to appreciate it in detail. All the acting is top-notch too. Sci-fi fans can geek out in the face of Sigourney Weaver appearing in another James Cameron film as the hardened scientist Dr. Grace Augustine, Sam Worthington ably takes on the lead role of Jake Sully, Zoe Saldana (Neytiri) shows off her chops and grabs yet another role in a high-profile sci-fi property. I was also intruiged be Stephen Lang who plays Colonel Miles Quaritch, the leader of the human’s military. While other actors would play such a high-powered officer’s role with more bluster and volume, he imbues a very cold composure in Quaritch that gives him depth beyond the typical antagonist.

Detail was also given to the creation of the world of Pandora. It’s an amazing world with a palette of deep blues, greens and purples that is alive with all sorts of plants and creatures. (Although it does remind me of World of Warcraft’s design, which leads me to believe that either James Cameron or someone very high up in the production design department has at least one level 80 character.)

Even if you’re not a sci-fi fan this movie is easily worth multiple viewings in the theater and worth seeing at least once in 3D. The 3D is very well done and amazing to view but it’s also good to see in it’s non-3D format to catch details that might have been missed. This will definitely be worth purchasing when it gets released to the home market as well. Highly recommended.