My review of Avatar
Here’s a fun fact: Avatar weighs in at a hefty 162 minutes. That is exactly five minutes more than Pocahontas and Fern Gully combined. To get that, you subtract all the singing and replace it with Cameron’s well-known action sequences. That leaves you five minutes to sprinkle in a little bit of Taming of the Shrew and garnish the whole thing with with some current political commentary. The plot is nothing to write about. If you’ve seen Fern Gully or Pocahontas, you know how it goes. The true art of Avatar is in presentation. This isn’t a critique- Saying that West Side Story = Romeo and Juliet doesn’t make West Side any less great but the fact remains that it is a redressed story.
Don’t take this wrong- I loved the movie. I would watch it again if it weren’t so damned expensive to see in 3D. This brings me to my first point. If you have the option, see it in 3D. The glasses look like cheap sunglasses and are pretty comfortable. They’re a huge step up from the old red/blue paper ones. These things are great. The 3D experience was really impressive if for nothing less than its unobtrusive nature. While watching the movie, you’re just watching it, not dodging the special effects that were included just to flaunt the capabilities of the system.While the story is completely predictable, the presentation is stellar. The set design, special effects, characters, colors, and lighting are all excellent. Cameron’s crew has created and even perfected brand new technology that makes a person completely forget that you are watching a digital representation of a person rather than an actual person. It’s difficult to put into words just how complete and perfect the translation is. It’s amazing.
The most impressive thing for me wasn’t even the 3D. The fact that a movie nearly three hours long didn’t seem any longer than a “normal” movie. I never looked at my watch wondering when it was going to be over. I sat through 162 minutes of a movie and never once got impatient or bored. The story moved along at the perfect pace for the entire length of the film.
To recap- this is a LONG movie and 3D is pricey. Those two drawbacks do nothing to offset the beauty of the film and the talent of the actors. If you haven’t seen it and you have a chance, I highly recommend it. Do it before it is out of the theater and see it in 3D if you have the chance. And do it quick because Alice in Wonderland, Percy something, and several other 3D films are coming out soon and Avatar will be bounced out of the the theaters. This film is worth the time and money.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Ummm, yes, ferngully and pocahontas, but you forgot aliens and terminator lol. I mean, the same mechanical robocop esque human tank, with the same Sigourney Weaver…has blockbuster written all over it, plus the new guy from terminator with his “strong heart” theme that came with him. Plus the boiler room master himself and his “unobtanium” which I would think was borrowed from the core, but was found naturally in this movie instead of synthesized.
Oh wait, you did say ferngully, so I guess you just lumped all of this stuff in as Avatar’s version of ferngully’s comedic Robin Williams lab-bat. Never mind. Good review.
BTW, I DID like the movie, I just thought it was histerical like Starship Troopers.