A Review of James Cameron's Avatar

When I was about six years old my father took me to see a movie that affected my life greatly. That movie was "Star Wars." During the time the film was running, I was transported. I saw creates great and small, good and bad, funny and terrifying on worlds I could only dream of. George Lucas showed me a world he invented entirely in his head and opened the doors to imagination within me. This is what movies are for.

I always feel sad when I run into someone who says they don't like movies that have aliens or maybe fantasy-type creatures. The "Lord of the Rings" movies had a similar effect on me that "Star Wars" did. But I have met those who could not buy into those movies. Can you not imagine other worlds? Do you want to see movies that only reflect what you can see by watching the news or just standing on a street corner? How boring! Movies should open your mind and transport you imagination.

I felt the wonder of the six-year-old still inside me when I saw James Cameron's stunning 3D adventure "Avatar." What happens to us when we first fall in love with movies? Why, when we grow older, do we get so hung up on stupid things? People are debating if this is really a "masterpiece" and on and on. For me, I just wanted to see if I could be transported. Would Cameron be able to take me to the fictional moon of Pandora and make me believe in the race called the Na'vi and would I believe it? The answer is a resounding, gleeful, joyful yes.

The plot of the movie is simple. Earth needs a valuable mineral to survive. Pandora has the largest deposit of it right beneath the home of the Na'vi, a native tribe of ten-foot-tall blue-skinned creatures who look evolved from cats. They commune with nature, and worship a kind of Pandora-goddess as their religion. In fact, the entire planet seems to commune with its creatures, thus leaving their giant tree home is not that simple. The Earth people do not understand this and so they decide to remove the tribe one way or another.

So, they invent avatars. They are blue-skinned bodies that resemble the Na'vi that humans can transport their consciousness. Thus, they can "blend in" with the tribe and try to learn from them. However, a fight is brewing between the scientists within the group who want to study and learn from the people and the planet and the businessmen and military who want to take the land by force.

The entire movie is delivered in 3D. I have not been a big fan of the recent resurgence in 3D. I felt it added nothing to Pixar's "Up." In "Avatar," however, the process works. Cameron has worked tirelessly to create a new 3D experience. Here, it is immersive rather than something that takes you out of the picture. Once you get those glasses settled, and relax, you find yourself almost a part of the action. It adds depth, making it seem like things are going on above you, around you, everywhere.

In short, this movie succeeds in transporting you. I found myself completely caught up in the story of Jake Scully, the wounded Marine, who controls an avatar and is going "native." I wanted the love story between him and the Na'vi woman Nefryti to work out. I thrilled when they traveled to the floating mountains and gripped by seat when they flew on the Bashee which are winged dragon-looking creatures.

Then, just as I was completely in love with this tribe, the characters, and the people involved, the action got ramped up. Yes, the last hour or so explodes into action and violence. However, I felt that Cameron had earned that sudden deviation. You could feel it building even in the quiet and loving scenes prior to it. Always there was and is the threat of violence from the humans on this fictional world.

Then things really kick into high gear. The action, with its 3D involvement, becomes a true thrill ride. You are right there in battle with these characters that you have come to care about the prior two hours.

All in all, I didn't worry about dialogue. I didn't care if this was a masterpiece. This was why I go to the movies. I went to be transported, and I was. I went to get lost in the story, and lost I did get. I went to see something special and that no one had shown me before, and that was exactly what I got. The plot did not bother me. The words used by the characters did not distract me. The reviews and hype did not enter into my viewing mind. Cameron managed to surpass all of that and tell me a helluva story.

Whether or not, this movie is truly some revolution in movie-going still remains to be seen at this particular point in time. We shall see how and what movie directors do with this technology going forward. What matters is that "Avatar" is an excellent adventure, a great romance, and a heck of a fun time at the theater. It's worth the time, the money and the sitting there with those glasses on your face and what, really, more could you ask for?