Review: For those who didn't catch Avatar the first time....

In honor of the extended edition of James Cameron's Avatar gracing the DVD shelves now, I present my original review from the theatrical release.  While you will lose a bit of the immersion until you invest in a 3D TV, it all certainly remains relevant.  Enjoy, and if you didn't catch the movie during the first (or second) theater run, think about taking a vacation through your TV with this visual crescendo of a film.

“Avatar” isn't just a movie, it's a completely immersive experience, and when I walked out of the theater I felt less like an audience member and more like a participant in a high-flying, hard-fought resistance to the hostile takeover of an alien utopia. I was borderline exhausted, and not in the usual “this movie was way too long” way (though it was almost three hours). As I left, I felt almost as one does when boarding a plane at the end of a too-short tropical vacation to head back to Ohio. Almost immediately, we are treated to stunning visuals of amazing technology, gargantuan machines, and flora and fauna that is so incredibly imaginative, so different, so frightening, and so beautiful that it appears to spring simultaneously from our wildest dreams and our craziest nightmares. As a matter of fact, the experience is so unforgettably magnificent to some that there are reports of viewers slipping into a bit of a depression/separation anxiety at the thought of returning to our relatively dull, imperfect planet Earth after the credits roll.

While that all may be a bit melodramatic, there's no arguing with the technical wizardry achieved by the (record high) $250 million-ish spent to bring the gorgeous moon of Pandora, plus all it's inhabitants and invaders, to life. Relatively few familiar actors are present, and mostly fill out Cameron's usual “tough chick” roles, including Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez. But our lead soldier/savior is played adequately and believably by the soon-to-be-household-name Sam Worthington who serves as our naïve, excitable guide through the beauty and conflict.

Critics of this movie will inevitably point out the “seen it before” plot as something that holds the movie back from its incredible potential, but I think that's a bit unfair. While this certainly is a familiar story in the vein of Dances With Wolves and even The Last Samurai, what makes this movie so special is the way the story is presented. Simply put, the visual grandeur of this epic is something impossible to put into words. As a lover of the finer things in film, I am never one to put presentation before substance, but I am more than comfortable making an exception here. This particular presentation, in addition to changing the landscape of film production forever, might be enough to carry this film all the way to the Oscar podium; even in categories like Best Original Screenplay where it otherwise wouldn't belong.

As subtlety certainly isn't one of this film's virtues, I recommend it more as a vacation than a casual film viewing. If you need a little break from the soggy, often depressing Ohio weather, nothing beats a quick trip to the tropical paradise moon of Pandora.

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