Many of you may have missed a little gem of a movie opening in theaters this week called Avatar. In case you did let me give you a little Badger review. Honestly, I'm not going to do the whole "This movie is directed by" blah, blah, blah. Everyone knows who James Cameron is and we all saw Titanic. By that I mean WE HAVE ALL SEEN TITANIC! In fact every single being on this planet that pumps red viscous fluid in their veins has seen at least one movie by James Cameron.
Now, as for the movie plot let me sum it up this way -
Pocahontas meets Dances with Wolves meets Apocalypse Now... In space!
Oh, and there are flying dragons / dinosaurs that only bond with one person their entire life (Ala The Dragonriders of Pern)
No, really. That's the story.
Now I could end my review right now and go eat the piece of chocolate cake that is waiting for me in the kitchen, but I really feel that there is more to this movie than a paper thin (and more than a slightly preachy) storyline.
This is a a good movie. I honestly did enjoy it immensely! The effects and the 3D that Cameron has put together feel like you are there. Also I personally did not end up with a headache like I usually do when I watch a 3D flick. I think the thing that really blows my mind is the consistency of the whole movie. You never once think that something feels out of place during the whole experience. Never one effect that outshines the others. The tech that the humans in the story have is sensible and more than once I found myself thinking that in a few years we could have those things. On the other side the world of the Na'vi (The ten foot tall blue natives) feels alien and dangerous.
The stars are actually well cast and people I consider to be very talented but much like a Star Wars movie the dialog is many times predictable (and often just bad.) I could have done without a full blown Braveheart "Round up the troops and inspire them to beat incredible odds" speech. Besides all that, this the movie is very entertaining. If you turn off your Flux-Reasoning Capacitor and just sit back and enjoy you will find Avatar to be a great popcorn movie full of eye popping effects.
I have already heard rumors of a sequel and and I assure you I will pledge some of my hard earned money to see where our blue friends go next. Maybe we can get something more like The Empire Strikes Back on the next go around.
This badger gives the movie four out of five paws.
