Land of the Kiwis A runner in New Zealand

Avatar Review

Now aside from the fact that this movie was filmed for 3D, an art I studied in winter study 2008. And aside from the fact that there were fantastically creative but realistic stretches of science fiction, appealing to my technological bent. And disregarding the incredibly advanced cg animation techniques that induced marvel in even the most ignorant viewers. This. Film. Dazzles! (Leave me alone, I just sat here for 10 minutes trying to come up with an appropriately epic verb).

The plot (and I won't get into it as I am not a critique or even a very good lit student) was probably the weakest part of the movie but allow me to defend it briefly (skip if you're not interested). Yes, the plot was simple, predictable, and cheesy but three points

1. A critique might see it this way partially because we have recently seen a lot of the same rebukes of Western advancement vs. Native culture metaphors. District 9 comes to mind as the leader in that political allegory field. The thing I find most interesting about both these movies is the purely evil role both that military and corporations play in these films. The plot for Avatar was probably a bit more original when it was conceived 6 years ago. The movie just took so long in production, it was preempted by other movies capturing the same public idea.
2. I think the plot achieves its goal (albeit by way of heavy dialog and exaggerated characterizations) as a reminder that "we the people" need to hold our government, military, and maybe on a more indirect level, our global corporations (American food industry comes to mind) accountable for their actions. You might say, "More unobtainium. Woohoo!" or "Cheaper cheeseburger. Yippee!" but it's important to question why this seems too good to be true.
3. I believe the fact that the plot is so flagrant is somewhat intentional because the general public doesn't grasp elaborate plot metaphors and messages. Hence simple, obvious, and predictable.

End of my silliness; on to textures, nurbs, and lighting (translation: the good stuff).

The CGI in this movie... words cannot describe. But I want to try. I was entranced, and in 3D I can truly say I got past the point of judging the movie (as any amateur animator might) to just watching it. There was an incredible duality to the effects. Some scenes literally ended with me realizing my lips had parted and my face was slowly elongating to reveal a lolling tongue, while the achievement others was that I was left not even thinking about the animation or questioning the reality of the world and rather following the story. That is the achievement I think everybody refers to when they say this is a revolutionary film. I think I witnessed the first movie that actually got animation unobtrusive enough to pass for reality. It struck me later, that I even found myself quite attracted to Neytiri, the Na'vi warrior-princess. Now, before I go further, let me emphatically state that, while some people claim to be attracted to animated characters (I've even heard Lion King's Nala as a fantasy), I am definitely not one of them. Well, actually, I've said about all I can think to say.

Great pure-pleasure Disney-esque feel-good movie. I'd love to see it again in IMAX 3D this time (instead of just 3D).