James Cameron's "Avatar"

James Cameron's "Avatar" has been getting rave reviews. I've been doing a lot of reading on it and getting positive reviews through word of mouth from friends on facebook, so it sort of bumped up my negative anticipation towards it. I think the media was all right by saying that they marketed the movie wrong. It's not exactly an action movie, but more along the lines of "District 9" where you become them, and then join them and fight back. It's not as political and thought-provoking as "District 9" but it does have heart and some parallels with military and colonialism. I even find it funny people are comparing the movie to "Pocahontas". That makes sense, except you gotta give Pocahontas some poison-lined arrows and a banshee to ride upon (don't forget to give her hair with mind-connecting tendrils). The movie itself, is awe-inspiring. As a whole you can view it as James Cameron's triumphant return to his sci-fi throne, wetting the appetites of fanboys worldwide with gun-toting mecha, ground-breaking graphics, and, of course, Sigourney Weaver.

I can say I was NOT a fan of the 3-d. It was great to see it, especially towards the beginning in the opening cryo-scene, but after that I didn't see that much of a big deal, especially since I'm a hobby gamer and I'm more enthralled this past year by games like "Uncharted 2" and even throwback to "Metal Gear Solid 4". The 3-d was definitely designed with the intention of being used with the movie, and kudos to Cameron for always trying to push boundaries, like he did with "Terminator 2", but I felt it was unnecessary to enjoy the experience. I did get a headache at the very end, but I get headaches from first-person shooters. But I felt it nauseating to have my senses overloaded, and all the while I had many question marks at the end of the story.

How did they learn English? I was never exactly sure when the main character, Jake Sully, asks Neytiri. Then everyone starts becoming bilingual. I'm guessing Sigourney taught them. Secondly, I felt they skimped on character development. They never fully went through anyone's character past, but only briefly touched on them. I felt less attached to most of the characters, and so I cared for them less. I liked the character development of Jake and Neytiri, but that was as we went. Although this was not a movie that has flashbacks, I did feel it kind of strange how certain events played out, like why was Neytiri out on her own or did Jake get fake prosthetics or something? Or was he born like that? Sooooo not sure how it was playing out. They did a good job with pacing and developing how Jake gradually changes from human to na'vi, but I found it was just like an imax experience, and I just wish there was more we knew about Grace(Sigourney Weaver), or the roles of that "other guy", the scientist/botanist that had a gun and also had an avatar.

Visually, what can I say? Cameron succeeded, beyond those doubts(of which include me) that these ugly aliens and their neon colorful planet had some worth, and it was more than a realistic CG film like "Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within" and more like an iconic film. I must say though, the memorabilia is cheesy. The movie is watchable, but I don't want to remember a lot of it later on. What I mean is, you won't find action figures, stuffed animals, and those awful toys I saw at McDonald's, in my room in the future. It's a great movie, but it doesn't have much in terms of likability in the character design.

"Avatar" gets no bias from me. I still treat it like any other movie I see, and I would still give it 85% because of its achievements, and all the effort I could see the entire team put in to push it just as far as they did. The story leads much to be desired from me, but at the same time it does stand up on its own, especially when you compare it to most of the dribble you see these days. Glad to see Cameron's still got it!