OK, it’s been way too long, and the crazy list of excuses/reasons just hurts my head, but I’m back.

OH BOY! Is this one epic! For anyone and everyone out there that has ever enjoyed a Science Fiction movie, Avatar is for you. It’s comes with a steep price, in my opinion, but is worth it. By steep price I mean that it is shown in 3D, so you’ll have to pony up extra cash to see it, and when you do, it’s crazy long, but yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause, and he loved this film too.

I am not going to gush about how much I liked every single part of this film. I just want to point out a few examples of why I think this film excels.

a) It’s James Cameron’s person decade old pipe dream. One source told me Cameron has been mulling over this story and merely waiting for technology to allow him to envision the story the way he sees it in his head. Not sure if that’s true but I do know he created new technology just to make the film.

b)This film is visually as well as audibly stunning. My God!! The CGI is brilliant. From the numerous computer imagined Heads Up displays to the eye-popping flora and fauna found just outside the human’s base. Cameron uses both the visual medium and sound effects to flesh out this whole new universe. He doesn’t let up there either. For I found the music just as engaging as the expansive vistas Cameron delivers of this planet known as ‘Pandora’.

c)Despite the mind-numbingly large amount of CGI, the characters still manage to drive the story along. The actors had chosen, some who actually appear in the film and those who just lend their voices all work together to bring this film to life.

Ok, now I’ll tell you more about the actual film…..

Set in the far future, mega-corporations travel the universe looking for resources. One specific item, laughingly named ‘Unabtainium’ here is so sought after, and yet so rare this one company is willing to go to any lengths to retrieve it. (Fairly reminiscent of the Corporation in the Alien universe, also conveniently turned on its ear but James Cameron.) Here on the planet Pandora though, one thing stands in the way of the Corporation, the indigenous race of planet-dwellers. Enter the story’s hero, Jake Sully. A paralyzed marine chosen to embrace this indigenous race in a pretty fantastical way and try to peaceably negotiate the ‘unabtainium’ from the locals. Jake actually is able, with Sigourney Weaver’s help, to take on the form of a local and ‘remotely operate’ this Avatar (hence the title) to interact with this strange beings to learn their ways and get the upper hand to force them out. You see the ensuing conflict from both sides through his eyes, the eyes of his new friends, the eyes of the Head of Security for the human base, and in a smaller bit, the local representative of the Company who is tasked with retrieving this material no matter what the price. From here on out, the story becomes a little guy being picked on by a bigger guy, but who finds some way to fight back. One way the story stays engaging is that it turns out that the locals have their own religion that fuels what they do and how they interact with the forest around them. Just at the point where you might be overloaded by fighting and violence, the pace is broken up by scenes of absolute beauty and serenity where the locals interact with their chosen deity.

Honestly, there is so much going on, so many characters, so much eye candy that this film did not feel like it is 162 minutes long. IMDB lists this film as already being nominated for a couple Golden Globes, it’s easy to understand why. I have one single gripe with the film. In one single area it is too successful. The 3D imagery really is breath-taking when the film begins. Unfortunately for me, by the time the final conflict arose, I was so used to the 3D effect that I was no longer appreciating it. I understand this is how Cameron wanted the story to be told, but I am sure it would have been just as powerful a film without the 3D, which in the end, is still just a gimmick. Please do not take me wrong, if for no other example but seeing a three dimensional piloting display much like what is pictured in Tony Stark’s laboratory, it is phenomenal stuff. Really, it is. I am not sure how well the 3D will translate to home viewing, but for seeing it in the theatre, I have seen nothing like it. Was it really necessary though? I dunno. Makes me wonder if Cameron had been passionate about ‘Smell-o-vision’ would it have been ultimately successful? The world may never know.

Please though, go see James Cameron’s Avatar. Would I steer you wrong? On purpose?

Your humble, if not unreliable, servant Throm.

“Hail to the King, baby!”

P.S. My three Film points…….

1) Was it worth the money spent? Absolutely, positively, in every single way to I feel justified even paying the inflated ‘3D prices’.

2)Was it Kid Friendly? Yes, I can see no reason that the younger audience wouldn’t enjoy this; there is some occasional foul language, but nothing I wouldn’t guess they encounter on the playground during recess.

3)Did this film lower my IQ? Unequivocally, NO. The undertones in this story, about outer and inner differences, and acceptance are a good lesson for everyone to take to heart. (And yes I had to look up ‘unequivocally’ in the dictionary!)