Avatar

Leaving Avatar, I was acutely conscious that in the 3 hours (or so) that I was in the cinema, anything could have happened. Nuclear war could have been declared, natural disaster could have struck, the Jonas Brothers might actually have released a decent track!! Yes that's right... anything could have happened! Naturally I was anxious.

Let us cut to the chase, Avatar is astounding. It is so amazing for one reason and one reason alone - the animation. The 3D is like nothing I've seen outside of real life. It is a true breakthrough in film making. The sheer scale of the project is quite unlike anything ever realised before.

In addition to being astounding, Avatar is also a giant piece of crapola! The story is dreadful with a million clichés bundled into one. The acting was passable, but not impressive. And there were moments of sheer laugh-out-loud ridiculousness when, even though I'd been willing to buy the 8-foot tall blue aliens, I could suspend my disbelief no longer.

There were also moments when I wanted to hang myself because I was so sick of being lectured. Yes lectured. The subtext goes something like this "Blah blah war in Iraq is wrong... blah blah... Native Americans ripped off... blah blah no respect for nature..." Not the most subtle of messages. Do you remember the Narnia films when you expected to see that the thing was Vatican-funded because of the Christianity being shoved down your throat? Yeah. This is worse!

Every film has a message, but that doesn't mean it has to be so blunt. I felt like I was back in the lecture halls being pelted with useless personal opinion rather than fact. I remain convinced there are bruises on my brain because of the preachy assault of morality.

Enough though! Flaws aside, I have to commend James Cameron for his vision. What a massive undertaking! He may have spent a decade on this (and what's rumoured to be more than $500 million US) but he's set the bar at a new high and forged a new path for film makers.

And credit where credit's due - even while I was cringing at the terrible motivational speeches, or rolling my eyes at the native religious ceremonies, it's really quite difficult not to get caught up in the emotion Cameron wants you to feel. A great soundtrack always goes a long when when you're trying to sweep people along so well done James Horner!

One really interesting comment I heard while I was leaving was that for many people in the audience, this was their first 3D film. Having seen so many myself, I find this amazing. I am actually amazed by this! If you have a couple of seconds, please feel free to leave me a comment below: Have you ever seen a 3D film? If you've seen Avatar, was that your first 3D experience in the cinema?

I can't emphasise this point enough: Please see this film in 3D! Don't waste your time or money on the regular 2D experience - it won't be worth it. I myself saw it in IMAX and aside from the usual problems with dreadful seats, no leg room and a person sitting nearby that smelled like, well I won't tell you what they smelled like because even the internet isn't ready for that sort of language... apart from that, the sound and image (along with the 3D) makes this the perfect place to see Avatar.

Anyway, Avatar is quite something. Visually everything I could ever have wanted. It's just every other element that disappointed, though not quite enough to detract from the amazing 3D and visuals and affect the rating.

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4 Stars