Jake Sully [Sam Worthington] is a crippled Marine that has been brought to Pandora to work in the Avatar program to try and get into the indigenous people of Pandora off of some really expensive rock.  Jake gets lost in the woods and brought into the clan with Neytiri [Zoe Saldana] and he is made to learn their ways and understand them until he becomes one of them.

James Cameron I think slightly failed with this movie for one reason and one reason only.  It was made to seem as if this was the next coming of cinema when they were advertising the film.  Cameron had somehow revised all the rules in every way but the truth of the matter is that beyond the actually visual element of the film the rest felt somewhat uninspired.  I feel almost the same way I did about A Christmas Carol (however, I did enjoy this a ton more) in that Cameron decided to take this new technology and push it to the max and try to show the world that 3D can be a viable medium for storytelling rather than just a gimmick for children’s movies.

The visuals in this movie blow any and everything you’ve ever seen completely out of the water.  I do think that out of context the Navi do look slightly cartooned, however in the context of the movie with you sitting in the theatre and having on those 3D glasses you see real creatures/people on screen and it is glorious.  I’ve been saying this forever, 3D should not be used to just through random things in our face but to create a feeling of depth to images and this movie does it in spades.  From the film opens to Jake Sully waking up in the space shuttle and seeing everyone getting out of their beds and floating around in minimum gravity you can’t help but fall in love with the scenery and that feeling is increased exponentially as we are taken across Pandora with Neytiri and we see all of these new plants and animals and how it all works.  You almost forget that you’re watching a movie at moments you rather imagine you’re there feeling what Jake is feeling and no longer in a crowded theatre with the overweight movie goer dripping his nacho cheese on your shirt sleeve.

When we get to the story itself it feels slightly brushed over.  I’ve been hearing all the jokes from the trailer that Cameron went and remade Pocahontas and this is pretty much true.  The only thing which makes this a great Pocahontas is through certain key characters, like Dr. Grace Augustine [Sigourney Weaver] and Colonel Miles Quaritch [Stephen Lang].  Grace gave us our introduction into this Avatar world since she’s the scientist who apparently created it and at the same time being the expert on operating it and the indigenous people’s culture. The Colonel on the other hand is just one hardcore army man.  I think from the moment we meet him and he’s giving the security briefing and you hear him say things like “it is my job to keep you alive, but I will not succeed at that” you know this guy means business.  I even love his commitment to his directive; he is willing to harm himself to complete the mission as we see multiple times when he runs out of airlock just to get it done even though he knows he needs a face mask to breathe.

I think throughout the runtime of the movie my favourite scene has to be the first time Jake uses his avatar and you see him feeling it out.  The look on his face as you see him literally run for joy as he realises that this thing actually works and he can walk  and run again for the first time in (what I can only imagine is) years.  It is just a moment that stuck with me and I couldn’t help but smile as I saw it transpire on screen.

I particularly enjoyed a lot of the action sequences, especially towards the end with the bird vs. helicopters.  I think sometimes that is the best time when 3D is used when they’re numerous layers going into the screen and you can see it go further and further away like following the ocean with your eye to the horizon.

In the end this movie is exactly what it promised to be I guess.  It is visual eye candy and a cinema lover’s dream film.  It dazzled you and made you remember the wonders of watching a film on the big screen and being able to forget that you were in a theatre rather than in the world the movie is set in.  Cameron set out to prove that 3D is great and if they’re still any naysayers then I guess they’re the ones that can’t be changed in their ways and we should just ignore them like Twilight fans.

IMDB says 8.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 82%

I say 8.0/10