A spiritual experience that is more than a movie

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2009)

Avatar is a rare movie. Not only is it a stunning example of CGI, excellent writing, and acting that truly brings characters alive, Avatar is a movie that has a story worth telling. Today we are surrounding with movies, especially science fiction, of repeated stories of alien invasions, war, battles, etc., Rare is the movie that has all of these but actually has a story with telling within the CGI and visuals. Avatar is that movie.
The year is 2154 and humanity has begun colonizing other worlds. Pandora is a world rich with resources and former marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is chosen to replace his brother on a mission that would hopefully change humanity's role on the world. Crippled though not defeated in spirit, Jake is willing to do anything that could get him back the ability to use his legs and the Avatar program may be just that and perhaps something more.
His arrival to Pandora opens up a world that is beyond imagination. Working with Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), who makes her disdain towards Jake openly, Jake is thrown into the Avatar program where he mentally takes the form of one of the Na'vi who are the native people of Pandora. At first seeing his mission as a marine would, Jake has no problem gathering intelligence for Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) who leads the military contractor wing that provides security for the mining operations on Pandora.
Jake realizes that there is something more to Pandora and the Na'vi once he befriends Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). He becomes accepted by her tribe slowly once he begins a series of rituals that teach him not only how to understand the Na'vi, but to become one. Jake one day realizes that he is torn between his loyalty to his own race and marine identity and his new found people, and love, for Pandora. The battle that comes is one that will not only decide if Pandora will survive, but also if Jake will remain the man he once was. Pandora, a world of beauty and innocence, is facing its greatest challenge and Jake becomes the only man, and Na'vi, able to save it.
There is a spiritual theme that runs through Pandora. The idea of environmentalism and new age thought runs through the Avatar but not in a way that is forced or condescending. Unlike other movies that preach a message, Avatar lets the idea of defending what is pure run freely and it is this that makes James Cameron's writing one of the best this year. No matter your religious beliefs, there is a spiritual message that is in Avatar and one can compare the corruption that humanity brings to Pandora much as sin did to the Garden of Eden. There are those who will not like this but that is okay. Even if you don't enjoy the ideology behind Avatar, the movie is still one of the best this year. James Cameron deserves best credit for what is one of the most original movies ever made.
10/10