Food for the Eyes and Brain

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2010)

The panaoramic view of space, planets, forests, and skies is just amazing to look at. I conveyed this to a friend by saying they could have just turned the sound off and looped the movie to keep me the theater in awe for hours.
The story really pulls you in, though it moves more slowly than necessary, I explain this away by saying they wanted to show off the visuals, buying time with a slow-moving story line. You get a good background story on the main characters, giving the viewer a idea of where each ones loyalty lies, their background, and why they act the way they do. There is revenge, the hope for a new life, defending your land and family, rivalry, and compassion.
Is the plot without holes? Definitely not, but for me, it wasn't a big deal. Avatar does a great job of suspending disbelief, which is my short way of making unbelievable things seem possible. This keeps your mind from rejecting what it sees, and crying out something like "puhleaze, there's no way he made that jump!" .
If you seen many movies and/or read many books, the general flow of the story becomes apparent, and you can predict most of the key parts of the story line, e.g. who will live, who will die, and who will marry who.
Maybe I am just one of those "ohh, shiny object!" people, but I was very impressed with this film, and plan on seeing it again. It has an excellent message, thought not new, is worth being retold so that we don't forget it.