Worth the Experience

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2010)

First things first. Is Avatar deserving of the unrelenting hype? Its status as the highest grossing movie of all time? Could ANY movie truly live up to that billing? Probably not, but in terms of sheer scope of the visuals and storytelling, it is easy to see why James Cameron's Avatar became the phenomenon it is.
With a rumored budget of more than 300 million, there's never any question that the visual effects are the main star here. I might run out of adjectives rather quickly in going into detail why this movie is an easy 10/10 in the visual department. Comparisons with the original Star Wars are in this way warranted. Cameron has raised the bar on film-making in a lot of the same ways George Lucas did back in 1977. For perhaps the first time, I actually forgot I was watching CGI characters interact for most of the movie. The motion capturing was as close to perfect as I've seen. The environments were incredibly immersive. The colors were incredible. There was so much detail put into it, so much going on in the background, but it never overdid it in a way that movies such as the Star Wars prequels did. Cameron does understand the concept of letting a shot breathe. You might see critters or other such things in the background, but the shots never get distracting. It's definitely impressive how he created a whole world that lives before us, right down to the grass, plants, animals, and atmosphere. I could go on and on, but simply put, this movie looks freaking beautiful.
A lot has been said about the story. Yes, it's in no way original. Yes, it seems pieced together from other films. There's a lot of Dances With Wolves, there's some Ferngully style environmentalism, there's things I immediately recognized as being taken from The Matrix, Aliens and Star Wars. The lead in to the jungle areas of Pandora were just like the tour into Jurassic Park. But take a step back and consider: Is Dances with Wolves a better experience than Avatar? Is Ferngully presented in a way that's even half as effective? This film does aspire to be a classic like the other films mentioned, and I'm not convinced it's really so different, at least in terms of storytelling. Avatar lacks some of the heart in terms of the character development and personalities, but the overall story honestly didn't bother me at all. Sometimes taking a familiar concept can be OK as long as it's improved upon. It's a story we've heard before, but in this case the way it is presented never felt too forced or cliché for my taste. That being said, it's too bad it wasn't a bit more original. At least in Star Wars we had light sabers and the force and all that, the fact that Avatar lacks it's own spin in this way does hold it back from being a masterpiece.
The other issue I had with the story was that we seemed to join it midway in, with little explanation for the motivations of the characters based on what had happened before. This seems to be a deliberate decision by Cameron, and I'm not asking for flashbacks or anything, but there must have been a way to convey to the audience what was at stake a little better. Because of this, and the way the film spends the first 90 minutes basically showing us pretty pictures, the plot and characters don't really get truly engaging until the half way point. Around the time the romantic subplot kicked in, we were in full gear, and I had very few problems from this point on.
The cast in Avatar was a saving grace in my opinion. Sam Worthington was a good choice for the everyman main character, and Sigourney Weaver was a good choice as someone that has screen presence. Also, I was very happy to see Michelle Rodriguez and Joel Moore, as I've always been a fan of their supporting roles in the past. They nailed the casting across the board, which did a considerable job of making up for the otherwise less than fleshed out characters. There was a few moments of cheesy acting, but they did a good job with what they had to work with and succeeded at making me care about them by the end of the film.
There are many that thought Avatar was heavy handed in it's obvious messages. Knowing most of these going in, I was not bothered in the slightest. For a film with this long a running time, I was pleasantly surprised with how fast it went by. The pacing was done well and I was very thankful that the action didn't just drag on forever with no creativity put into it.
Avatar is quite the experience. It deserves to be seen by virtually anyone, and for that, it's hard to argue with the fact that there is a lot of hype around it. A few aspects hold the film back from achieving the masterpiece status that it tries for, but it's about as close as it gets in my eyes without crossing that line. If only for the innovation on display, and the way it plays as kind of a greatest hits if you will of many classic movies that I have loved my whole life.With the proper additional material this could easily rise above that, so I will eagerly keep my eyes on the extended version when the time comes. In the meantime, suffice to say you won't find me in the camp of people that won't continue to enjoy Avatar as a beautifully done adventure.
9/10