2D Or Not 2D, That is the question...

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2010)

The answer is a resounding, unequivocal, no! Do NOT "wait until it comes out on DVD" to see this film. This film must be seen in HD 3D. This is not to say that the film is carried by the CGI or other special effects, it just wouldn't be the same experience. And that's what this film is above all, an experience.
Ever since I was a boy and watched in awe as Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon, I realized, with sadness, that humans would never visit another planet in my lifetime. I was wrong. My dream has been fulfilled. I didn't just see a movie about another planet, I was ON another planet. Avatar breathed life into the planet Pandora in a way no other movie has even come close to achieving.
The detractors say, "well, Cameron cheated, it was all just CGI and special effects." That's like saying Van Gogh cheated when he painted 'Starry Night' because he used paint and brushes'. Yes, there were special effects, but those effects are just an empty canvas and a box of paints until a master like James Cameron applies the strokes so vividly, so beautifully, from his imagination to the screen. The same folks are calling it Dances with Pochahantas meets Ferngully meets Matrix meets blah, blah, blah. Why, because the story has classical themes that people have been drawn to since the time of the first cave drawings to Homer to Shakespeare? That's what makes them classics. Their truths are universal and enduring over the ages and cross-culturally.
Should it win Best Picture? Absolutely, but comparing it to other movies in the Best Picture category is like comparing apples to Oldsmobiles. It's just not a fair fight. It's an experience, not just a movie.
I could go on, but I won't. The acting was solid, but probably not in award contention. The writing, directing, art direction, aliens, life forms were compelling and fantastic. I will endeavor to see Avatar again before it leaves theaters. This movie may stay in theaters for another year, and if it doesn't it will be re-released in 2011 because it MUST be seen in the way it was shot and intended to be seen. Even the Flomax crowd will stay in their seats for the nearly 3 hour journey. Time flies when you are in another world.