Avatar is fantastic!

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2010)

Simply put, Avatar is an epic. For it's 2 & a half hour run time, I sat mesmerized, until my eyes watered and I realized I wasn't blinking. By the time it was over, I had a headache as a result of over stimulation. Now I feel like I need to wind down and watch something like Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero to feel normal again.
Avatar is a spectacle film, with a lot of action and visuals. The story is simple and the anti-war message is very obvious. But in the long run, you get a compelling movie out of it that gains momentum all the way into its final act.
James Cameron always manages to get his actors to seem natural. You believe the characters, because the dialogue is not overwritten. My favorite is Stephen Lang who plays a Colonel who's hellbent on pillaging the alien world. He ranks up with one of the greatest villains I've seen in recent times.
This was the first major 3D movie I saw. It didn't use any gimmicks. Usually, you would expect objects to fly straight into your face, but instead it used the 3D as a depth of field to see into the screen and immerse yourself in the environment. I felt like I was there.
History has repeated itself. In the 1950's, 3D and lavish color widescreen "Cinemascope" epics enticed people away from their Televisions, to get off their asses and come back to the theater. Today, the convenience of Netflix, downloading movies, DVR, and movies coming out on DVD/Blu-Ray within a few months of their theatrical release, for little over the same cost, loaded with extras, it makes you wonder why go to the theater at all. But the answer is here. Avatar made me glad to leave my house and saved the movie-going experience.