Very entertaining action movie with great visuals, forget Philosophy

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2011)

A spellbinding animated adventure film with a simplistic script and predictable characters.
The creativity and imagination of the film is undeniable, and the fantastic world of Pandora is creative, beautiful and artistically created and colored regarding Nature and Creatures, myths and mood.
I must say that I found the animation, especially at first a little awkward, a sort of advanced video-game with improved facial and body movements. However, once you get into the story, and as the animated part gains prominence in the film, you stop seeing animation, and you see real characters and a real fantastic world. That is a credit to the director and creative team.
I also loved the idea of a harmonious natural world where everything is interconnected, where the energy is shared. A little primal and indigenous Eden that is going to be violated and abused by human beings who believe to be superior despite their greediness and lack of respect to the environment. It is a metaphor of the inconsistencies of the modern world that ignores the environment and other humans beings to spread a system that is self-destructive. The whole philosophy and spirituality of the natives is very zen, really wonderful, and very well explained and developed.
My biggest criticism of the film is the incongruity, so American, of defending the right to a peaceful and harmonious world through war. The fighting and war scenes are great, but, obviously, very violent, so that all the film's Peace message is betrayed very soon. The movie becomes a thriller, with good and bad characters, military leaders, defenders and attackers. My second criticism is that the story line and characters are predictable, which tones down the whole movie and makes it less interesting for the viewer who wants a little bit of depth and is not easily content with just wonderful visuals.
I really enjoyed the film, because it is, mostly, an action movie, with fantastic enthralling action and war scenes, and super-duper visuals. However, it has a mix of meditation, romance, adventure, sci-fi, and zen premises that will captivate men and women, children and adults.
A true blockbuster, and a landmark for movies to come regarding visuals and special effects.