Well worn story line with a slight twist, executed with brilliant technology that rivets you to the seat.

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2010)

I am old enough to remember the days when any Western had the obligatory Indian hordes riding in whooping, shooting their arrows and occasional guns, only to be beaten back by the cavalry arriving at the last minute and saving the civilization bearing good guys (who were invariably white). Exodus was essentially of the same theme – only it was the Jews who were the good guys and the Palestinians who were the bad guys. This was eventually followed by movies like Dance with Wolves introducing the doubting Thomas white guy, who eventually turns "native" – but probably eventually perishes for that perfidy.
Well Avatar is on a similar theme but here the Na'vi (who actually looks remarkably like the "Injuns" or yore) manages to beat back the civilization bearing guys with the help of the doubting Thomas. The film is also interspersed with liberal doses of (unacknowledged) gaia themes from Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds. Okay, with Nausicaa it was a giant worm who put out golden colored feelers to resuscitate chosen people, and in Avatar it's the giant Tree of Souls with its luminous white strings that does an identical trick – but you get the drift. What original twist that Avatar provides in the story is the future world high tech that enables even the paraplegic protagonist Jake to bioelectronically remote control his Na'vi avatar. Bringing juice to that well worn storyline are the incredible VFX and 3D technologies, that literally makes you dodge on your theater seat when that shrapnel jets out of the screen towards you.
So this is my take of the film: well worn story line with a slight twist, executed with brilliant technology that rivets you to the seat. Score one for tech – but when everyone gets used to the 3D technology in action-packed movies, I still think you'll need a strong story line to pull the audience through.