New Sci Fi CGI Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2009)

There were disappointments, but I'll save those for last ...
I went to this screening with higher expectations than I had for any film in quite a long time. I opted for the 3-D version to see how 3-D has progressed and was not disappointed. In fact, I was very pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of the 3-D presentation. The technique was better integrated into this film than any other example I've seen; creating a nice standard text on things to do right if you want to make a good quality 3-D movie. Most films seem to add 3-D as an afterthought, barely making any impact on the presentation and sadly lacking imagination and creativity. That was not true with this offering, it was very creative and superbly imaginative. Avatar is a stunningly creative integration of the 3-D effect into the entire scope of the film to sometimes breathtaking result.
That being said, lets explore the rest of the film: I did love the rest of the CGI effects, the best I've seen to date in any film. The look of the planet imagined here is the best I've seen - I wonder what Ray Harryhausen thinks of the current state of the art as seen here? The sets, in fact, the whole visual presentation apart from the 3-D were equally outstanding. Saying it is a visually stunning, superb film would not be too effusive in praise.
The cast was excellent throughout, creating a wonderful film that will doubtless become a classic. Stephen Lang did a masterful job with the Colonel Miles Quaritch character, injecting just enough sinister personality to make a worthy antagonist to the bluish aliens; the Na'vi on the planet Pandora. Hardest to judge were the characters of Jake Sully, portrayed by Sam Worthington, and Neytiri, played with great gusto by the exotic and erotic Zoe Saldana. My problem with these characters is I don't know where their craft as actors departed from the CGI. The end results, however, were wonderful characters with more depth than one usually finds in science fiction films; especially Saldana's contribution. Zoe Saldana managed to make her character charmingly feminine and sexy as well as fiercely brave and courageous; something most actresses have trouble doing credibly in action movies. Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacon, and Giovanni Ribisi as the patently evil Parker Selfridge were all outstanding; adding a lot to the film's realism and credibility.
I couldn't help but notice how scrupulously careful the makers were to avoid showing even a glimpse of an alien breast - I suppose there are Christian censors on Pandora too. I imagine many will think the Na'vi were styled after African and Native American culture. Perhaps they'd be right. I think it must have been difficult to concoct too exotic of an alien culture or it may have been too time consuming to present. It is at least solidly done and well constructed.
One thing that must be applauded is the richness of the flora and fauna created for the planet Pandora. The film makers outdid themselves in that department; doing so well that at times the abundance and richness they injected into the film nearly overshadow the rest of what was going on in the film. Great touches in that regard was how small objects, insects, floating leaves, etc., were used to enhance the 3-D effects to stunning success.
I'm likely in a very small minority of film goers who are disappointed with anything in this film. It undeniably outshines even the classics like Star Wars. Still, it missed the mark for me in a couple of areas. The elements that really let me down (more disappointing than I can describe) were the overall technology depictions of the earth people - referred to by the Na'vi as "sky people". Considering that the time-frame when this story was supposed to take place is 2154, 145 years from now, some of what the film makers chose to depict as examples of the preeminent technology of that time were terribly late-twentieth century-ish.
I may be prejudiced by having spent decades working with the military's most technologically advanced weapon systems, but it didn't seem to me that it should be so much of a stretch to do better considering the effort that went into every other element of the film. For example, I know how to creatively solve the problem of interstellar travel in a much more entertaining way and hoped someone in the film's production end would catch on, but it wasn't to be.
Also disappointing were the rather contemporary - to our time - communications, weapons and aircraft; there won't be anything like what they chose 145 years from now. And the oxygen masks; not very creative there either.
Last, but certainly not least, were the disappointingly 20th century clothing. I certainly would have liked more imagination there. Perhaps the most noticeable example being the strategically snipped wife-beater that Michelle Rodriguez wore.
I did like the visuals for what they did with the computer depictions but I think even those could have been done better.
Well, maybe next time . . .
The disappointments were easily forgivable (even the uncomfortable 3-D glasses were forgotten shortly into the film) considering the tremendous overall visual quality of every single thing they put on screen. There are not enough words of praise to adequately recommend this film as great entertainment with the caveat that in spite of the PG-13 rating and the exclusion of bluish alien breasts, it is very violent; so some parents may wish to consider that before toddling their offspring off to a Saturday afternoon at the movies.