Dances with Wolves meets Star Wars meets The Matrix meets... Jurassic Park

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2009)

Quite a strapline huh? Just namedrop some of the most iconic movies ever made and give it 10/10, trumpets and a parade. Sadly, for me this wasn't to be (but still book in a jazz band or something.) The reason is because I actually found myself getting a little bored. Not with the CGI because lets face it, that's literally out of this world and James Cameron really wasn't lying when he said his creation would 'change cinema forever' or something as equally exorbitant (also relating too price, didn't this cost $500million or something?) The animation of the Na'Vi and their environment lived up to expectation, and surpassed it easily. At times you had to remind yourself these things are actually animated and not some random aliens they'd type-casted. The film is as expected a stunning visual experience and I haven't watched it in 2D but I expect that 3D doesn't hinder this in any way as it does with some movies. For some reason the whole thing reminded me a bit of America. Sit back, nom on the popcorn, slurp the huge bucket of Coca Cola and enjoy being entertained with the best quality animation man has ever produced, for some reason it just put you in the 'yeah, I suddenly like comic books' kinda mood. If they could ever incorporate that kind of experience into say, Halo or something then no man would ever leave the house again and women would be glad of new breakthroughs sperm cloning and in vitro fertilization.
So why not 10/10? It was damn well pretty enough. To be fair I won't dwell on this because its not that major but for me the plot was a little obvious, and at times tiresome, with a few too many dragged emotional speeches and stuff. They'd nicked the basic principal from Dances With Wolves (Kevin Costner and then stuck in the obvious Star Wars man vs aliens using Halo weaponry kinda thing. Then funnily The Matrix made a cameo appearance. For the human to take control of their Avatars they have to effectively 'plug into' them, then if one dies so does the other 'the body cannot live without the mind' and such, which I thought was kinda cool. Also waving its scaley head a bit was Jurassic Park, see if you can see the similarities to Jurassic Park-esquire Dinosaurs in the local wildlife. Probably not to be taken seriously though that last one.
Avatar is stunning, there's no getting away from that, but it is very long and the dialogue is a little aggravating in parts. But seriously, it's really not to be missed on the big screen in 3D with your cool glasses, your popcorn and I think I had a bottle of Oasis. It will entertain you!