Gorgeous visuals anchored in a cliché storm story.

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2010)

Apparently my local theater was to good to keep showing the biggest movie in the world in their theaters. So for my mother's 50th birthday my sisters and I drove an hour and forty-six minutes to the next town to see it. They were showing the 3D version. I was skeptical in seeing it like that, but fortunately that vanished because I was blown away by the visuals. So were my family. However, story-wise if you've seen Pocahontas, Titanic, Fern-gully, The Last Samarui, and even Terminator you have seen this movie etc. God you have definitely seen this movie.
Story- In some very far off future the US military wants some god-like mineral on this alien planet called Pandora. Well of course the Navi,tall majestic looking blue people, ain't budging. So they send a wheelchair bound solider in as a Avatar(super technology mind-link to a doll that looks just like the Navi) to infiltrate and learn more about them. This is all to get them to move or else force will be used. Of course he falls in love with the people and it's princess. Tells them to fight his own blah, blah... Heard, and seen, it all before.
I swear I thought I was watching the live action version of Pocahontas in Fern-gully come to life. The problem with the story and dialog is that it's as cliché as the sun rising. The enemy soldier that just wants to blast Pandora out of the universe is a walking stereotype if I ever saw one. Then there's the velvetta induced speech by the lead character to the Navi. Also the lead villain to his troops has a cheese-ball one as well etc. It's like they had a tick counter with a list of clichés, and went to town with them on this whole movie.
I'm aware that there is nothing new anymore. I know that everything is pretty much a cliché/stereotype now. However, there are ways to go about it so that the viewer forgets that they have seen it all before. You won't forget that fact at all in this movie. At all. The movie wasn't even trying to be subtle. It was in your face. Get your tick counters ready.
Also this movie is full of unfortunate implications. I won't list them all. You'll be able to do that yourself when you see it just fine. One for example though is that the Navi can bond with the trees and the wild animals of Pandora. They can do this by sticking an intimate part of their body into an intimate part of their victim's. Then forcing the tree or creature to submit to their wills. Without even seeing the movie what does that sound like to you? Then when you actually see the act.. Yea implications indeed.
Visuals- The visuals were so good I would've given this movie a 10 just for that fact alone. However, my conscious won't allow me to do that lol. See this movie in 3D if you can. It is absolutely breathtaking. The world of Pandora is like every fantasy setting put together. It's all just a magical eye-gasm. Like I said it's pretty much Fern-gully come to life. That's not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.
I at first dragged my feet at going to see this movie because of the Navi being blue, catlike beings with huge anime eyes. However, once I saw them in the movie I came to realize they look beautiful like that, and go well with Pandora. Their height took me by surprise though. You won't get to see them by humans until the end and they are huge.
Bottom-line: You can enjoy this movie. Even if the title should have been called Avatar: The Cliché. The way to do it is leave your brain at the door. Just enjoy the visuals and the beautiful,realistic looking Navi. If you let in your logical detestment at seeing obvious stereotypes rolling around like dice, then you won't enjoy this movie. You'll pull yourself right out of it. I didn't want to leave when the credits rolled. I didn't even realize two hours had passed. I was so engrossed in it. Could it have been the graphics I didn't want to leave? Probably. However, since they are part of the overall package I bared with the whole movie.
There's no deep character development in this movie. There's no deep anything really. The dialog is a big chuck of cheese. The mineral that they wanted was more like an obvious plot device. The first time it's brought up is the last time. The characters are all one dimensional stereotypes etc. However,the movie did entertain me. Also as cliché and stereotypical as everyone was they were likable. So that's something. Also it at least had five passable movies to be cloned from. *Hmm maybe not Titanic. I think I'm the only person in the world that has never liked that movie. lol*