A Time Waster that Ain't Worth Your Time

Rating: 1/10 (14 December 2009)

An 85 minute movie expanded to 2 and a half hours. James "Titanic" Cameron's less than titanic effort has a paralyzed marine being sent to the Planet Pandora to fetch a substance that can be used as an energy source on a fuel hungry Earth in the future. The CGI effects are OK-but they wear their welcome out fast. The trite and very hackneyed story seems to have been lifted from Dances With Wolves,Pocohontas, Alien, Cameron's own Aliens,The Lost World, Atlantis-The Lost Empire , Journey to the Center of the Earth,and the Wizard Of Oz-especially for the first 20 or so minutes that are filmed in standard format before the film goes CGI,kind of like the black and white opening of Oz before Dorothy arrives there and it goes to color. The planet Pandora itself features flying dragons and blue indigenous natives that are a poor parody of American Indians. It seems as if Cameron is saying that only the white race of people can be the saviors of this world, and that even though the indigenous peoples are very smart, they just don't have the intelligence to fend or themselves.All the clichés are there, the love interest, the greedy industrialist, the strong , liberated woman, etc, etc. For a short time it is eye popping, even dazzling, but from then on it slowly sinks{get it?} into its own pretensions.Worse still, there really is no sense of humor or comedy relief to lighten things up a bit. Its as if Cameron is saying "wow, just look at it. It's awesome, isn't it?". Well, the real fact of the matter is that it is not. Cameron has always been a props and FX director and still has a lot to learn about the human element and character development . Since this ass-buster runs for what seems to be an eternity, why didn't he attempt to make the characters interesting? He knows that today's multiplex bred filmgoers just don't seem to care so he takes the easy way out and gives us an FX movie that is just overkill.It is all style, no substance and leaves you with a cold and empty feeling. I'm sure this movie will probably do good in the awards department, but that does not justify you giving up two and a half hours of your life to see it.You've seen it all before-and much better too.Even the current Planet 51-a not too good sci-fi parody -comedy of an astronaut landing on a planet where the aliens are based on 1950s American pop culture offers some fun and laughs manages to outshine this. This film is just so ordinary that it is a crime.See it if you like-just don't expect too much. Cameron thinks that the CGI effects of this film will be "the next big thing in film-making" Guess again James.If you can wait 9 or so weeks, you'll be able to rent this at Blockbuster.WARNING! Do NOT take little children to see this movie. They will become just as bored as you-only faster.My rating-one star.