curiousillusion

[As always, my movie reviews are spoiler-free.  If you were looking for spoilers... sorry.  I'm sure you can find them if you look.]

I kind of resigned myself to not doing any more movie reviews, as I had decided that I’m not really good at writing them.  However, I really felt the need to write a review about this movie, mainly for the people that were like me – on the fence about seeing this movie, leaning towards the “eh it won’t be so good” side. So… here we go, for old times’ sake. :)

Yesterday I saw the movie Avatar with my brother and dad.  I have to start out by saying that I really didn’t care to see the movie. I mean, yes, I’d heard that it had already grossed a billion dollars worldwide, and that people were raving about the special effects… but I’m not really a person that cares about special effects.  Plus I had also heard that the plot was just eh, and usually I go to see a movie for the plot.

Obviously I went, mainly to see what the fuss was all about.  My brother (who had seen it once already) said that we HAD to see it at the IMAX in 3D… so we did.  At first it was difficult trying to buy the tickets online, because multiple showings were sold out.  Yes, this movie, that was released three weeks ago (December 18th) was still sold out in a few theaters, at many different times. Okay, now I HAD to see what the fuss was all about.  We got there early (another brother suggestion) and wow, am I glad we did… so many people had also gotten there early too.  I think if we would have gotten there 5 minutes later, we would have been stuck sitting right down at the front.  Yikes.  (So heads up… if you have plans to see it, get your tickets ahead of time, and get to the theater early.)

Anyway, on to the movie.  In a word, as my brother said, the movie was “pretty”.  I have to agree.  The special effects deserve all the hype; James Cameron went all out and spent so much money for a reason.  The world that he created is just so… amazing, almost magical.  The different creatures are spectacular to see, and the colors are so vivid, they made me wish I could be there.  And, while I’ve only seen it in IMAX 3D, I have to say that this must be the best way to see it.  The big screen, the 3D… it all just emphasizes the beauty of this film.

Btw, I have to say, I’m not usually a fan of 3D and this time my feelings were mixed.  On the one hand, yes, everything really does pop out at you (and the little girl next to me tried to reach out for something at one point during the movie… I actually almost wanted to at one point. Shut up, stop laughing.).  But on the other hand, and this is my general issue with 3D movies… at times, certain things seem almost transparent.  I mean, if the focus is the action in the middle of the screen, and there’s a character in the corner that you can almost see through, it doesn’t look as realistic as the rest of the picture. I don’t know.  I tried to explain it to my brother and my dad and they didn’t seem to really understand what I was saying.

Now, as I’ve said already – people have said that the plot wasn’t that great.  I don’t know about that.  From my viewpoint (and I guess I’m not being all that critical), I thought the plot was decent.  There WAS a reason for them being on the planet, there was a story to tell, rather than it just being all about the special effects.  Not only that, but there was a message and I really felt it, it really got to me and made me emotional.  It really made me think about what we do on a regular basis, without even thinking twice, and how it affects everything else.

What else can I say about this movie?  It had quite a bit of action, and at the end of the movie I felt exhausted – I was very “into” the fighting and at times I found myself holding my breath.  There were some parts that had me nervous (in that “something is about to jump out at me” way), but that may be just because I’m a scaredy cat. There was a bit of comedy, which had the audience laughing aloud.  And of course, a bit of romance too… basically it had something for everyone.

Oh yeah, and btw… it’s a long movie. About 2 and a half hours. And honestly?  It felt long at times.  I checked my watch quite a bit, more than I usually do during a movie.  I think a few scenes could have been made shorter, but at the same time, at the end I was surprised to find it over.  I didn’t want to leave the world James Cameron had created.

And, on that note, I will say that I kind of want to see it again already.  If anyone lives near me and wants to go… let’s go!  I definitely think I’ll buy it on DVD (although I’m sure it won’t be the same experience as IMAX 3D)… and if there’s a sequel, I’ll be there.

So, in the end, I have to give this movie a good review… let’s say 4 1/2 stars out of 5 (minus half a star for it feeling long, and for an annoying character that was just overly evil). I’m sure there are people that will disagree with me, as there always is… and, who knows… maybe I just liked it because I wasn’t expecting much.  But it’s nice to be pleasantly surprised by a movie, it’s nice to walk out of the theater wanting more… and the next day, all of it (the special effects, the characters, the plot) is still on my mind.  That’s what I consider a pretty good movie-going experience. :)

Have you seen Avatar?  Do you have any additional thoughts you’d like to leave?  And, if you haven’t seen it already… are you planning on going?

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