Avatar

I finally saw Avatar. Since it took me so long, I'll go ahead and assume that most other people have seen it. Thus this is your spoiler alert. If you don't want to know what happens in the movie, read no further.

I enjoyed the show and I enjoyed the 3-D. As I was putting on my 3-D glasses before the show, I thought to myself, "What a gimmick! What the hell is so special about watching a movie in 3-D?"

Truth is the last time I saw something in 3-D was in Las Vegas . . . and it WAS quite gimmicky. This was no gimmick. What I found great about it was that things weren't necessarily poking out of the screen at you. Instead, the 3-D sunk back into the screen. It gave movie depth and perspective.

The world that was created was fantastic and beautiful. I'm not sure how practical it really was - floating mountains and all. Yet, I was still able to put my skepticism aside and enjoy backdrop.

The story has been told before: Lawrence of Arabia and Dances with Wolves come to mind. Soldier goes into the wild, befriends the natives, is finally accepted by them, then accidentally betrays them. Have I mentioned that I loved both of those movies? I think I just did.

Even though the story wasn't very original, its placement in a Science Fiction setting was new. I'm sure that it's been done before, but probably not as well as this. The use of the Avatar bodies was an interesting plot device, that was even more interesting since it gave the lead character away to overcome his disability.

The characters were fun and I enjoyed the acting - save for the lead character Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington. His acting was the only distraction that I had to an otherwise enjoyable movie. The rest of the cast did an outstanding job.

Overall, I'd give it a 9 out of 10. Very good movie. I may go see it again, after all I now own the cool 3-D specs.