AVATAR…4.0****
How often do you get to see movie history being made? Not looking back after-the-fact, but as it is actually happening? No ! Not often. I remember when Star Wars first came out in 1977, and I and other people felt a similar way, that we were witnessing something never before seen before that would change movies forever. Well, James Cameron's “Avatar” with it’s long-awaited, much-touted 3D motion-capture technique is just such a giant step into the future of movie making. What we see on screen during “Avatar” has never been seen before and is nearly impossible to explain with words. The advanced motion-forward technique, the exhilarating CGI (computer generated imagery) and the enhanced depth and clarity afforded by the 3D all come together to make a stunningly awesome and truly extraordinary movie. The result is that you become so totally immersed into the film and the action you forget that you’re in a theatre….you enter a whole new, exhilarating fantasy world and you see everything as if it were real.

The story focuses on Jake Sully, a paraplegic U.S. marine, who travels trough space to the Pandora, a planet inhabited by the Na'vi, an alien race, and although they are 9 feet tall and have blue skin and large doe-like eyes, they are still very similar to humans. There he becomes involved with the Avatar project…a process by which his mind and consciousness are transferred to the clone of a Na'vi body. The military on Pandora is interested in mining a very rare and precious rock material and, as luck would have it, there are large quantities of this material in the very place where the Na'vis live. Jake, in Avatar form, goes to live with the Na'vi in order to gather info for the military. While living with them, Jake learns about their culture, their way of life and he starts to see the world trough their eyes. His guide and teacher is the Na'vi Princess, Neytiri. As you might guess, she becomes a romantic interest too. As you watch the movie, you come to care about the characters, especially the Na’vis and the way they respect nature, the animals and above all, life itself, which is a good lesson for all of us to learn and practice. I found myself becoming involved and caught up in the story and characters in a way that I have seldom experienced in many other movies.. it’s an altogether awe inspiring, thrilling, super-visual experience.
“Avatar” represents the wonderful culmination of James Cameron’s greatest moments as a director; bearing the boldness and surprise of 1984’s “Terminator”, the vision and pacing of “Aliens” and the sweeping scope and romance of “Titanic”. And by the way the very gifted James Horner is back for the music and musical score ( he did the wonderful music for “Titanic”).”
Avatar” is one of the best if not THE best film of the year. In fact, it may be one of the most exciting, visually superb films you'll ever feast your eyes. “Avatar” is a movie experience to be savored and remembered, AND you absolutely MUST see this in a theater preferably with 3D and if possible at I-Max 3D.
Clark

TRIVIA NOTES:
1) A full phonetic Na'vi language was created entirely from scratch by linguist Paul Frommer, who was hired by James Cameron to construct a language that was easily pronounceable by the actors, but lacking any resemblance or influence from any single human language. Around 500 words were created.
2) The movie is 40% live action and 60% photo-realistic CGI with a lot of motion capture technology and 3D.
3) With an estimated budget of at least $280,000,000, this is one of the most expensive movies ever made. (For instance, to get an idea of the labor intensive cost of doing the CGI (computer generated imagery), over 800 artist and technicians worked for over 6 months at a location in England solely on that phase of the movie.