AVATAR: Has Anyone Else Seen James Cameron's Imaginative World?

Sci-fi is  my least favorite form of fiction therefore surprised myself by actually feeling curious about the newly released movie 'Avatar'.
Returned home from the theater a short time ago and searched for a review.  Will see if I agree with the writer's estimation of the film.

The story set in the 22nd century revolves on disabled ex-marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who is called to replace his dead twin in the Avatar program. To fulfill his duty, he travels to the planet populated by Na’vi, Pandora. The Na’vi are hostile to the human race due to the humans’ destruction of their home planet caused by mining for minerals. In the humans attempt to win over the race and the planet, they brew up an experiment that combined human and Na’vi DNA to create the unique Na’vi avatars. These avatars controlled by mental link will proxy for humans in the planet.

                                      Sam/Sully is on the right

Following is Sully's avatar and his love interest

Sully is tasked to take control of one of the avatar ambassadors.  In the course of his mission, he must gain the trust of the Na’vi people whilst convincing them to abandon their home turf. Unexpectedly, he falls in love with the Na’vi princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who had been training him in their Na’vi life and ways. In the progression of the film, Sully must make a choice whether to help his own human race to carry out their plan or to battle against the tide to side with his new friends, the Na’vis.


James Cameron returns to the directing seat after he sank “Titanic” 12 years ago. Long before, he was known for his high quality sci-fi films that set new standards for 3d effects including “The Terminator”, “Aliens”, and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”. With his refined state-of-the-art, $300 million worth production using CG effects in “Avatar”, he lines up with known sci-fi classics that came down through history: “Star Wars”, “Jurassic Park”, “The Matrix” and “Lord of the Rings”.


The largest achievement of the movie comes from the most-talked about CG animation. Using this technology, Cameron brings to life the ten-foot-tall, blue-skinned, cat-like, indigenous people of the planet Pandora, the Na’vi. Though they’re quite a sore to the eye during promotions, while watching them thrive in their natural habitat, they’re a wonder to behold. Folks from WETA have done an amazing job capturing the features of human actors flawlessly making the CG created creatures feel totally real and living, breathing creatures.

Agree to a certain extent -- would not place 'Avatar'  however on the same scale with the classic 'Star Wars'. However, the words enormously imaginative fail to do justice to the breathtakingly exotic world created from Cameron's dream.


Another highly-talked about CG success in the movie is the dense forests populating the world of Pandora. The depiction of the ecologically-balanced, harmonious, and bio-diverse environment is filled with a lush jungle, floating mountains, and a gargantuan tree that stands out among the rest. The team has also created unique wildlife roaming around the planet like vicious viperwolves, six-legged direhorses, mighty thanators, graceful woodsprites, griffin-like banshees, and the predator leonopteryx.

With years into development and four years dedicated to production alone, it’s no doubt Cameron has created a masterpiece, his best work-of-art to date that would push the boundaries of films today to set the stage for the future of cinemas.

Disagree:  To refer to 'Avatar' as a masterpiece sounds like quite a stretch.  'Titanic' is far and away still James Cameron's best movie to date. As already mentioned, science-fiction usually leaves me cold,  BUT my companion at the movie has always been a huge fan and gave his opinion that the new movie cannot compare with the quality of former blockbuster 'Star Wars'.  After recalling the quantum leap of imagination used in some of the episodes of that other antique sci-fi classic, 'Star Trek', I must agree with his assessment.  Cameron's movie probably benefits from the fact there are far fewer good movies produced today than a couple decades ago, therefore any film that transports viewers beyond the here and now seems above average in comparison.

Aside from his CG work on the film, Cameron’s collaborators had played a huge role. Actors, particularly offer vitality and justice to the roles they’re given whether as human or as native Na’vis. Leads Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana both gain praise for their acting prowess. Worthington is a credible hero while Saldana acts genuinely as an alien not as a human trying to pass off as a Na’vi. They both embraced the roles given to them.


The whole masterpiece is attributed to the great work of the production crew from cinematographer Mauro Fiore’s dazzling and cohesive visual elements, Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg’s design, James Horner’s complementing score, and Stephen Rivkin and John Refoua’s editing together with Cameron. Every person in the production crew and cast has contributed to create a must-see movie. Rest assured not a minute is wasted; every single moment is worth it.

Disagree:  Actually there are far too many wasted moments in Avatar --  the last approximately 40 min are downright tiresome.  By then our senses were saturated by the special effects, exploding space vehicles, and non-stop frenetic motion.  If the film had ended 40min earlier,  we would've felt pleasantly satiated and content instead of weary and more than ready to go home.  Director Cameron forgot the show business truism---leave the audience hungry for more.