In 7 words or less: Sexy Blues fight for the right.
Best bits? The best part of this film are the night scenes on Pandora. I'd happily move there. Actually, if they could get rid of those black greasy dogs, I'd move. The phosphorescence in the ground, plants and Na'vi make it especially magical.
There's lots of nice montages too, so you can really concentrate on getting a deep dip on your cinema nachos, or harvest a lovely chunk of Cookie Dough from the depths of your ice cream.
Did it make you think thoughts? It's quite a remarkable achievement to produce something this rich in detail. Technology was invented, a language was made up as well as a whole world's look. So when I hear people talking about the contrived story, it's pulls my brain in two directions. Can a movie be so big and adventurous that it negates minor criticisms like that? I think that in choosing to show the audience something completely new and rich in detail, they opted to play it safe on the story and script side of things. Not a bad choice it would seem considering how popular this movie was. I'm also deeply concerned about how much work a film like this must be. Ouch!
The film also struggles to look real at the beginning. The first time you see Jake taking his Avatar body for a spin is an awkward moment in Cinema, especially when you see the blue version of Sigourney Weaver throw him a Space-fruit.... "Think Fast".... "YUM!"....
From then on though, I believe the film does a good job of tricking you into believing in Pandora, which is really beautifully designed, and makes you forget all that silly bother.
Would you watch it again? Even if I have doubts about the overall quality of the storytelling here, I've seen this a heap of times, and it's always interesting. There's one scene in particular that makes me squirm; after they have caught themselves a flying-friend up in the floaty mountains, Jake and Neytiri share some highlights of their flight. Knowing full well that Neytiri can speak flawless English, in this brief 3 second shot, she loses that ability:
I only watch it for that scene now. Truly magical.
My recommendation to all would be forget about the 3D. This movie looks so much better on Blu Ray in your own home in your pants, eating a Snickers Ice Cream and drinking a gin & tonic.
Rating (out of 100%): 80% picture this; I'm sat in the cinema, 3D glasses strapped on, popcorn all over my clothes. As I slurp my bucket of cola, I think, well, isn't this nice.
