AVATAR

A classic story about going native, Avatar was an amazing journey into an extremely creative world thought up by James “I only make three-hour, one-word titled movies once a decade but I hit it out of the park every time” Cameron. Every detail of this movie was thought through whether it was the colors of the vegetation or how many extra legs the horses were going to have. Seeing those beautiful colors in 3-D was very cool and most definitely worth the extra money.

Also, I’d like to point out that even though this move was released on December 18, 2009, when I saw it on February 20, 2010 the show I saw, along with every other showing that day, was sold out. Two months later this movie is still selling out. Talk about word of mouth.

I’ve heard many people compare Avatar to Pocahontas but I thought it was more like Dances With Wolves and (I’m going to reach really far back here and it’s possible that only my Dad remembers this movie), The Air Up There. Kevin Costner’s character learns the Sioux language, starts dressing like the Sioux and then warns them that the white soldiers are coming and explains what they need to do to win the war. As for The Air Up There, I know comparing Avatar to a movie in which Kevin Bacon plays a basketball coach who goes to Africa to recruit basketball players is a little bit of a stretch but when characters adjust to new surroundings that are hard on them physically, mentally and emotionally, I think it’s worth mentioning.

One aspect of the movie I wasn’t expecting was the idea that when bonding with an animal the Na'vi would fuse the end of their ponytails with the animal. Doing this functioned as their literal and figurative connection with the earth. I’m not into the hippie bullshit about humans and the earth being like one but I thought this idea was good. Very innovative and very essential to the storyline.

After watching the movie I was very curious to hear my boyfriend’s thoughts considering he is a former Marine as well. He said he thought that Marines were not portrayed well because in real life they don’t have the “kill and bulldoze everything” mentality that was so negatively depicted in the movie.

I thought former Marine Jake Sully was intelligent, brave and like Neytiri said, strong-hearted. I was in awe of Neytiri’s passion and fury. Her character was tremendous.

All in all Avatar was as good as I thought it was going to be which I guess is pretty remarkable considering the hype. Go see it before the Oscars. Just make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time.