Avatar

"Avatar" is the first of its kind. My previous post listed examples of sub-par motion capture feature length movies, "Avatar" is nothing like those movies. James Cameron has delivered on the visual hype surrounding this film's release. The use of 3D technology is amazing, it starts out as a really, really cool effect. Yet as the film goes on you become accustomed to it, so it isn't distracting, but it does add a lush, rich layer to the look of the film. About 15 minutes into the film, when we first see the alien creatures, is when the special effects begin to shine, and they keep going all the way through. The technicians and artists truly have created believable characters in a beautiful new world. Where those inferior motion capture films have been utterly unnecessary, "Avatar" has a reason for it's synthetic humanoids. As with Gollum in "LOTR", here the filmmakers show us creatures that we've never seen before, and their interaction with what is familiar to us is so realistic that we buy it all the way. One of the film's strengths is that the indigenous animals, terrain, and plants are somewhat familiar, yet so exotic that we are constantly amazed and in wonder. Nothing vanilla here. I could go on and on about the achievement. I could point out some of the flaws, some of the poor camera, film-effect techniques that detract from the illusion of the special effects. I could criticize Cameron for his white-guilt, self-loathing, "Dances with Wolves" storyline (you should check out Edwardo's review, I think he saw the movie a little differently than I did). Instead, I'll just say that the artistic, technical groundbreaking aspect of this film makes it a worthwhile view, that must be seen as it was intended. If you plan on just waiting for the DVD, I just don't think we can be friends anymore...