Avatar

Introduction Excerpt:
The acting enhanced the film and the characters voices, movements, and facial expressions were extremely realistic - and I think that's what makes the Avatar so ground breaking. That's what made the world of Pandora so livable and breathable - that's made it so real.By the end of the movie, I was convinced that I wanted to live in the world of Pandora.

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Woah! This is the long awaited and highly acclaimed Avatar, created by none other than the director of Titantic and Terminator, James Cameron! He truly outdid himself this time and set another record for the highest grossing film in history. The first was Titantic, directed by him, James Cameron. And now after a decade he's back for another round of making ground breaking movies with Avatar. Despite it's references to the stereotypical Indian archetypes, it's as good as everybody says it is.

The trailer doesn't do the film justice. Most trailers put all the good stuff in it, so that when you watch the movie you're not surprised by anything anymore. However, Avatar is completely the opposite! What looks like a cheesy computer generated gimmicky storyline (in the trailer) is actually an inspirational, convincing, compelling and beautiful movie.

There has been a lot of talk about how the dialogue was compromised to make way for high tech computer graphics. The dialogue can be overlooked, as it's one of the small flaws for a beautiful movie.

The references to the stereotypical Indian archetypes I referred to are: the noble savage, and the savage. There are others (like the Indian medicine man, or shaman) but I'll stick to the ones in the movie. This movie was not a political disaster. It brought the message to those who understood it without being pushy about it.

The people of Pandora, the Na'vi were constantly referred to as savages who are beneath humans, just like Aboriginals. Their land was being taken away, just like the Aboriginals, for Unobtanium (I'm not joking about the name). They have education and American culture forced on the and they reject it. Now, we'd all believe that what the Americans are doing was right, if it wasn't for the fact that we're seen the Nav'i side of the story.

The acting was top-notch and I feel it doesn't need to be further developed. The acting enhanced the film and the characters voices, movements, and facial expressions were extremely realistic - and I think that's what makes the Avatar so ground breaking. That's what made the world of Pandora so livable and breathable - that's made it so real.

The futuristic world was also believable. The instruments and technology were amazing.

Through Sam Worthington, the disabled marine with a "strong heart" (quoted from Neytiri played by Zoe Saldana) got the audience to feel and get to understand the world of the Na'vi through his avatar. His avatar is a physical representation of him, possessing his soul and mind. He got to project his soul into that body through a machine. As we followed his journey into the Na'vi world, his conflicts about where his heart lied started to surface.
(and I'll stop there with plot spoilers)

I suggest that anybody who wants to watch it or who already watched it should see the Behind the Scenes and Making of, which is available on their official website.

The techniques they used, which included real-time infusion of graphics and people, was amazing. While the actors acted in a special black suit in a green rooms, the director could move a special camera that showed real time how the actors looked like in the Avatar movie. No wonder it was so life like!

Watch the movie. It's one of those movies that everybody else has seen, and to keep up with the talk and the culture, you have to see it. It's not a waste of time, either. I watched it in 2-D, but I am fancying a visit to the IMAX 3-D theatre soon to watch it again in my 3-D goggles.