Avatar

Went to see AVATAR last night with our friends Peter and Vivian.

Short take: I suggest you see it.

I am not big on special-effects films. When I hear someone say: "The special effects were fantastic!" I take that to mean: "They tried desperately to cover the stink of a shitty story with less-smelly special effects."

But with Avatar, I give a hearty thumbs-up...not only because the effects were so spectacular, and the world they created so beautiful, but also because the 3-D was a nice touch. Unlike 3-D films of the past that I've seen, where you get cheap-ass cardboard glasses with different colored lenses, with Avatar we got what looked like regular sunglasses. I looked them over, trying to figure out what was different about them, but couldn't. But they worked, and worked well.

The story was decent, though a few of the characters (particularly the military leader) were absolute caricatures. Also, though the film is set in the year 2154, there were way too many early-21st Century verbalizations, like "Bring it!" and "Is that all you got, bitch?" An obvious concession to the youngsters in the audience.

Also, the sappy Hollywood-esque romantic part of the story line might make more mature viewers say, sarcastically: "Yeah, right---that's EXACTLY how love works," though I suspect the teenage girls in the audience might swoon a bit. Give 'em a few weeks of a "dream man" who sits on the sofa all night farting while playing his video games, and who never cleans up around the house, and they'll get over that shit soon enough.

Also, the final battle scene was way over the top and I found myself thinking: "I'm not buying this crap for a second," followed immediately by: "On the other hand, here's a movie where blue cat-people are flying around on dinosaur birds, so who can expect a realistic battle sequence?" It's like opera: you go for the music and the singing, but forget anything approaching a believable story.

Lots of interesting modern-day parallels in the story line that provide food for thought. And, the producers used a lot of imagination in designing the world the blue cat-like people inhabit.

I also thought it might be a great film to see while higher than a kite, for those of you who enjoy a good smoke now and then.