And So Christmas Aproaches....

Christmas day is coming! This week has been a great one overall. So please indulge me for a moment while I indulge in a personal antidote or two.

Thursday I spent the afternoon with my friends making ginger bread houses and hanging out. There was a time when I thought myself to old for ginger bread houses, and then I actually grew up. Somehow the older I get the less I desire to grow up.


One of the friend's we hung out with sent us all home with gifts. She said we didn't have to wait til Christmas to open them and so I promptly opened mine. Her thoughtful gift (and accompanying card) meant a great deal to me. I'm learning that a heartfelt gift is more valuable than an extravagant one.

Now for the slightly more important part of my post, A review of the film Avatar.


OK, lets start with the director and actors. James Cameron who is responsible for Titanic and Terminator 2, directed the film. Don't quote me on this one, but I don't think he's directed a film since Titanic. After Titania's success (it remains on of the highest grossing films in cinema history) there is a lot of hype around Avatar.

The Acting line up is A-Lister free, which isn't really a bad thing. Perhaps the biggest star is Sigourney Weaver, from the A V. P franchise. However she is only a secondary character, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana head up the cast. Worthington's biggest accolade is "Terminator Salvation" from earlier this year. Saldana was also an unknown before staring in the latest "Star Treck" movie.

The Plot:

Humans have found a planet (they call it Pandora) filled a precious ore. The World is covered in forests and stunning natural vistas. The humanoid life forms inhabiting the planet have a village smack dab on top of a huge ore deposit. So the military gets called in to "negotiate" a relocation, if force by necessary.

To communicate with the natives they use "Avatars". They are like alien clones which remain in a vegetative state until a human operator takes control of its mind.

The movie follows the journey of a marine who has lost the use of his legs in battle. He's supposed to connect with the natives and winds up becoming more involved than he ever imagined.

That's a mediocre synopsis; now for my thought on on the film....


First off let me say this movie looks absolutely amazing (and it should for 300 million). I could go on about it forever. I've heard that the CGI used wasn't even invented when they started making it.

The Navi (alien race) are absolutely stunning. I've never seen anything like it. The physical movement is spot on, and the facial expressions convey every thought and feeling with stunning realism. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the acting was better from the computer generated aliens than the actual humans.

Please keep in mind that a first time view in the theater is so emotionally charged it becomes very difficult to remain objective.

The entire movie was visually captivating in fact. Everything from plants to animals (of which there were quite a few) just pops with vivacity.


With all that said, the movie wasn't all that great. The plot was predictable, and the acting average. I'm not saying it was bad by any means, still it's not the best movie I've ever seen (at least not in the those regards).

Objectionable Content:

The profanity was excessive in my opinion. The Navi are virtually (pun intended) nude. They may be nothing more than CGI but it's very realistic CGI. There is a brief sex scene. Of course it was wrong but I appreciated that after they 'mated' the Navi were life long mates (no sleeping around). Additionally there are two scenes with nude humans, (a woman and then a man) of course there is always a leaf or something just where it needs to be.

This film could very well raise questions about how computer generated nudity should be classified.


So the question remains, would I buy it? No, probably not. Would I at least see it again? Perhaps under the right circumstance.

Finally, would I recommend it to others, yes, just be aware of the content. If you can get past the objectionable bits, the movie is definitely worth seeing on the silver screen.