Avatar

We went to see Avatar in 3D yesterday. While the plot is a run-of-the-mill variation on the Joseph Campbell monomyth (which is always effective - one audience member near us was in tears), the experience was quite amazing.

The alien world they came up with was beautiful and exquisitely detailed and the animals and action sequences were well done if predictable. To me, the most memorable sequences involved people flying around on huge pterodactyl-like creatures which sounds stupid but, especially in 3D, were quite the sensory experience. There was also an environmental lesson to be taught involving humans doing whatever was necessary to obtain unobtainium (yes that's what they called it), including destroying the planet's ecosystem and killing any native people who got in their way (colonialism anyone? Or an Iraq invasion perhaps?). Of course, the natives were of the noble savage variety, completely in touch with nature and living the garden of eden lifestyle, while the miltaristic/corporate humans were the real barbarians. I am guessing the climactic scene was supposed to conjure up 911 but it's hard to say.

In spite of the simple-minded plot and posterior-numbing length of the thing, Avatar is well worth seeing as a 3D spectacle and, so far at least, the pinnacle of high-tech movie-making.