Avatar Review

I took my son and nephew to see Avatar today. What a trip! An expensive trip that cost me $40 bucks! Against my better judgment, we decided at the last minute to see the 3D showing. I’ve seen a bunch of the 3D flicks and each time I regret it. The glasses and/or picture always seem out of focus. It seems like I always waist the first 20 minutes trying to clean and adjust them only to find that they will never be as clear as no glasses at all.

After I succumbed to the poor vision with the polarized 3D glasses, I settled in for the 2.5 hour movie. I won’t blow the details or the plot; it won’t be necessary. From the opening scene to the finish, the movie is completely predictable. That’s not much of a surprise in and of itself since the director/producer, James Cameron, came up with the whiz-bang plot for Titanic. Like we didn’t know how that one was going to end! I was surprised to see just how many clichés were implemented in the story line. All that aside, I need to point out the very cool equipment that was featured right out of 1985. Cameron managed to use all of my toys that I played with in the 1980’s. There were the AMP suits from Robotech and the RDA Scorpion Gunships based on the Hummel. The graphics were pretty neat too, although the 3D glasses and effects blurred the quality. The Shrek trailer was equally as impressive.

I took it as a smooth blend of Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Alien, and Rambo: First Blood. I enjoyed the movie because it drew me into the story and the effects seemed to work. I wish Cameron would have spent some time introducing a quality plot with twists and turns but after spending hundreds of millions on the effects, that wish proved to be too much to deliver. Unless you are going to make it a family event, you might want to wait and rent Avatar on Blu-ray.