Avatar

I've found myself continuing to think about Avatar days after watching it. Every time a friend asks if I've seen it yet I get caught up re-imagining the movie again, almost like I'm back in the theater. It was that kind of experience. I don't know if I could point to one single element that made it so memorable, but some combination of the 3D, the fantastic motion capture, CGI, and the color just made it an experience more than just a movie.

That's not to say there weren't things that through me off though. While the flora and fauna of the alien planet were wonderful, some of the plants in particular were a little silly. Everything glowed, which looks awesome in 3D on the big screen, but doesn't really make sense if you're a plant trying not to get eaten.

The biggest criticism I've heard so far is that the story is cliche, which is true. But I think that's an incomplete picture. For one thing, cliches are cliches because they are stories that work. They are simple and powerful, which is why they get used so often. Avatar's story has been compared to Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, and the Smurfs, all of which are fair comparisons (well maybe the Smurfs is cheating a little...) but what makes it work is the context. The well-imagined alien world and the 3D are designed to immerse the viewer. The cliched story works the same way. It's familiar and immediate, and allows the audience to "get it" without a too much exposition. Though I would love to know more about the back story, the movie had to work within reasonable time limits, and the story was just another way to get us there. Sometimes predictable can be powerful. For my part, I was so anguished when everything was going to hell I was glad I could count on things turning out alright in the end.

Several of the folks I saw the movie with thought the story was "dumb." They're wrong, but the important thing to know is that they still enjoyed the movie. I myself had low expectations from the previews. I was wrong too. If you do hear bad things about the film, ignore it and go anyway. And see it in 3D.