So Nellie and I went and saw Avatar on Friday night. I realize that we are a little late getting around to it, but I finally saw Titantic for the first time a few months ago so I'm at least getting better with the Cameron blockbusters. Anyways, the movie was surprisingly good. Nellie loved it. When we walked out of the theater she said, "Did you like it? Because I. loved. that. movie. Loved it!" I dont know that I loved it as much as her, but it is a movie about tall, lanky people, which is right up her interest alley. Or so I'm lead to believe. It is definitely one of the 'shut your brain off and just enjoy the show' type of movies. I would say it's somewhere between Star Trek and Transformers 2. Star Trek is wildly entertaining, but it has a lot of smart humor, great character development and a plot that requires you to actually sort of pay attention. You don't have to think too much, but you can't completely shut your brain off. Still though, they are just aiming to entertain. With Transformers 2 you actually become dumber by going to the movie. It's so stupid and painful that your brain cells actually start committing suicide so that they can be put out of their misery. Avatar was somewhere in the middle. There is good character development. I was definitely sucked in to some of the characters. The plot is pretty predictable. You pretty much know what is going to happen right from the beginning of the movie. There is of course some political commentary. But it's not too bad. It's a running theme throughout the movie. It's there, but it's no so over the top and in your face that it takes away from the movie entirely. Granted, there is one scene or line where they might as well say, "In case you are blind and/or deaf and haven't picked up on our not so subtle political commentary up to this point in the movie, we are going to now write it on a baseball bat and smack you in the face with it to ensure you catch our crafty and subtle message."
Again, it's not a flawless movie, but it doesn't need to be because it's an incredible experience. And it is an experience, not a movie. We saw it on IMAX 3D for a cool $16.50 per person, but it was really worth it. I don't know that I'll ever see it again because I don't think its a "rewatchable" movie. It's not one of those types of movies because again, the brain isn't doing much and it doesn't evoke too much emotion or have brilliant humor. Plus, I don't know that it would be half as good or entertaining if not on IMAX. With all that said though, I wasn't too excited to see the movie and was sort of on the fence about it, but I honestly think that you are missing out on a great experience by passing it up in IMAX 3D. I didn't think I would actually be endorsing it to all my many readers, but I am. It deserves it.
