Avatar: A Love Letter

I just returned from Pandora and I must say that I am in love.  Avatar is the most amazing  experience I have had in a movie theater in a long time, possibly ever.  James Cameron should spend another 12 years making his next movie if the result will turn out anything nearly as impressive as this masterpiece.  While Avatar is not without its imperfections it heralds the dawning of a new age of movie magic.

Pandora is a magical place where "The People" (Navi) have evolved elegantly with the planet.  The Navi can literally plug themselves in to other indigenous creatures of Pandora in effectively guide them through mental suggestion.  The Navi can also plug into the plant life of the planet and be guided by the very essence of life itself on their home world.  

The creatures are simply gorgeous and fully believable as animals that have evolved on this unique planet.  Pandora itself is beautiful by day but breathtaking by night as all the vegetation on the planet glows in the moons (of course there is more than one) light.  The gravity on Pandora is less than that of Earth (which explains the massive flying creatures, and our heroes ability to survive falling from unbelievable height) and while I'm still not sure how that explains flying mountain ranges, I'm not bothered, it's just worth noting.

The Navi themselves are all distinctive and never once did I think to myself, "wait which blue alien is that now?"  They also happen to be massive (like everything else on the planet) 8 to 10 feet by my eye and stunning to look at (like everything else in this movie).  I had a hard time remembering that the elegant Navi were computer generated because I truly believed all the performances of the actors portraying these alien creatures throughout the film.  

Speaking of alien, I'm a sucker for a movie/television experience that places humans in the role traditionally reserved for non-Earthlings.  For the humans to be the aliens and the Navi to be the seemingly primitive people that the aliens cannot see the grace and beauty of was a fun and thought provoking turn on an old formula.  

In another amazing feat, after spending 3 hours on Pandora with the Navi I'm dying to go back to the planet to experience more stories.  Cameron's world is rich in the same way Tolkien's is, loaded with supplementary information that is not necessarily important to the story currently being told.  I'd love to know how Neytiri's great grandfather was able to ride the great beast, I'd love to see how the Navi learned they could integrate themselves into other creatures on the planet, I'd love to see really anything else this world could offer me. 

I viewed Avatar in digital 3-D and I can't imagine watching this film in any other format.  In fact, I might have to buy a 3-D TV to replicate this experience at home.  The 3-D was not used solely make you jump out of your seat (shrapnel flying at the audience) but to help more fully immerse the viewer in the world of Pandora.  I have a hard time seeing many effects in the third dimension (which is part of the reason the state of NJ tried to take my drivers license away) but Pandora literally popped off the screen and into my field of vision. 

It's rare that I go into a movie with such high expectations, rarer still that those expectations turn out to be less than the movie actually earns upon viewing.  Could I complain about and nitpick this movie?  Actually, I can't, do yourself a favor, go see this movie!