'Avatar'

'Avatar' (PG-13) ****

Written and Directed by James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi

James Cameron is definitely a visionary and a meticulous film maker who demands perfection but he also loves movies and his craft comes from the heart! What a difference in quality there is in his new breathtaking and beautiful looking epic. What a difference between "Avatar" and junk food crap like "Transformers", "G.I. Joe", the Laura Croft movies, the Mummy movies, the X Men sequels. When I was growing up there was "Star Wars" and "Raiders Of The Lost Ark", "Superman II", movies that were energetic and enthusiastic and thrilling and visually fun. I can't think of more than a few movies in the last decade that have that magic and definitely not now. They are lazy and Cameron wants to go above that flat line with his movies. In fact his other movies like the "Terminator" movies, "The Abyss" and "Aliens" are some of the best types of epic adventure movies in the past decades. Watching "Avatar" I felt like I did when I was a kid and I saw "Star Wars" for the first time. My mouth was dropping all throughout this awe inspiring visionary movie.

Let me first tell you that this movie begs to be seen in Imax and in 3-D! If you can't get into a sold out show you still must see it in 3-D. I am telling you this because yes the critics who say the story gets off track and that it is too long are kind of right. This doesn't matter though because this movie is filled with wall to wall eye popping special effects. You will be like a kid in a candy store so much so that you won't even notice a story. The first hour and last hour are hypnotic and awesome! The first hour sets up the story and characters quickly and then gives you it's eye popping effects and they are like a painting and not just looking like CGI effects. The last hour has a battle scene that is one of the best on screen and puts the Lord of the Rings movies to shame. It is great on an action scale and a visual scale. The only complaint I have is that 20 minutes could be cut off because in the middle there are a couple of sequences that drag the story but only a short time. Now Avatar's story deals with a paraplegic ex soldier played by newcomer Sam Worthington (the best thing about "Terminator Salvation"). He is promised back his legs if he goes into another World as an Avatar where he can walk and join a native tribe of aliens called the Navi. He must infiltrate the tribe so the Army can tap into some strong natural resources on this new planet. Here he falls in love with one of the female warriors. I thought the story was not as bad as some critics have said but who is going to care with all the visual wonder that will knock you out. Also I must tell you the Navi are blue and have tails and some have joked that they look like smurfs or characters from the animated cheapie from the 90's "FernGully". If people ahead of time think this will distract them then maybe you shouldn't even go to the movie. In fact Zoe Saldana who plays the female Navi actually looked hot and sexy to me but some have accused me of being weird sometimes.

The best part of this movie though are the cool creatures and monsters, the beautiful rain forrest backdrops and the visually perfect action chases and sequences. I swear to you this is so awesome in 3D and so breathtaking that you will find this a rewarding experience but only in 3-D. The story is not perfect but I can name numerous epics and classics that have had problems with story. For Cameron the stories of the "Terminator" movies, "Aliens" and "The Abyss" are better but visually this is his best movie and one of the most beautiful movies of all time.