MOVIE - Avatar

Awesome!
Released Dec. 18, 2009
PG-13 (2:30)
Viewed 1-10-10 (Cool Date) at Oro Valley Marketplace
with the Weinstein family
RT: 82% cag: 96%
Director: James Cameron

I was quite taken with this movie. It was spectacular. Watching it in 3-D alone was pretty amazing. The huge, brand new theater at Oro Valley Marketplace, although packed, was roomy and ultra-comfortable. Even the 3-D glasses were not a burden. The story! The SET! The whole premise.....other than the battle scenes, which I realize had to be included, were amazing. My palms were clenched and sweaty. The two and a half hours passed in a haze of sensations. I was totally wrapped up in the story and the scenery. Whew.

Jake Sully has returned from war a broken man...literally. He has no use of his legs and is in a wheelchair. His identical twin brother, a brilliant scientist, has died. So Jake takes over the extremely tricky job that his brother had been working on for years.

It is 2154. Earth is a mess, we have to go into outer space to find more viable ways to live. So the army and some sort of conglomerate have found a far-off planet that has riches in THEIR earth that our earth needs. However, it is a very alien planet. So some scientists, headed by Sigourney Weaver, have replicated the shells of the alien population using DNA from the scientist's bodies, so that the scientist's thoughts and actions can go into this.....avatar. But it's really a showdown between the scientists who want peaceful relations with the aliens and the military who want to take over with force. And the battle begins.

My friend, Ivan, hit the nail on the head - he says it's a modern western. It is. Only this time, it takes place in 2154 on Pandora, a planet far, far away and - -yay, yay, yay (SPOILER ALERT) the "indians" win!

Avatar is playing in Chandler at the IMAX theater. I MUST go see it there! ! ! ! !