James Cameron's AVATAR (spoiler free)

I went to see a pre-screening of AVATAR last night, my excitement which has been present for well over two years now reached a boiling point as I walked into the theater.
Let me start by saying that I'm a huge fan of James Cameron's, he's the second director whose name I learned for crying out loud, I grew up with his films and I've been a rabid fan for a large majority of my life. Nevertheless I had somewhat successfully tamed my expectations for the film.


Most of you know the story by now. In a nutshell: An earth-based mining company intends to mine a distant planet's precious mineral ('subtly' named unobtainium) and sends out 'avatars', people mentally linked with human-alien hybrid bodies to learn about the planet's population of Na'vi, a native American type society.

Now that we have that out of the way let's get on to the film itself.

The special effects are astonishing, every nuance and facial expression is perfectly captured, the CG models are completely life-like and by the end of the film you forget completely that what you're seeing is special-effect trickery and not real life action.
The planet's diverse collection of flora and fauna is amazing and incredibly fun to observe as every shot of Pandoran(?) nature is layered and layered with eye-watering beauty and awe-inspiring details.

The film itself? It's a Cameron film. A true Cameron film. I won't compare it to his earlier masterpieces as they hold a very special place in my heart as childhood favorites but I can safely say that AVATAR is welcome among them. It's the type of sci-fi/action film that we haven't seen since the late 80's/early 90's, the kind we grew up with, the kind of which Cameron was an undisputed king. In AVATAR he has upped his game but he's still playing the one we know and love him for. The villains, the protagonists, the action, the story, it's all wonderfully nostalgic yet completely new and exciting. The plot and story advancements aren't really original with some undeniable clichés, but the movie doesn't fall into them but embraces them as this really is a pure-bred classic action/sci-fi film with familiar points and development. It's like meeting an old friend again that you thought was killed at sea.
Unlike the majority of action movies today, this one has heart. It's really a fascinating story which the action serves, not the other way around.
Needless to say I loved it, sitting in the theater I felt like a small child again, really wanting to be there and feeling depressed knowing that I can't.
The 3D really is amazing, this does not have the feel of an amusement park ride like, say, Journey to the Center of the Earth (Where every other thing jumps obscenely out at the audience to showcase the technology, almost sexually harassing them in the process) but rather to serve the film and the story. If 3D is used like this in the future I have nothing but high hopes for it.

I highly recommend you go see it. Remember the first time you saw Terminator 2, Aliens and The Abyss as a kid, sitting on the living room floor, completely amazed. AVATAR is the first film in a long time to make me re-live that experience and I loved every second of it.

Thanks for bringing my childhood back, mr. Cameron. I sure did miss it.