Dances with Smurfs

I went to see Avatar as part of a guy’s night out on Saturday. We decided we needed to do it the right way, so we went to see it in IMAX 3D!

I’ll start by saying that this movie deserves to win any & every technical award that exists. It was so much better than anything that has ever come before it that they should name the awards after it. The 3D was neat and the googles are much better than the blue & red lensed ones of the 80s, but it was still disorienting at times. When it comes out on Blu-Ray, I’ll get it just to watch the behind the scenes of how they made it.

So, it was an stunning visual display. But it was LLLLOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!

James Cameron like to tell a story. Unfortunately, that story is overdeveloped and designed so that a 2nd grader can follow the plot turns and foreshadowing. Did I mention this movie was long? You’d think with almost 3 hours of screen time there wouldn’t be any plot holes. Wrong! There were some glaring omissions that were not critical to moving the story along but could have been filled in easily enough.

I took the title of the blog from a line from Sigourney Weaver in a Saturday Night Live skit last night. It was one of the very few funny skits they’ve had all season. I saw this skit just after watching the movie and thought it was a great description.

Cameron deserves a great deal of credit for advancing movie effects, but the story is nothing original. At it’s core it mirrors the plight of the Native Americans. At the periphery it’s got some Saturday morning cartoons (see picture).

Seeing this movie felt like a pop culture necessity and I’m glad I went. I’d recommend it to others too… as long as you aren’t seeking high art.

Advertisement