One could say it has it all: the action scenes, the love story, the creative futuristic plot, and perhaps most noteworthy-special effects beyond what even today's high-tech society is accustomed to seeing.
Considering that Avatar reportedly cost close to $300 million to make, movie goers expected to be impressed with its animation. Thanks to its stereoscopic film making (new cameras were specially designed for this movie), Avatar boasts the most cutting edge motion-capture techniques ever used. While the movie is available in regular 2-D, most critics agree that it needs to be watched in 3-D (or even IMAX 3-D, which is shown in some areas), to truly give it justice. Unlike corny 3-D movies of the past, the fluidity of Avatar's scenes sets a new standard that will be difficult to surpass.
While almost all viewers agree that Avatar is worthy of its high-tech praise, not all are quite so eager to give accolades to the story line. Set in 2154, humans are mining for precious minerals on the distant satellite planet of Pandora. In order to excrete these resources, they must disturb the planet's ecosystem and its indigenous "people," the Na'vi. To placate the natives, scientists develop humanoids (a.k.a. avatars) to interact with them. It quickly becomes obvious that the scientists and humanoids are the "good guys" trying to find peaceful resolutions with the indigenous people and the big corporation and their paid military forces are the "bad guys" trying to exploit the planet for personal gain. The love affair between two main characters, an ex-marine who becomes an avatar and one of the native Na'vi, offers the dramatic twist to keep viewers engaged.
Some see Avatar's plot as overly simplistic. Others think it sends an overt liberal message due to its anti-war and pro-environment stance. Still others choose not to read too much into it and appreciate it for what it is-a wonderfully-made fantasy movie that is incredibly fun to watch.
Is Avatar the best science fiction movie of all time? Is it the epic breakthrough of this generation? Is it even deserving of all this hype? Whatever the opinion, there's no denying that it stirs up a lot of conversation and continues to draw people to the theatres. And for that reason, Avatar cannot be ignored as the biggest hit of 2009. As for the rest, only time will tell.
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