Avatar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I started this "blog" with the intent of focusing on writing about movies in my DVD collection and 28 days into January I have watched and written about one DVD. I have done two other posts related to movies I have seen in theaters and since I have seen Avatar 3 times (two times in 2D and once in 3D) and I believe it is more that worthy of a post. I am also aware that I have already drawn criticism for how long these posts are. There really is no purpose for this blog beyond giving me a forum to put down the thoughts I have in my head regarding the movies I see and own on DVD. I already have my misgivings regarding doing this but if I am going to do it, it's going to be like this and if it never gets read than so be it.
With all of that in mind, what else needs to be said about Avatar. It this point it is the highest grossing film of all time. It's budget is likely the largest in film history (some reports have it at around $500 million). It has already won the Golden Globe for best film in the drama category and it appears to be destined for the Best Picture Oscar while director James Cameron will likely pick up a best director Oscar to go with his best director Golden Globe win. It was advertised as a film that would change how films are seen forever and while you can debate the scale to which Avatar has achieved that claim you can't deny that it has changed cinema. The consensus seems to be that it's worth seeing form a visual perspective and the story is so-so.
To that last part is where I take umbrage. I do so for two reasons. The first is that the story may feel like a re-tread (see any comments related to Dances with Wolves in space) and I agree the story is a re-tread of stories that have been told before. And perhaps when a film is marketed so aggressively that you feel like they want you to believe that Avatar is cinema's greatest achievement, most people will look for something to criticize. The issue I have though is that I believe the story, while being a re-tread, is effectively told. To give you a comparison, one could argue that all comic book movies are simply re-treads of each other and yet their is a significant difference between movies like Batman Begins, Spiderman and Iron Man when compared to Ghost Rider, Catwoman or the Fantastic Four. All of these films deal with similar conflicts and their characters face similar issues and yet the first 3 are significantly better than the last three. So what we see is that within a story, a story teller most make decisions regarding their characters and their development. What we get with Avatar is not just eye candy, but we get a carefully constructed story in which characters have depth to them and nothing is simply thrown in for effect. When you meet a character like Norm you wonder to yourself "is he the comic relief guy" or when you meet Dr. Grace Augustine you think "tough scientist, don't cross her." But neither of these thoughts limit the character and their actions. Norm is not comic relief and Dr. Augustine is willing to compromise for what she believes is the greater good. Even Colonel Miles, who is easy to label as the "bad guy" is never over the top and is occasionally we can even relate to him. And all of these characters work together to hold the audience's attention as well as the visual effects do. It is the aspect of character development that is just one of the elements of the story that I find so engrossing. I also believe that director James Cameron has a real love and respect for this story, it's characters and it's themes that shines throughout the movie. There are no throw away scenes that could potentially jeopardize the films integrity like you get in a film like Transformers 2 which bombards it's audience with throw away gags surrounding characters goofy parents or lame excuses to show off Megan Fox's stomach. If you watch Transformers 2 with a critical eye you are left with a massive amount of material that leaves you wondering "what does that add to the story" or "was is that even necessary for the story to progress" and for the most part the answer to both questions is that it wasn't necessary and it adds nothing. There are no elements of Avatar I could pick out and say that that does not add to or is not necessary in telling the story. When analyzing the story to Avatar I come to one conclusion and that is that it is an incredible feat in storytelling regardless of how original it is.
The second part is that I believe the visual effects are intrinsically tied to the story. Again, I will use the Transformers comparison. With Transformers, visual effects and sound effects have one purpose: to be big and loud. There is a world in Transformers that exists and the effects feel like they are being crammed in. With Avatar the effects are every bit a part of the story as the dialogue and characters. And one dimension of the effects that Cameron masterfully accomplishes and gets some what over looked for is his use of scale. From the first moments on Pandora he masterfully weaves in giant trucks and machinery that later will come into play. From an action standpoint we see humans who are half the size of the natives but who have developed machines that make them twice the size (or greater) than the Na'vi. The whole film builds towards a final confrontation that is effective because through out the story Cameron is creating a sense of scale that we rarely see in films. It's the work of a true craftsman.
So, with a sense of nearly universal appeal drawn to it, how do we view Avatar. When adjusted for inflation we know the box office grosses are not nearly as impressive. So is it the greatest film of all time. Of course not, but for a generation it maybe the defining film going experience and is arguably one of the best film going experiences of my life.