Avatar

Grade C+

Director James Cameron has delivered one hell of a 2 1/2 hour visual roller coaster ride. As an amusement park ride, this one gets an A.

Sadly, I really wanted to see a movie.

It is a truism that the “Lord of the Rings” might as well be the only fantasy saga ever written, as everything else effectively flows from it. I begrudgingly admit that “Star Wars” is essentially Tolkien in space, and here Cameron has liberally plagiarized from both of these epics, most notably (but by no means exclusively) from “The Two Towers” and “Return of the Jedi.” Quite frankly, I’m a little surprised Peter Jackson and George Lucas haven’t joined forces in a law suit.

Let’s see – in “Star Wars,” Ben Kenobi tells Luke he must “feel the force flow through him.” In “Avatar,” we are told that life energy “flows through us.” The cloud city from “Empire Strikes Back?” Covered in moss but there. Grand Moff Tarkin style villain, replete with severe haircut? Check. Han Solo flying in to save Luke’s ass during the big final battle? Check. King Théoden dying in battle after a death scene with his daughter? Check. Trees with life energy? Ever heard of Ents? Anakin Skywalker reincarnated? You got it. Nature against technology? Ever heard of Ewoks? Getting trapped under a horse during battle? That would be “Return of the King.” Contacting Avatars from other villages to unite? Pillar lighting sequence in “Two Towers.” Avatars coming to the rescue from another village? Wow I loved Gandalf leading the charge at Helm’s Deep. City in the tress? Elven forest of Lothlórien.

Shall I go on?

For a movie that is so desperate to be visionary it stubbornly manages to be uniquely unoriginal.

And yet, for a good 90 minutes, the film is mesmerizing to watch, so long as you don’t remove your 3D glasses, at which point it just gets rather blurry. You can reach out and touch a whole truckload of cool stuff, and golf balls whiz at your face. It’s dazzlingly colorful and achingly beautiful. A technological wonderland. Then it’s repetitious. Still cool. Just way too long.

Bad people from Earth who have ecologically destroyed their own planet try to get rid of nature-loving Avatars to raid their planet’s resources. The good guys are the scientists trying to study the relationship between the planet and the beings who inhabit it. The bad guys are the military (who fight “terrorism with terrorism,” after all) and the miners who want to destroy all indigenous life that gets in the way of the black gold hiding under the planet’s surface. Stephen Lang is scarred and snarling, Giovanni Ribisi whiny and wimpy – I suspect they were both annoyed they didn’t get much 3D in the forest action. Sigourney Weaver is an icy head scientist, perhaps annoyed she doesn’t get to climb back into the same battle gear Cameron first had her wear in Aliens – the guy even steals from himself. Only Sam Worthington demonstrates any character development as a paraplegic (he could have had surgery to fix his injury but health care being what it is, he couldn’t afford it. Subtle.) living a full life in his Avatar body, treading the fine line between the studying and spying he supposedly signed up for. And, he’s hot. Will love conquer all? Uh, duh.

There are stunningly beautiful and heartfelt moments to be found, especially as we watch Avatars connecting and communing with the nature that surrounds them. Only here is the film not derivative of so many better films, and it is a life philosophy lesson to be humbly embraced.

In the end, a film must enthrall, interest and inspire once the glasses are taken off, and I would imagine sitting through this one in 2D would send one immediately into a dream state, one would hope in 3D again.

I saw the film yesterday, and I can barely remember it at all. It’s faded into the mists of Endor. I mean Pandora.

More Movie Info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/