James Cameron's latest epic may be the best form of escapism ever devised. Great science fiction often transports viewers to another world, and Avatar makes that its primary mission. The world is called Pandora, and it is utterly beautiful. Much of the film functions as a nature documentary about this fictional world. We are taken on a tour of a bio-luminescent paradise, populated by an array of wildlife, big and small. The intelligent life forms there are giant blue people known as the Na'vi. And get this--this world has depth.
     The 3D element of the film has been hyped to death and back again over the last few months. It is an impressive demonstration of how far the technology has come, but it still has a ways to go. At least the purpose is solid--instead of using 3D as a gimmick, Cameron uses it to further immerse the viewer in Pandora. I predict immense box office success for Avatar, if only because people will want to see it again and again to spend more time in that world. 3D is still too exotic of a technology in that it draws attention to itself rather than to the film, but Avatar goes a long way in remedying that problem.
     The real technological breakthrough is not the use of 3D however, but the character animation and the CGI in general. The Na'vi are, by a wide margin, the most convincing CGI characters ever created. I never once doubted that they were real flesh and blood creatures. Even the previous high water mark, Gollum, while well-acted, was always obviously a special effect. Apparently Cameron took great care in making sure his actors' performances were transferred to their onscreen Na'vi counterparts. It is fitting that the technology mirrors the story in that humans inhabit Na'vi bodies both in the film and for the film.
     You may notice that I have yet to mention anything about the story. That's because it's a secondary concern. It's a rather formulaic "putting yourself in someone else's shoes" story which we've seen a lot of in sci-fi lately (with some Dances With Wolves and Fern Gully thrown in there as well). The emotional core of the film is the relationship between the human with a Na'vi avatar, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), and the native Na'vi princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). The best scenes in the film feature just those two characters as Neytiri instructs Jake in the ways of the Na'vi. Although the star of those scenes is undoubtedly the environment, Zoe Saldana is excellent as the graceful Na'vi huntress. She is deserving of Oscar consideration, although everyone continues to struggle over how to reward motion capture performances.
     This is a rare film that lives up to the hype. Like The Dark Knight last summer, Avatar meets and exceeds expectations. Although it is not a perfect film, it is a glorious spectacle and an important technological milestone. The art direction and special effects are guaranteed to garner Oscars, and those might not be the only categories where Avatar reigns. James Cameron has created a portal into a living world and he deserves to be rewarded for his accomplishment. I look forward to seeing Avatar again soon and spending some more time romping through the Pandoran jungles.

*2D Addendum:
     While the film loses a bit of the wow factor without the 3D effect, it retains most of its power. It may not be physically immersive in 2D, but the conventional way of watching a movie has become almost invisible to audiences these days in a way that wearing 3D glasses has not. Thus, suspending one's disbelief is slightly easier even though the world is not as strikingly realized. The 3D effect as used in Avatar has not changed movie viewing forever, as was the hope. 3D seems to have found a comfortable position as just another technical feature that a theater may or may not have. I had a better visual experience in 2D because I saw the film in a much larger theater with better sound. Those aspects were far more important than whether the film looked like it was happening inside the screen or just on it.

Buy: 

Avatar (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray]