At the Movies: Avatar (PG-13)

James Cameron's first film in 12 years is as grand as "Titanic" was
(Photo Courtesy 20th Century Fox)

In 1997, James Cameron made his imprint in Hollywood History as "Titanic" soared to a record box office run no movie will ever repeat. Besides winning 11 Oscars© including Best Picture and Director and having a streak of 15 weeks at #1 in the box office, the film grossed over $1 billion dollars (world and domestic gross total) to become the most successful film of all time. Looks like Cameron is up for a sequel.

His latest opus is "Avatar," a movie that took him well over 20 years to realize and create into a 3D epic adventure. When his brother is killed in battle, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's (Giovanni Ribisi) intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland.

In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

If you go see this movie, see it in 3D. Sure it costs more but it is so worth it to see the visual colors and 3D imagery of the planet. The visuals alone make this a must see. The story is "OK" as it mixes a lot of movies like "Dances With Wolves" and "Fern Gully" together with a central story that the humans are wrong to want to strip this place of its resources and the Na'vi people need to fight to save their world. A bit environmental true, but a well pieced story that flowed really well.

Great performances by Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang who stole the show as the Colonel. This movie is sure to be up for Best Picture when the Oscar© nominations roll around.

Chris's Rating: 3 1/2 out of 4 Stars -- Would have given it 4 but the story seemed a little lacking. Other than that, Cameron cements his status as the "Gamble that always pays off."