AVATAR

Perhaps the most spectacular sci-fi epic to come along this year, Avatar is a definite must-watch movie on the big screen on my list. After viewing the trailers online, I couldn't wait to see it in its 3D splendor, the way director James Cameron had envisioned and intended for it to be viewed.

As soon as critics' reviews came out, with each review spotting the movie with no less than 4 out of 5 stars, and some claiming it as "groundbreaking", or even "revolutionizing the way movies are made", I didn't hesitate and went to preorder tickets (costing $13 each even with safra discount) to watch it in digital 3D. And to my delight, it didn't fail to to disappoint - from a visual and technical standpoint, Avatar is by far the best-looking movie I've seen to date.

The title of the film refers to the genetically-grown alien body the film's human protagonist, Jake Sully, controls so he can go the planet Pandora to mingle with the Na'vis, natives of the planet, as part of the grand scheme of things for the earthlings stationed there to mine minerals from underground the habitat of the Na'vis. Just like the adventure Jake's about to go through, the audience is invited on a thrill ride in the futuristic world in Avatar, where planet Pandora is like a rainforest filled with creatures and scenery out of fantasy artworks. To put it bluntly, every bit of the movie's a special effects galore and a visual wonderment (such as the screenshot below). It's hard to describe how beautiful certain scenes look. The beauty herein is best seen in 3D in order to experience the "true" immersion, 2D film just doesn't seem to do the film justice!

The film is not without its flaws though. Perhaps everything in the movie's so photo-realistic, you cannot help but scrutinize on the believability of the alien "Na'vi" beings, which look like fairies (with big feline-like eyes and pointy ears). Quite frankly, they seem a little cartoonish. Also, there doesn't seem to be much character development and the story seems derivative (think Pocahontas, the Matrix). Apart from that, there's little to complain about the film - you've got your adventure story, the sci-fi backdrop, the epic battle scenes plus a sort of inter-galactic love story between a man (in an avatar) and an alien.