By now it's probably no secret that James Cameron has been sitting on AVATAR for quite some time - He had it established the concept way back in the 90's but felt it couldn't be made as the technology wasn't available. Fast forward to the late 'naughties and the time was just right for AVATAR. The first 3-D movies were starting to emerge to some great success but until now most had seemed to use the 3-D as a gimmick. When the trailer first emerged, some of the press and critics were quite harsh and went as far as saying that it looked like an over-priced cartoon. Some of us however, kept the faith in the man that had brought us ALIENS, THE ABYSS and of course THE TERMINATOR. It seems that for the Cameron-followers and indeed plenty of others (if it's opening weekend box office are anything to go by) that faith has paid off.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic ex-marine who is given the chance to go to an alien planet called Pandora where corporate fat cats want to mine the planet for a precious material called 'Unobtanium' and is seen as the answer to Earth's energy crisis, the problem being though, is that the planet is home to an indigenous species called the Na'vi who don't want to give up their home. Jake inhabits the form of an Avatar which is his mind inside a Na'vi body and his mission is to accompany scientists as a bodyguard however he is quickly recruited by Colonel Quaritch to infiltrate the Na'vi and learn their ways in order to get them to leave their home. Jake soon learns there is more to the locals than meets the eye and becomes torn between right and wrong.

Had AVATAR been delivered without the 3-D as either a live action movie or Cartoon then it an all likelihood it wouldn't have been anywhere near the finished product that Cameron has given us. Its strong point isn't its storyline or even its script. Instead it's a visual masterpiece in modern cinema and will surely now set a precedent - why should we set for something less when we now know what's now possible? The story is very much like that of the Kevin Costumer movie DANCES WITH WOLVES so it's not but is still original however in its own right, it's still passable. Whilst the action is perhaps less frequent as some had expected given Cameron's previous Sci-Fi / Horror hybrid ALIENS, but when it does arrive it's wonderful to watch. Instead AVATAR tells the story of Jake relationship with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and becomes part of their tribe - this in no way detracts for the finish product.

Overall AVATAR is a true movie going experience and really needs to be seems in its intended medium &#8211 A big Screen (Preferably an IMAX if you can get to one). Even those of you who were put off by the trailer, I urge you all to at very least go see it for yourself. Sure it might have a few cliqued or obvious moments but in the grand scheme of things even classic movies suffer these at times too.

This may seem as if I'm going off on a tangent but from a totally personal point of view I wasn't born when the original STAR WARS was released at cinemas so I had to catch the re-mastered addition when it hit the big screen. Since then I've seen movies I loved but until AVATAR I have never experienced anything that blew me away in quite the same manner.



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