Avatar

I just have to say, and I hope I'm not spoiling anyone's pre-movie thrills, but when the evil colonel Quaritch bombed the Home Tree of the Na'vi and Neytiri's father died in her arms, I cried like I did when I was a kid and watched Simba's dad from Lion King die.

This movie is certainly one of the top movies of the decade that I have seen, and the best of 2009. Cameron delivered everything he promised, and I'm sure the $300 million budget will definitely get paid back  in the following weeks. Every cent will be worthwhile. The imagery, the immersive experience in the world of Pandora, the characters, everything works together to create an epically fantasy the size of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. Rumors even say that J. Cameron plans on making Pandora a trilogy.

While the plot of the movie is based on a rather simple idea that has been already played several times, the characters and visuals save it from being a bore. When seeing it, you might think about Dances with Wolves (or Dances with Smurfs, if you've seen that episode from South Park), or even Lion King as I did, but nonetheless you'll get sucked into the Na'vi world where 10 foot tall blue aliens are threatened by the destructive nature of human beings. It's the year 2154 and ex-marine Jake Sully replaces his brother on a special mission for the U.S. Military to infiltrate and explore the Na'vi beings, a native species from a distant planet called Pandora. Jake has been crippled on a previous mission, but through the project “Avatar” he gets to walk again as one of the alien beings, by coupling his mind to a replica of one the Na'vis bodies. When commander Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) gives the approval for forcing the Na'vi to move from their lands in order to mine for the Unobtainium, a highly profitable material back on Earth, Jake has to choose sides. Falling in love with Neytiri ( Zoe Saldana) who teaches him the way of her people, Jake finally does the right thing and fights along the natives to save their world. But their bows and arrows are no match for the bombs and machine guns of humans, and soon the battle seems to cause too much casualties to be worth fighting. This is a story about belief, of nature against humans, and about our own ways right here on Earth, of how we invaded and severely altered dozens of ecosystems. If you think about it, it's quite moving as a perfect example of how we treat our planet, but I don't believe that anyone will point Avatar as a reference in future environmental world summits.

Neytiri's character is wonderfully created, Zoe Soldana did a great job at expressing the 10 foot tall creature's feelings. Even her voice seems alien but blends perfectly with the environment. The main character, Jake Sully, is not such a revelation, and he looks and acts better in alien form. A star among the cast is Sigourney Weaver, who plays Dr. Grace Augustine, the scientist responsible for the Avatar project in a supporting role.

The blend of science fiction, romance, action and drama is seamlessly combined by director James Cameron, making Avatar truly a masterpiece. The movie is certainly not actor-centered, being mostly designed with CGI for IMAX. If you want to see a movie about a stranger trying to get accepted in a native tribe, while being challenged to grow in personality, only for acting skills, you should see Dancing with Wolves with Kevin Costner. But if you actually want to live in that tribe for a couple of hours, you should go see Avatar.

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