Got to see Avatar the movie in 3D yesterday at a local theatre. What a wonderful work of art. The CGI was incredible to say the least. The plot was really good, but then I am easily entertained. The premise (which is also in the previews) is that a major corporation from Earth has a base on the planet Pandora and that they are mining for a very valuable mineral. Well the corporation doesn’t care what it has to do to get the mineral. Ya see, an indigenous tribe to the planet has their home sitting on top of the richest deposit of this mineral. So it kind of reminded me of America’s history of just taking the land from the Native Americans in whatever way that they could. There are a lot of points around this area that had me tearing up several times during the movie.
So, my understanding of the word Avatar comes from being exposed to computer gaming, and no, I really do not play very much in the way of computer games. An Avatar is a character that represents the person playing the game, so the person takes on the attributes of the character. Well in this movie (and again this is in the previews) a couple of scientists and a marine get into these machines and somehow transfer their consciousness into these genetically engineered characters and enter their world to study with them and gain their trust. Since one of my interests is the study of the conscious mind and the connection with the sub-conscious mind, my interest level was already high and I was really moved when they would connect with these Avatars.
Another aspect that the writers focused on is the connection between all life forms on this planet. It was really amazing to me how they worked all of this into the story. The indigenous tribe, N’avi, honor all life and have a way to connect their consciousness to a few other life forms and become one with them.
In my humble opinion, this is my new favorite movie. I guess “Somewhere in Time” has to move down the list a notch. Avatar the movie is a must see!