Pun Salad

As I type, Avatar is #26 on IMDB's list of the top 250 movies of all time. I don't know about that, but it's pretty amazing, although the amazing stuff is joined with a lot of stupid stuff.

Unless you've been in a cave, you probably know the story. Our hero, Jake, is a paralyzed vet, who gets to inhabit the body of a alien humanoid, the better to interface with the Na'Vi, ostensibly the most intelligent species on the planet Pandora. The idea is to induce the Na'Vi to relocate away from a vast deposit of the valued mineral "unobtanium", conveniently located right under one of the Na'Vi holy places. Jake's loyalty is tested when the humans in charge of the operation reveal themselves to be genocidal psychotics, and just about everyone else is content to meekly follow their lead.

The good things about this movie are very good indeed: writer/director/guru James Cameron has created an amazing visual feast of a world, and some scenes are simply jaw-dropping. And I love Sigourney Weaver. Unfortunately, I'm in agreement with fellow right-wing lunatics John Podhoretz and Ross Douthat: all the fantastic world-building is married to a "blitheringly stupid" and clichéd plot.

However, I'm more inclined to be charitable to the filmmakers: there are only so many plots, after all. Conflict is a necessary ingredient to slam-bang action, and if you're not gonna make the aliens be the bad guys, it pretty much means the humans have to be. Sorry.

So: go see it, switch off your brain, suspend disbelief, have fun.

Consumer alert: Pun Son and I saw Avatar in 3D, and I must admit I got a little nauseous around the 2-hour mark. I previously saw Up and Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D with no problem; I may have been sitting too close to the screen for Avatar. But you may want to pop some dramamine before entering the theatre.