With the holidays already here, it has been an eventful week for me. One of my closest friends took leave from the Navy and I finally got to see him again after 8 months. One of the things we decided to do was see the new James Cameron movie, Avatar. Now I wasn’t so sure what to expect exactly, so I had my doubts, considering it was a fantasy, sci-fi movie. But considering James Cameron directed it, I had to go see it. My friends and I arrived at the movies early only to SOLD OUT shows so we hung out at the mall for a while and went to the late showing. Of course we got popcorn, soda and chocolate covered raisins (can’t enjoy a movie without chocolate covered raisins). And so the movie began…

The story starts out with Jake Sully is a former U.S. Marine who was injured in battle on earth and got paralyzed from the waist down. Jake is selected to participate in the Avatar program due to his brothers’ unfortunate death, which will enable him to walk. Jake travels to Pandora, a gorgeous jungle-covered extraterrestrial moon, but don’t let the jungle fool you, it’s dangerous with unique creatures that dwell on the moon. Pandora is also home to the Na’vi, a humanoid race, who are considered primitive that stand about 10 feet tall with tails and blue skin, the Na’vi live in harmony with their unspoiled world. The humans (known as the RDA) go deeper into Pandora’s forests destroying everything in their way, in search of valuable minerals. The Na’vi then must defend their homes and their existence by unleashing their formidable warrior abilities.

Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, Jake is linked to genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids known as Avatars. Since Jake is linked to this Na’vi hybrid, he is finally able to walk as his Avatar(the big blue guys). He is then sent deep into Pandora’s jungles as a scout for the soldiers that will follow. There he encounters obstacles that are just amazing (I don’t want to spoil it) and meets a young Na’vi female, Neytiri(we all know where this is going).

Over time, Jake starts to become part of the Na’vi clan, after learning the ways of their culture (just as a child) and begins to fall in love with Neytiri, and finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of the RDA and the Na’vi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Pandora and the Na’vi.

After seeing this movie in 3-D in iMax, I wouldn’t recommend it any other way. I would have to hand it to James Cameron with his great imagination to be able to make a movie that no one knew about, to something that we will enjoy for a long, long time. I guess it is true that whatever he touches turns to gold. If you have not seen this movie yet, you are missing out. I will have to say that all in all I was pleasantly surprised and I will be seeing this one again. SO GO SEE IT!!!