On Avatar...

It is so nice a feeling... Once I started watching the movie,I could but ignore the feeling that our own race,our own people felt aliens in the movie,and those people from the depths of bard's imagination felt more like family... Yes... I am speaking of the movie Avatar. Cameron proved again,what has been time and again proved,'our imagination is a wicked thing.' Well the only reason I went to watch the movie today was to enjoy a 3D Hollywood movie in a multiplex theatre,'cause this is the first chance I got to watch one... When you enter the theatre and see that the ticket-costs still touches the sky,the first feeling one gets is,"what is so freaking great about this movie anyways?" With these kinds of thoughts and a bit of guilt at bunking my college,I sit down between a Bengali couple (newly-married I suppose,looking at the lack of hostility) and another lover of peaceful,movie-watching in solitude,like me... Well when the movie began,all I did was wear glasses and search for the effects,and waited for something to come and hit me,at least feel like about to hit me... But later after the first Na'vi person enters,all my attention gets riveted to the movie... The first thing that caught my eye is the substantial borrowings that Cameron has done from previous box-office hits... For example,one can't fail to notice the use of those robotic war-machines which quite distinctly resemble those from Zion in Matrix... even the mind-travel concept seems borrowed from Matrix...Then there is this concept of a person's connection to the beast which seems a borrowed idea from Christopher Paolini's Eragon,and the Horse-riders' clan from the plains of Pandora reminds one of the Horde of Rohan from Lord of the Rings Trilogy,another box-office mammoth,while the description and the settings and the effects again reflect the Elves and their lifestyles as described in the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini,as does the concept of Eywa;the tree of souls is again something we read in Christopher Paolini... Ignoring those small loans that Cameron takes from other Hollywood giants,the movie in itself follows an unique perspective... Till now all have read or watched about aliens invading earth and/or race wars among people on earth,but Avatar for the first time speaks of we attacking a peaceful,nature-worshiping race of people called Na'vi,in the alien planet called Pandora...
The saga follows quite in a way like the standard Hollywood movies of saving-the-earth-from-aliens genre do,just the difference is here the protagonists are trying to save Pandora from human greed and malice... The standard lead,the most unlikely of em all,a decommissioned handicapped marine whose genius brother is killed,and he is the only replacement,the same old native girl who he falls in love with,and the same trend of changed heart,a very uneven fight and unlikely win of the under-dogs (the good guys)... The story is a pure tickle to one's emotions,and makes us think a bit,introspect,if the word may be used...
The effects and beauty of the animations is simply a thing unto itself,and the story,which may not be put otherwise into the category of being brilliant,falls into the same, just for the fact that it follows that unique perspective of "we" as the outsiders. All in all a nice treat,which surely will strike a cord and touch a vein or two of the viewers,kids will love it,elders appreciate,if not more,I would say it is a must watch for all,who like to chill out for a few hours,away from their busy lives,and come out of the theatre smiling... my ratings for Avatar would be -- 3.75 :P

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju