AVATAR (Fox, 2009) D: James Cameron, w/ Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana. Rating: NNN DVD package: none Rating: NNN
Avatar looks better than I expected on my 26-inch home screen. The colours and compositions remain, and the action is lively, but without the benefits of 3-D and the IMAX screen, the details that bring the forest world to life and the overall wow factor are lost.
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Sadly, this makes it evident how uninvolving the story is. Earthlings want to turn the forest world of Pandora into one giant open-pit mine. The marine (Sam Worthington) they send to infiltrate the natives learns the tribal ways, falls for a local girl (Zoe Saldana), predictably switches sides and leads the battle against corporate evil.
That’s good enough for pulp action-adventure, which Avatar is, but writer/director James Cameron hasn’t bothered to give his stereotypical characters – corporate weasel, noble warrior, crotchety scientist – those little moments that humanize them. Makes it hard to give a damn.
This is a bare-bones edition, 2-D and no extras. If it’s spectacle you want (and why not?), bear in mind that an “ultimate” edition is slated for November. Presumably, that means 3-D and all the trimmings.
EXTRAS Widescreen. English, French, Spanish audio. English, Spanish subtitles.