Big Screen & Beyond
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T.W. Ambrose

We here at DDM

have been toying with the idea of a movie review since we started last June. We even started one a few months back with Julie, one of our copy editors. However nothing came of it at that time. The more I think of it, though the more it just seems to fit. We will continue to spend most of our time with the best in Family Friendly Science Fiction and Fantasy writing, but taking a look at what’s going on in Television and the Movies also seems to be important.

For this first installment, I wanted to take a look at a movie that’s been in theaters for a while now, but is still drawing big crowds. And most recently, it was nominated for a number of academy awards. The movie, if you haven’t guessed it, is Avatar. Let me warn you though before we get started, if you haven’t seen Avatar yet, this review may include some spoilers, although I’ll try to keep them down to a few.

Now for starters, if the giant blue aliens fighting for the planet confused you, let me make it simple. Avatar is, at its core, the Smurfs in space. Now, this comment may draw gasps from Avatar fans for comparing their beloved movie to a cartoon of the 80’s; Smurf fans may be running to the theaters as they’ve been waiting for their movie. Give me a moment to explain my comparison.

Avatar tells the story of the Na’vi, a blue skinned alien race, which live in trees, at one with nature. When their homeland is beset upon my humans looking to make a quick buck. The humans care nothing for the nature that the Na’vi hold so dear, and the Na’vi are forced to protect it. Now think about the Smurfs; the Smurfs are little blue skinned creatures who live in mushrooms and live at one with nature. The Smurfs are consistently beset upon by Gargamel who is looking to make a quick buck. Gargamel cares nothing for the Smurfs, who are forced to fight back. To top it off, the Smurfs, and the Na’vi both go to Mother Nature for help. But then again so does Captain Plaint, who’s also blue.

Alright, so the idea behind Avatar may not be the most original thing ever put on the big screen. Everything else about the movie is great. For starters, from the first scene to the last, Avatar pushed the envelope with special effects much like many of the great Sci-Fi and Fantasy films that have come before. It also offers a strong script, a fun idea, (if not the most original), and acting that well not too bad. Stephen Lang did a strong job as the blood thirsty general who wanted to win at all costs, Sigourney Weaver played a believable scientist, and Sam Worthington was enjoyable as Sully, the paralyzed former marine, who was able to place his consciousness inside of the empty body of a large blue alien.

But in the end it wasn’t Lang, Worthington, or Weaver, who helped get this movie its 9 Academy Award Nominations, it was the giant blue aliens. And this is shown when you see the categories its up for; Best Picture, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Achievement in Sound, Original Score, Editing, Directing, Cinematography, and Art Direction.

So where does that leave us, well I figured I’d try a rating system to give you my specific thoughts and we’ll adjust it until we get it perfect: So this week, we’ll combine the thumbs and stars method to give between 1 and 5 thumbs up.

Storyline: 4 thumbs up – Sure it brought in a little too much Smurfs but still, a strong Sci-Fi story with distinct good and evil. All in all, I liked it.

Special Effects: 6 thumbs up – I know the ratings are between 1 and 5, but to see this movie in full 3-D in the theater was inspiring. If the greatest special effects up to this point were a 5 then a 6 is the least I can do.

Family Friendliness: 3 thumbs up - If I had to do it over again I may not take my 6 year old. A little adult language, a lot of violence, and 2 blue people almost taught us were aliens come from. I would say this movie was family friendly, but it walks the line.

Total score: 4 1/3 thumbs up. To be honest I wish I could give it a higher score, I loved this movie, I look forward to the blu ray, and I think 30 years from now we will be talking about this movie as one that helped changed the way Sci-Fi was done.


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