"Avatar" is a movie of too much and too many. In the
beginning there is a reference to "The Wizard Of Oz", James Cameron's, the
director and writer of Avatar, favorite movie, when one of the characters says,
"We're not in Kansas anymore," and he makes sure you aren't.

The main thing I was looking for was how was this
movie going to change the making of movies in the future as it was being highly
touted to. (Did I use 'was' enough? Too much?) Yes the use of 3D (and this movie
must be seen in 3D as 2D doesn't add to the movie at all) is exciting in parts
and subtle in others but nothing we haven't seen before. There are lots of, too
many, action scenes but, once again, we have seen them before in Star Wars, The
Matrix and The Transformers. I am still trying to figure out what makes this
movie something 'new' except maybe more CGI effects.

Pandora outdoes Oz in its wonderment, strange
creatures, things floating in the air and instead of the Munchkins we have the
Na'vi, who are impossibly thin,
amazingly dexterous, fast on their feet,
experts in their use of the bow and arrow and green and blue with added stripes
at various times. Instead of a yellow brick role there are lighted steps as the Na'vi walk and/or run.

It seems like Cameron wants "I can see you" replace
his "I'm King of the world" from Titanic--I don't think it will. There is also a
particular line using the word 'slamming' that is so 2009 and not 2154, when the
picture takes place. There is one laugh out loud line (thanks Sigourney)
and one tearful moment but aside from that the love story is almost a second
thought to the action as should be in the case of a movie like this.

Avatar is just an okay movie which could have been
much better if it had run at 2 hours instead of the 2 hours and 40 minutes it
does. This is an easily solved problem as the two war scenes run much too long,
and have been done before, as do the ancient-modern birds and animal do. The
rivalry between  Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, and Eytukan,
played by Wes Studi, is a story line that wouldn't
have been missed.

Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and
Michelle Rodriguez are the standouts in the cast while the rest are fine. Sam
Worthington, as the lead, doesn't really bring anything to the role as the
Marine but does add to his role becoming a Na'vi.

This is NOT the must see movie it is being touted as
being and I really don't feel you will be losing anything if you don't see it
but if you do see it in 3D--which, by the way,  the theatre ticket cost $13.50
($11.50 for seniors) whereas tickets normally are $7.50 so if Avatar breaks
records the higher prices will account for part of the record.