avatar

Records are made to be broken. No one knows that better than director James Cameron who broke his own worldwide box-office take from Titanic with this sci-fi follow-up that pushed CG / 3D technology over the edge of “pretty good” to “holy crap!”

The story itself is simply blue-skinned aliens laid over a Dances With Wolves blueprint (with a few spare parts from Cameron’s own films like Aliens and Terminator), but the environmentally friendly message combined with escapist entertainment hit at just the right time. There’s been an inevitable amount of backlash surrounding the film’s success, but for all its noble intentions, Avatar doesn’t aspire to be much more than 10-year-old boy fantasy…like a Boris Vallejo painting brought to startling life. In Cameron’s defense, The Blind Side didn’t hold up to much criticism either, but it was up for Best Picture!

Much of Avatar’s appeal lay in the theatrical experience, something that even the impending onslaught of 3D televisions won’t replicate entirely. But watching the film on a smaller screen has it’s own advantages; namely the ability to take in details that were previously spread across a 60 foot canvas. Birds, bugs, plants and assorted monstrosities…you’ll find yourself picking out all sorts of finishing touches you didn’t catch the first time around.

Fox’s Blu-ray presentation is the best hi-def image I’ve seen yet…bar none. The color looks as if it was painted directly on your television. If you’ve ever needed an excuse to buy a bigger TV, now’s your chance to take it up with the boss (“Honey, wouldn’t this look great on a 65” LCD?”). Being a bare bones release, there are no extras to chronicle the lengthy journey Avatar took through production. You don’t have to be a Na’vi shaman to predict that a special edition is in the works. But that’s sort of like waiting for the McRib to come back around when there’s a Big Mac sitting right in front of you.