MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Avatar Rated PG-13

Directed by James Cameron.  Starring Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana.

Photo © 20th Century Fox
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Avatar is an incredible film experience.  Take it from me – I usually don’t care much for films advertised as “good rides” and considered Disney’s A Christmas Carol to be quite irritating in its desire to overwhelm the audience with 3D effects. 

Avatar is a 3D film and much of the movie is shot in a computer with motion capture movement used to link the human actors with their otherworldly counterparts (avatars) – and it works! 

Avatar takes place about one hundred years into the future.  The earth has been exploited and now a spaceship filled with scientists, soldiers, and entrepreneurs is on its way to the planet Pandora to mine its precious element named (and I’m not making this up) unobtainium.  The only problem are the native people, the Na’vi, who don’t want their planet despoiled. 

Fortunately, these scientists have created amalgams that look like ten-feet-tall Na’vi and are controlled by the minds of astronauts in sleep chambers.  So you just deposit these creatures on the planet, turn on the switch by the gizmo, and hope that your synthetic creatures can mingle with the natives.  That’s about all that I’m willing to tell you about the film, since the plot (while formulaic and predictable) is the least interesting part of this movie. 

The beautiful thing about Avatar is the way in which it really brings you into this imaginary world (try to find the biggest screen with 3D, if you can). 

The story is told through the eyes of Jake Sully (Worthington), a paraplegic ex-Marine, who is excited about the possibility of walking again – and his discoveries and joy are ours, as well.  Sigourney Weaver plays a no-nonsense scientist who is also along for the adventure, and she brings to this role the same kind of authority that she brought as Ripley in Cameron’s Aliens. 

The second half of the film is loaded with messages about the beauty of nature, the need for cross-cultural understanding, and the evils of genocide, preemptive strikes, and the military-industrial complex.  As Cameron preaches against stuff, he also finds ways of exploiting the things he criticizes; this is probably one of the most violent peacemaking movies ever. 

And yet… If you were thrilled by Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings films, you will be delighted by the world that James Cameron created for this movie.  Please pay attention to the rating: young children will not understand or care to stick around for a 2 ¾ hour long movie; PG-13 means middle-school age or older (and parents should plan to watch the film with their children, so that discussion can follow). 

Pitchfork Rating:
Three halos. (A visually thrilling experience, with some strong messages about stewardship of creation as well as a sense of spirituality.)

Three picthforks. (Quite a bit of violence, pervasive mild swearing, and scenes of genocide.)

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