CG Magic

So last night I joined the herd and saw Avatar in 3D at the Arclight Cinerama Dome. Those glasses are some serious business. I felt like we were on an actual mission to space. The glasses were pretty heavy on my face so after a while I got a headache, but otherwise the 3D experience wasn’t too bad. It’s like reading subtitles. After a while you don’t even realize you’re doing it anymore. I used to be very against 3D movies, but not so much anymore.

The movie wasn’t what I expected at all, but I liked it. I’m not sure what I expected, but this was not it. I’m sure everyone has seen it by now so I probably won’t be ruining it if I talk about the plot. Basically, people are transported into avatar bodies where they can breathe different air and do things humans can’t normally do. You know, the usual. The movie was very political. It was all save the world, hate Bush. If at first you weren’t sure if it was political, they let you know by saying things like, “let’s fight terror with terror” and “it looks like they are doing some shock and awe mission.” How much more political can you get and not even that, how much more Bush hating can you get? I didn’t mind and neither did the people around me. I heard a lot of giggling during those lines. Way to go Bush! No we have a movie showing how much you sucked. It was a fight between those who want to save the planet and humans and those who don’t care and want it all destroyed. The Bush administration in a nut shell.

The CG in this movie was freaking stunning. I am such a hater of people who try and don’t succeed when it comes to CG, but this movie definitely succeeded. Next time I see poorly done CG I am going to proclaim they have no excuse because Avatar was able to do it flawlessly. I look at movies like the recent Indiana Jones for example where the camera pans up to show a chase scene and the CG is just obvious and terrible. This one has none of that. There was no inkling whatsoever to show that this was CG with live action. It all pretty much looked like it was live action. Very well done. If you have no other reason to see this movie, see it for its CG beauty.