Despite popularity, some still feeling blue about Avatar

It's hard to fathom what cinema would be like without James Cameron, whose career spans all the way back to the early 80s and contains some of the most memorable films of all time.  So when buzz of a new sci-fi action film from the man who brought audiences "Aliens", "Titanic", "True Lies" and the first two installments of the "Terminator" series came to light, movie goers could only count the days until the release of "Avatar". 

Add to this the hype about the new CGI and 3D camera technologies that Cameron had at his disposal and the movie was slated to be a classic before it was even viewed by the public. The film's hype built and built until at last the film was shown to the general population and exposed as… nice looking but bland.

Avatar is the story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington of "Terminator Salvation") who is a paraplegic marine given the opportunity to operate new military technology on the distant moon, Pandora.  The technology is a synthetic being called an Avatar and is made to replicate a member a native tribe of Pandora called the Na'vi.  The government wishes to uses these Avatars to convince the Na'vi to cooperate in moving away from a sacred place that sits atop a large deposited of unobtainium, a mineral that is as valuable as its name is unclever.

Once on the moon, Sully enters a world of exotic natural beauty and unimaginative stagnant characters. He encounters Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang of "The Men Who Stare at Goats") whose solution to every problem is pumping a few rounds into it all while trying a bit too hard to be the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.  Running the operation on Pandora is Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi of "Public Enemies") who is the type of businessman who would evict his own mother and close down her shelter for orphaned puppies if it added a few points to his stock portfolio.

Sully also meets his Avatar team which is composed of Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver of "Alien"), the head scientist and expert on the Na'vi whom no one seems to listen to, and Norm Spellmen (Joel Moore of "Dodgeball"), the clumsy and awkward scientist whose role in the jungle is apparently to provide comic relief and collect samples.

The boring characters even filter into the wild world of Pandora.  The jungle here is filled with animals, which besides the addition of an extra pair of limbs and a color change are just rhinos, dogs and pterodactyls.  The Na'vi act in the way the audience expects. At first they are hostile to Sully, but after a short argument accept this imposter life form and teach him their way of living as one with nature and their god Eywa.

The best acted and written character in the film is Neytiri (Zoe Saldana of "Star Trek") whom Sully falls in love with, causing a slight tension between his loyalties to his old culture and to that of his new found friends and lover, though this same story angle was told better in "Pocahontas."

The last half of the film finds a few key battle scenes, along with Sully being jostled between his Avatar and real body.  This again creates tension which never gets thick enough for the audience to really find an emotional connection. 

The film also contradicts itself at several points. A key example comes when Neytiri explains to Sully that once his Mountain Banshee, a ferocious flying beast ridden by Na'vi warriors, has chosen him they are bonded for life. Later in the film Sully leaves his this creature for a larger and more powerful one without the hint of sadness or even care.  Apparently, on Pandora a life long bond is second only to convenience.

The only thing in the film going for Cameron are the visuals, which if seen in 3D are phenomenal.  The CGI appears fluid and realistic, especially with the expressions on the actors' faces.  The 3D adds volumes to the film especially in the battle scenes that seem more chaotic. In the end, the amazing visual aspects of the film can only go so far in holding up the flimsy and worn story. 

What little conflict is found in the movie is often easily solvable minutes before shown and the characters are glorified stereotypes that show little to no development.  Luckily though, if you are easily distracted, the film boasts many explosions and rocks that, for some unexplained reason, float.

James Cameron's "Avatar" has recently passed his last film, "Titanic", as the largest box office gross by earning $1.86 billion.  Audiences should take the theme of "Titanic" to heart before viewing this film: just because something is the largest doesn't mean that it's not a disaster.