All stories - every book, movie, play, whatever – has to be about something.  If a plot doesn’t go about telling a story of some kind it’s just a bunch of gobbledygook.  Sometimes the story is simple, sometimes it’s complex, but whether it’s about man overcoming technology, a tragic love story, or the story of how we got to the moon, every movie is about something.

Avatar has been described as Dances With Wolves meets the Smurfs; Dances With Smurfs perhaps.  That’s not a bad description, but it doesn’t do the movie justice.  While it is a story about colonial exploitation it tries to be more.  Director James Cameron has established a reputation as a man who doesn’t make many films, but they tend to be iconic.  His most recent works are instantly recognizable even decades after they debuted: Terminator and Titanic.  The principle question I had going into see the movie was whether Avatar would be as iconic as them.  Before I answer that question, let’s look at Avatar more closely.

Let’s put this on the table first:  as for spoilers, if you’ve seen the trailer for the movie you’ve seen the plot.  There are a few surprises in store for movie goers, but much of them come in the form of graphics designed to make the audience go “wow”.  I saw the 2D version of the movie – clearly labeled on the marquee as such.  There was no 3D showing available where I am vacationing.  I could see the 2D movie had plenty of opportunities where the 3D effects were supposed to be inserted, but the movie didn’t seem to suffer any for being played the old fashioned way.  I did experience a couple moments of vertigo early in the movie when the action in my peripheral vision was overloaded.  I game a lot and see lots of graphics; it is the first time I can recall experiencing that effect in a movie.  I’m not normally the kind of guy who worries about that either.  If you’re a person who might get woozy when the action starts rocking and rolling on-screen, a word of caution is in order here.

Clearly the visuals make folks’ eyes pop.  There is buzz in the news about how the technology is being pushed, et cetera et cetera.  OK, it was there and it was cool, but let’s talk about what it meant.  The first time I heard the word “avatar” used it was in connection with a heavy MMORPG player on our staff.  Since then it’s become common vernacular in gaming and it’s unlikely that gamers watching the movie haven’t heard of the word.  The connection to the movie is apt since one of its principle premises is that artificially grown organic native bodies can be controlled by humans via computer link…in a word, they use avatars.  As I watched the movie it became clear to me that the movie seemed to have been inspired by MMORPGs.  Avatar is more than just borrowing the title and concept.  Rather than describing it as a Dances With Smurfs, it’s more appropriate to describe Avatar as MMORPG meets Dinotopia.  Why?  The native world is clearly posed as a utopia.  Oh, and there are a lot of dinosaur-like creatures (another extinct species, but one that you can't really blame Man for, now can you?).

Pristine forests, unsullied natives…oh, yes.  It’s all there.  The symbolism is just getting revved up.  There is a clear message in the movie.  Take the name of the protagonist, Jake Sully.  Rewind a couple of sentences to my deliberate use of the word “unsullied”, which means “untarnished”.  Jake Sully is a kind of tarnish, a human taint that is spread to the pure native world full of a wonder ore called rather uncreatively, “unobtainium”.  Hmmpf.

The concept of the “noble savage”, though fictional, is classic (or tired, depending on your viewpoint) stuff from which to hang a plot, and the movie asks the audience to buy into this concept lock, stock, and barrel.  A great deal of effort was placed into helping the audience get to know this utopian world full of value to humans, and it is made clear several times in the movie that the natives want for nothing humanity has to offer them.  The message is clear: we need them and they don’t need us.  At all.

Looming literally larger than life is the land…nature.  Everything is bigger than on Earth, which we are told is no longer green at all.  The beasts of this land are bigger, meaner, more lethal.  The trees and flowers are larger – some trees are the size of skyscrapers.  Again the unsubtle hint that man has lost touch with nature, which holds life in balance. 

I could go on about the heavy handed messages in the movie but I won’t after this little anecdote.  I will say that it isn’t just me.  I went with my 16 year old nephew whose chief interests are girls and sports in that order.  I like bringing him along to things I enjoy as he brings a salt-of-the-earthiness to my rather more cerebral view to things.  I get to see how an average kid reacts to things, which gives me a fresh perspective.  What may be obvious to me might get missed by him and vice versa.  Conversely it’s fair to say that things we see in common are likely to be shared by a broad view of the audience.  In the case of Avatar this proved especially helpful as the pre-release discussions in our forums have found elements of the movie controversial.  For instance, he concluded all on his own that the humans’ pursuit of unobtainium seemed to be a kind of comparison to oil and the war in Iraq.  That wasn’t me spoon feeding him, these are dots he genuinely connected on his own.

So it’s clear the movie has a message (or several).  It’s got great graphics in 2D.  I intend to take my kids and see it in 3D.  Does the action overcome the heavy handed messages?  Largely, yes.  But it would be remiss of me not to point out that the messages are not only there, but are tough to ignore.  There is a definite political slant to Avatar but it can be overcome. 

Thus I return to my initial question upon entering the movie.  Is Avatar iconic like some of its brethren? Here I was perplexed at first – I know how I felt about the movie, but am I too old and jaded to pass judgment for a wider audience?  Again a discussion with my nephew confirmed my own suspicions.  His verdict?  That the movie was good but he wouldn’t go see it again at the theater.  That nailed it.  I will go see it, if only because I want my kids to share in the experience.  There’s a lot of high tech sci-fi to go along with the noble savages, and plenty of action to make it fun and worthwhile.  But I have my answer.  It’s unlikely that we’ll be reciting memorable quotes from Avatar like “I’ll be back” in thick Austrian accents.  This movie is good.  It’s fun.  It’s got a message that I will be sure to point out to my kids and demonstrate where it is misguided.  It’s no Star Wars and it doesn’t appear to be memorable except for the giant leap forward in cinematographic science.  I am still haunted by scenes from Titanic, and I can watch the movie again and again.  I can watch Terminator and still get a thrill.  Avatar?  I don’t think it lives up to its legacy.  Good?  Yes.  If you go to lots of movies it’s a no brainer: go see it.  Have fun.  Then forget it.  If you don’t get to many movies, I personally don’t think it’s going to be compelling enough to warrant it to be that one movie you’ll see over the holidays.  Unless you just want to see a good action flick.