AVATAR

If you haven't seen Avatar, see it soon before you get inundated with media reviews of the movie. My husband and I chose to watch the regular version, because we feared almost three hours of 3-D might be a too traumatic given the movie trailers we'd viewed.

James Cameron's spent fifteen years conceptualizing and creating this fabulous film. The story line follows the hero [Jake's] archetypal journey from Earth to Pandora, a fictional moon in another planetary system. A paraplegic, Jake signs up to participate in a capitalistic enterprise to fight the Na'vi humanoids on the alien Pandora to mine an indigenous valuable mineral. Jake and other humans who travel to Pandora must be genetically engineered in coffin-like contraptions so their bodies will resemble the blue, long-tailed, humanoid Na'Vi. Jake regains the use of his legs during each transformation as he becomes a hybrid Na'vi, an avatar. The term avatar means a reincarnation of a god in human form, as Krishna and Rama are two of the ten avatars of Vishnu, in Hindu theology.

Sigourney Weaver plays the botanist, Dr. Grace Augustine, who heads the Avatar program and mentors Jake. The capitalist Parker, representing the mining corporation, uses heavily armed sci-fi artillery to battle the peace-loving Na'Vi. Jake, transformed into a Na'Vi body, is left behind after being attacked by an alien predator. Rescued by the beautiful Na'Vi princess, Naytiri, Jake learns customs, earns trust, and soon fall in love with Naytiri.

Archetypes abound: the ancestral Tree of Souls transmits voices of generations of deceased Na'Vi; clan gatherings, hymns of praise to a Mother deity; hero tasks/ordeals that Jake must perform, such as taming a flying beast, the Toruk; resurrection: Jake's consciousness is transformed so he can serve as leader of the clan; good vs. evil [Mining company vs. Navi]; green theme: Na'vi closely living in harmony with nature; underdog theme [Na'vi fighting with arrows against an impersonal war force using missles and terminator-type warfare]; man's relationship to man, as the peace-loving Na'Vi are trivialized by the humans from Earth. Pandora has all the connotations from the Greek myth: beautiful Pandora who unleashes the evil when she opens a mysterious box the gods insisted she guard. A terrible enemy opens the door to Pandora, unleashing evil on the beautiful, fantastical, Eden-like environment. And, finally, the hero is awarded with the elixir. For Jake, the elixir constitutes his realization of his transformation. He is no longer wounded emotionally or physically. He has come to terms with his new role as leader and protector of the Na'Vi.

This movie is so chock-full of meaning that I felt like an awed primitive viewing it the first time. I was so taken with the beauty and fantasy that I realize I must view it again and again to understand all the nuances I missed. Titanic falls very short as compared with this amazing Cameron production. I totally disagree with the reviewer who labeled this movie Smurf porn.