Avatar is wonderful big-screen entertainment. It uses astounding special effects tools to tell a mostly old-fashioned story and tells it very well. It is eye-poppingly gorgeous,jaw-droppingly exciting, and sharply acted. It is a soaring adventure story that is remarkable in its construction. Most impressively, it actually lives up to the hype and delivers on everything that James Cameron has been promising us for the last few years. The first thing that crossed my mind as the film ended was simply 'Wow

Following the death of his twin brother, wheelchair-bound marine Jake Sully is offered a chance to take his brother's place in a science project on the far-away world of Pandora. The Earth has run out of resources and a precious metal located in the heart of this new world could bring salvation to humanity. A private corporation has been put in charge of mining unobtainium, and company man Parker Selfridge is growing impatient. With the indigenous Na'vi tribes reluctant to help, an 'avatar' program is set up to allow humans to remotely put their minds into a created Na'vi body.

In this sci-fi flick, they grow Na'vi bodies with human DNA, and using remote technology, by entering coffin-like chambers. The science behind this process is thankfully loosely explained. The Avatar project allows us to look like them, we can gain their trust, and then... well, we're going to get what we want, don't we!

It is up to Jake to bond with the natives and win their trust, hoping to prevent the trigger happy Colonel Quarich from committing genocide and launching open war against the locals. But matters are complicated when Jake falls in love with the tribal head’s daughter Neytiri and is accepted into the tribe in which he spends three months learning everything about their culture, all the time feeding information back to the corporation about Unobtainium spots and the Na’vi’s military strengths and weaknesses.

My own visions were so stimulated by the fantastic views of this new world and its inhabitants, like the creatures that live high above the forest and a scene involving a swarm of firefly jellyfish; like the colourful dragons that fly over the vast landscape and floating islands that hover over Pandora’s surface. Plants, for example, that really do talk to each other through their roots and other sensory systems.

The study of this field of science is called Plant Neurobiology, and the world’s top research facility is the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Italy. There, it has long been established that plants are, in fact, intelligent.

We are slowly introduced to all this and the film takes its time establishing plot and character. By not jumping headlong into spectacle, the film allows us to become used to each fantastical element before introducing more, helping to sell the illusion. The film also holds back on action. While there are several sequences of adventure in the first two acts, Cameron holds back most of the violence for the final third. But it's absolutely worth the wait, as the finale is the finest large-scale action sequence since the battles in Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King.

Avatar reflect the greatest challenges of our modern world, and the message of Avatar is both deeply moving and highly relevant to the future of human civilization. Issues like corporations destroying nature for profit, the lack of respect for living creatures, and the failed policies of military diplomacy, these truths that are well reflected in the movie all represent our de-evolution and descending spiral.

On an ascending higher evolution spiral the viewer learns that it is the individual’s responsibility to take care of the environment and the living beings in it. Ethics is doing what is right. Environmental ethics goes beyond human concerns to include all living beings. It includes nurturing the relationship between generations.

Not only is it a stunning success, it is a staggering achievement in visual effects and 3D technology, but more importantly, it is a well-acted drama and a rousing action-adventure picture. Avatar is the most visually fantastic film I've ever seen. It will be hailed as the groundbreaking 3D release of its time while setting a new standard by which all blockbusters are measured. Yes, it's that good. It absolutely demands to be seen on the biggest and best screen available. See it in 3D.

Regards Toon