Avatar Review Roundup

Avatar is quite the 'Event' film of December and it has sparked a whole wide range of reviews and critiques. I've collected a few of my favorite reviews on the film, good ones and bad ones, and assembled them here for you. Enjoy.

Decent Film Guide: Positive review from a Christian perspective- a good counterpoint to my review - http://tinyurl.com/yewxlv7

Excerpt: "Deep down, Avatar is bone-headed, but it’s also beautiful — not just exciting and technically impressive, like Jurassic Park, but wondrous and exhilarating. How many movies can you say that about? It may be an inch deep, but it’s a mile wide, it gushes and roars like Niagara Falls, and it’s a sight to behold."


Scott Mendelson: Positive review from one of my favorite film writers - http://tinyurl.com/yg358kt

Excerpt: "...Avatar is a stunning success. It is a staggering achievement in visual effects and 3D technology. More importantly, it is a well-acted drama and a rousing action-adventure picture. It absolutely demands to be seen on the biggest and best screen available. See it in 3D, see it in IMAX 3D. Heck, see it a second time in 2D (the aspect ratio is 2.35:1 for 2D and Real3D and 1.87:1 for IMAX 3D prints). Point being, the self-appointed king of the world is back, and he may just reclaim his crown. Avatar absolutely delivers."

Film Freak Central: A negative review from Walter Chaw, one of my favorite reviewers. Caution, his reviews do use a bit of foul language - http://tinyurl.com/yewt59o

Excerpt: "A morally, historically, socially, and politically childish amalgam of Pocahontas and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, Avatar finds James Cameron--still the Cameron of Titanic (or the uncomfortably simpering T2, if we're honest with ourselves) rather than the Cameron of Aliens and The Terminator--trying his hand at being Kevin Costner: powerful, dim, and only relevant for a tiny window of time he doesn't realize has already closed."

Part-Time Critic: This is my original mostly negative review - http://tinyurl.com/yamnmsx

Excerpt: "All in all, Avatar is truly a 'Must Go' theatre experience for moviegoers. Cameron has genuinely captured what it's like to be in another world, creating astonishing visuals that will 'wow' you and giving you visceral experiences (taming your own flying dragon like creature) that will thrill you. Unfortunately, it's the heavy focus on the 'experience' of Pandora, the Navi, and their spiritual world, that ultimately undermines the films dramatic honesty and thematic integrity, turning characters and themes one-sided."