by Eric Goldstein

www.Olivestudio.com

Here goes my quick overview of the film, which I feel merits an acknowledgement on Branch – not because it will become the highest grossing film of all time – but because it was so good. Now, if you ask 10 people what they thought of the movie, half will say, LOVED IT, the other half will say I DIDN’T LOVE THE STORY LINE. BUT without a doubt, 90% of the people you ask will say, VISUALLY – it blew me away.

I took my daughter to see this in 3D/IMAX last month and can honestly say, for me – it was not going to see a movie, but rather a destination. We put our glasses on, prepared for the unknown, as I had resisted on seeing or hearing anything about the movie, and had the pleasure of indulging around the 3D experiences by viewing the trailers of the new Shrek 3D (not a fan of Shrek, but looks entertaining), Alice in Wonderland (hope it is as good as the trailer), and a few other films taking advantage of the 3D wizardry.

Then Avatar began. Our popcorn almost finished, we watched the film unfold, providing us at first a pretty familiar story line, (think Dances with Wolves, think Bugs Life) – but soon after watching, the visuals took over and the 3D effects were subtle and super rich to the point, I didn’t want this to end. On several occasions, what we were seeing through our glasses and the impact the film had on us as theatre-goers – we turned to one another with our mouths echoing the word “WHOAAAA”. It seriously was a beautiful experience and film and again, a true destination.
We were transported away from the world as we know it, and it exceeded all of my expectations.

Kudos to all who participated on this project and accolades and cheers for James Cameron for the vision and perseverance to concept and complete such an ambitious piece of work.