Earlier tonight, I went to go see James Cameron's new movie, Avatar - his first feature since 1997's Titanic. After getting lost trying to take a shortcut to pick up a friend, we finally made it to the theater - the Jordan's Furniture IMAX theater in Reading, MA. This place was huge - like a mall within itself.

If I have one complaint it would be that you have to run through the entire furniture store to get to the movie theater - there is no separate entrance. More than once I was tempted to buy a love seat.

If I have a second complaint it would be that if you buy your tickets online, you either print them up online or use a computer kiosk to get your tickets. Instead we waited in a huge line, finally got our tickets, grab our goofy 3-D glasses, and ran in...To a full theater and the movie already starting.

We sat right up in front, in the middle, and maybe we missed 1 or 2 minutes. Did we miss anything important, I seriously doubt it.

So, what did I think of the movie? I loved it!

Let me be perfectly honest when I say the story wasn't anything original or groundbreaking, the acting was good enough, but none of that mattered. The experience of sitting so close to a screen usually bothers me, but in this movie it may have heighted the experience, because that's what I am calling this movie - an experience.

The 3D wasn't that gimmicky, jump-out at the screen stuff - instead it just gave everything such depth that I felt like I was jumping off things sometimes, or was going to bump into something. I swear at one point I almost swatted a moth-like bug before I realized it was up on the screen.

This movie ran for over 2 1/2 hours, but I almost think it was necessary to bring Cameron's complete vision to light. I don't know if I would like it as much if I didn't see it in 3D, and I am not sure if this is the type of movie that I would respond to in the same way if I were watching it on DVD.

If you have any interest in seeing this movie, you have to go to see it in the theater, in 3D, preferably in IMAX if possible.

Besides the depth of the 3D, the overall CGI effects were astounding to the point where I could not believe the water I was seeing wasn't real water (at least I don't think it was real) - and this entire world felt alive and not at all like I was watching a giant cartoon/video game.

To wrap things up, the story and the acting were good enough, and the technical movie-making that surrounded those parts was amazing.

Go see it if you have the chance (especially in IMAX, I don't think I'll ever want to see a movie at a regular theater again if I can see it in IMAX instead.)

Labels: avatar, movies