The Real MESSAGE of Avatar

Finally saw Avatar, and overall I agree with our apparent general consensus: though I figured out most of the plot points at least 20 minutes before they happened, the visions were like nothing I've ever witnessed before. It's a spectacular must-see, and splurging for the 3D IMAX experience was worth every penny.

The allegory of the story was certainly heavy-handed, but not as oversimplified as it might seem at first. (Some SPOILERS ahead, but again, there are few surprises in this movie, plot-wise.) Take, for instance, the way that the Pandoran animals basically turn the tide of the big climactic battle. Of course, these are probably just my biases talking, but it's like, after two hours of tree-hugging, pro-environmental MESSAGE, James Cameron suddenly becomes Werner Herzog and admits that the human race and its puny technologies are ultimately no match for Mother Fucking Nature. Yes, we should treat the environment with respect, and we should never recklessly kill other living things. But really, the worst our pollution and carbon footprints and oil drilling and global warming can do is wound the planet. We can never destroy the planet- not without a Death Star, at least. If the planet ever detects that we humans are a serious threat, it will probably start killing us off like an immune system kills off a cold.

Or: we should be environmentally responsible, but not to "save the earth;" we should be environmentally responsible so the earth doesn't retaliate and kick our ass like a herd of Hammerhead Titanotheres stampeding an army of robot-soldiers.

My Rating: $16 Million out of $20 Million Worth of Unobtanium

Awards I Would Nominate It For: Special Effects, Cinematography, Editing, Sound- basically all the technical stuff