avatar

On Sunday our friend Carol took us to the movies. All in one swift movement Di and I became NOT the last people on earth to see Avatar, as well as once reluctant and now wowed by both IMAX and 3-D. Our previoys experience with IMAX had been Fantasia 2000, and the whales were life size, the screen was overpowering and we were overwhelmed. The IMAX at Cannery Row was not AS huge, not curved, and we could handle it. As to 3-D, my lkast experience with the medium was Jaws 3D, which was an awful film with cheezy effects that played to the 3D, leaping ouyt at you with severed fish heads and whatnot. But this! James Cameron did not play his scenes to the 3d effect; instead, he used 3D simply as the canvas. And it was exceptional. Plus the glasses were much more comfortable and only a graction as silly looking as the old cardboard and green-red lense jobbies of old.

As to the film -- it was beautiful, well told, busy, and fun. An e-ticket! The story was predictable but well presented, with enough tension at the outcome to keep you riveted. The film flew by, leaving me satisfied, awed, and ready to attack 3D again.