Avatar Day Report...

I am a douche. I totally forgot to post about the awesomeness that was James Cameron's 3-d preview of 'Avatar' this past Friday. First off, my hat (that's if I wore one) goes off to AMC for coordinating/organizing such a pain free worldwide sneak peak. They had a simple check in bracelet system combined with a ton of coupons handed out while waiting in line. This is how organization should be, not like the cluster fuk that was 'A Christmas Carol' preview at Union Station earlier this year.

Since people are not reading this post to find out about how AMC gave me the full reach around service on 'Avatar' day let me digress into the preview by once again stating it was AWESOME. If you are judging the trailer that has premiered on the net; don't. You HAVE to see the 'Avatar' footage in 3-d to truly appreciate what Cameron is trying to do with cinema. The preview started out w/ Cameron in 3-d introducing the film. Note to all filmmakers: If you are a director, please do not introduce your film in 3-d when it's a $200 million + epic. Can't you at least do a bit with the actors there or something? I mean, come on Jim. I know you were so 'king of the world' five years ago but honestly, I would've rather seen Sam Worthington talk about the movie as a blue avatar.

From the rocky introduction by Cameron, he quickly takes us into two set-up scenes to get us into the world of Avatar, which is breathtakingly 'insert additional adjectives here' beautiful. What's astonishing about the look and feel of 'Avatar' and why he's calling it a game changer, is the character models. Yes, the blue look of the characters feel like leftovers out of a bad 'Smurfs' movie mixed w/ the Freddie Prinze, Jr. bomb, 'Delgo,' but they sweat, breath, cry and look like the best CGI since LOTR. The action sequences in the trailer had a moment where the camera dollies backward as forest foliage creeps into the foreground with various lighting effects and so many objects to look at on the screen if you blinked, you'd miss it. Another impressive moment involved a character shining a flashlight out into the screen. The light was so strong I had to briefly look away so my eyes could adjust.

Outside of having some type of additional sensory with smell and touch, this is about as close as CGI has come to being live action. In the past, Bob Zemeckis has taken his motion capture love to the extreme w/ 'Polar Express' and 'Bewoulf,' and having seen both in 3-d, this looks better. In fact, this looks better than 'A Christmas Carol,' which also uses the same technology to create characters. Why does it look better? Simple. Cameron, I think, knows our technology cannot make a human look human as CGI so his solution is to turn his characters into giant avatars that possess humanistic traits, but are not 100% human, thus enabling him to blend reality with CGI.

Regardless, my Dobler rating for this preview is an A and I cannot wait to see Cameron's first directing gig in 12 years since he proclaimed he was the 'king of the world.'