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[manasecret]

I finally saw the movie yesterday in regular 3D. Tried to see it in IMAX 3D, but it was sold out for the next two showings.

The movie is a spectacle, and I admit I became totally immersed in the world of Pandora like a movie has not done for me probably since I was a kid. It brought out the mostly dormant sense of wonder in me, and for that, I love the movie.

For me, much of the plot was the visuals. For example, Jake is brought to a new world and is awed by seeing all of these amazing, wonderful sights for the very first time. At the same time, for me and I'm sure many others, we are seeing a 3D movie for the first time and equally awed by the amazing sights. Put simply, I felt what the character felt, which is what a good movie does.

Also, I really liked the scene when Jake first tried out his Avatar. I could feel the joy it must have been to go from paralyzed legs to not just working legs, but the strength and agility of his new avatar. I appreciate that they did this with subtlety. Jake doesn't come out and say he likes having legs again, which I think would be out of character, you simply understand the joy he has in it when he runs and runs and runs.

This theme is repeated throughout the film. Humans controlling avatars, avatars/Navi controlling animals, and finally human becoming Na'vi. The story of a broken human being finding his soul and saved because of it.

The allusion to the Iraq War is there but I think only in passing. Yes, the "shock and awe" and "fight terror with terror" are direct references, but I think meant only as ideas that the audience immediately understands. Oil and unobtanium could be seen as one in the same, but like Typhoid said, a Native American-type people connected to the earth and fighting with bows and arrows isn't anything like a Middle Eastern people. So, no, I don't think the movie is meant as an allusion to the conflict in the Middle East.