Avatar

I finally went to see Avatar at the weekend (with a bellyful of Nando's and Ben n Jerry's). I must admit that I was a little sceptical at first. I was expecting the 3D stuff to be a bit gimmicky - any excuse to have something flying out of the screen, that kind of thing. However, Avatar completely confounded my expectations. Visually, it is truly stunning and an incredible achievement even on an astronomical budget. The dialogue might well be a little on the cheesy side, and the plot is certainly something we've seen before from the likes of Pocahontas, The Last Samurai, Dances With Wolves, etc. (man from western society encounters an alien culture, becomes assimilated, falls in love and winds up defending his adopted people from his own), but it is well-executed enough not to detract from the sheer beauty of the graphics. The 3D effects certainly added an extra dimension (sorry) to the cinematography, and it may be that one day this will be the default medium for Hollywood. However, at the moment, it has the feel of an optional extra: impressive, but slightly superfluous. The people behind the technology have still got some work to do if it is to become commonplace - removing the necessity for cumbersome and uncomfortable glasses would be a good place to start.