Review: 'Avatar' True Stroke Of Genius

'Avatar' (PG-13)(out of four)

When you're wiping a tear from your eye, your heart full of the love for the blue 10-feet-tall indigenous people that inhabit a planet called Pandora, you'll believe that writer-director James "Titanic" Cameron is a genius.

Part sci-fi, part war tale, and, of course, part love story, "Avatar" is seen through the eyes of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former Marine who became disabled in combat. After his brother is killed in the war, Scully takes his place as part of the Avatar Program. In order to infiltrate Pandora, a corporate giant with help from the military has created a pod where a human's mind is linked to an avatar, a body that looks like the humanoids that are called Na'vi. The avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora. This way, humans can survive the toxic air of Pandora, plus learn about its people first hand.

But it isn't all about getting an education. The Na'vi are sitting on a rare mineral that can make the big corporation lots of money. The mineral, however, is below a giant tree, where all life on Pandora emanates.

Although this is the 22nd century, the rules of war have not changed. The Na'vi people either give up the mineral, or the military will take what they want by force.

When Jake arrives as an avatar on Pandora, he wanders away from the others. While trying to find his way back, he meets a beautiful Na'vi female, Ney'tiri, who saves him from a frightening pack of wild dogs. She takes him back to her father, who is the leader of the Na'vi. While the humans are interested in the Na'vi, the clan has its own interest in the humans. They take Jake in, and he eventually learns to become one of them. He's faced with a difficult choice after he gets immersed in the ways of the blue people: stay true to the military who have sent him here, or respect the Na'vi way, which includes being closer to Ney'tiri.

Sigourney Weaver is in fine form as a botanist who also inhabits an Avatar body. She brings a different complexity to her role as an ally of the alien Na'vi tribe -- and the fear of her recasting her Ripley role fades early on when she comes on strong as Dr. Grace Augustine.

Zoe Saldana, who was recently seen in J.J. Adams' "Star Trek" as Nyota Uhura, solidifies her place in Hollywood with her role of the female warrior. She brings a fully believable flesh-and-blood strength to Ney'tiri. Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch is the military man with no soul, and plays his iron fist to the hilt.

With "Avatar," Cameron has created the next "Star Wars," a "Space Odyssey" for the modern age, and although the storyline may sometimes seem hackneyed -- the bottom line is that the Na'vi's are tree-huggers in the true sense of the phrase -- the visuals are so absolutely stunning that plot barely matters. At 2 1/2 hours long, by the end of the film, you'll still be yearning for more, the 3-D space magic still swirling around in your head.

Cameron is king of the jungle, and "Avatar" is, hands down, one of the best movies ever made. Just make sure to take the tissues.