Avatar - Yes I finally saw it!

So yes, 3 months behind everyone else we got to see it.  I was hoping for IMAX but I could never book a good seat and then it was replaced by Alice in Wonderland.  So we opted for 3D on an ordinary-sized screen.  I had hopes and doubts for the 3D experience.  A few people had told me it wasn't like your usual 3D film.  Instead of things coming at you it gave you a sense of depth.  Well they were half right.  It seemed to avoid the shock factor of things flying at you.  It was still distracting at times though.  You lose the ability to choose what you focus on.  Something your brain would normally phase out becomes your object of focus.  When that's a piece of a plant drifting past the main action it;s disorientating.  So while the effect of 3D was much better than usual it only reinforced that I prefer my films in two dimensions only.

The plot was rather predictable.  An old tale that has been churned out time and time again.  It wasn't a bad telling of the tale but one I didn't need to see again.  The real downside for me was the characters.  They were lazily written stereotypes.  No-one went against what you expected of them in any way.  I didn't feel attached to any of the characters.  I just didn't care about them.  especially Worthington's character, he was just irritating. 10 minutes after they'd landed on Pandora you could tell how the story would end and who would do what to bring about that end.  The only thing was Cameron dragged the story out far longer than I had in my mind.  This film was way too long.

The awe of the effects kept me interested a little bit but not enough.  Yes the technical achievements were amazing.  But I'm not a fan of effects.  Surely to put such a huge effort and so much money into effects and so little into the plot is madness.  If the plot had been given half as much time as the CGI this film could have won everyone over.

For all it's predictability this film was never believable.

Spoilers below, rollover to highlight

Arrows beating technology beyond our own?  Come on!  The marine being moved from his own body to that of the avatar?  Give me a break!  I'm sorry this just didn't gel for me.  Neither did the 'network' of plants either.  Maybe I'm just dead inside...

End of spoilers

3 out of 5 pawprints.  This is one I doubt I'll ever see again.  I can see it's good points but they're not what I look for in my films.

Alice in Wonderland - Review

The decision was made to see this in 3D purely because it isn't showing on the IMAX in 2D.  I was dubious about the 3D version before I went in and seeing it didn't cure me of this.  I can't see how the 3D added to the film at all.  It took me out of the film in parts, where it was slightly disconcerting.  I'd also rather not have to wear a pair of huge glasses that dozens of other people have had on.  I know nothing about the differences between filming in 3D and 'retro-fitting'.  All I know is that if I saw this film again I would make for a 2D screen.

Rant over, I actually quite enjoyed the rest of the film.  I was disappointed by the lack of Burton's usual style of title sequence.  These were hardly noticeable.  I was looking forward to something much more inspiring.

The cast did a great job.  Both the physical actors and the voice actors.  I was glad they had cast someone I hadn't come across before as Alice.  She was instantly Alice, not someone from another role.  Helena Bonham-Carter was far too Queenie-like for my liking.  It probably worked very well for an audience too young to have seen Miranda Richardson's original in Blackadder.  It felt too much like theft to me though.  Especially as HBC is a highly competent actress who is capable of crafting her own character.  I can see how the role worked in the story though.  Matt Lucas being included in the cast didn't fill me with glee.  He did his usual kinda thing.  Which surprisingly worked very well.  Tweedledum and Tweedledee will never be my favourite characters but then again they are supposed to be a little annoying.  The Dormouse was bloody irritating.  It got on my nerves for most of it's screen time.  I would describe it's depiction in this film as 'a poor man's Reepicheep'.  Depp was great as the Hatter.  He had a much larger role in the film than I expected.  I was worried we were going to get a re-run of Captain Jack.  Thankfully I was very wrong.  Stephen Fry was as good as I'd expected as the Chesire Cat.  Which let's face it is the character I most wanted to see.  Unfortunately I hated the look of the cat.  His lines were great.  The effects they used for him were great.  Even his expressions were great.  Why oh why did they have to give him green stripes?

I liked the update on the original story.  Although nothing can improve on the book I really enjoyed this film.  It's not my favourite Burton film and will never be at the top of any of my lists but it was good fun.  One of the final scenes didn't really work for me.  It just didn't sit right at all but as it was such a small part of it I can get over it.

3.5 pawprints.  It lost one for the annoying 3D but it gained half back due to it containing monkeys :-)