Like most of the movie going populace I was intrigued by James Cameron’s latest offering. It not only marked his first major release since the monumental award winning and box office smashing flick, Titanic, (yeah, I know he did those undersea documentaries but I’m not counting those so “nyah”) but also his return to the kingdom of sci-fantasy. This is the man that brought us The Terminator, T2: Judgment Day and Aliens. When Cameron announces he’s doing a science fiction picture it raises a whole lot of hackles on the back of a whole lot of necks.

But remember when George Lucas came back from his “retirement” to resurrect the Star Wars film series? Remember how flawless and exquisite those prequels were? Remember Jar Jar Binks? Mr. Lucas tried to get back on his glory horse and many would argue that he was sitting in the saddle backwards. Would Mr. Cameron meet a different fate or also stumble off his “geek god” pedestal?

Before I give my verdict let me tell you about Avatar. I know, that suspense stuff is a pain in the butt but amazingly it still works for American Idol and Dancing With The Stars. But anyway…..

The skinny is that the planet, Pandora, is rich with a valuable ore called “unobtanium”. It fetches a hefty price back on Earth so the demand is high for the stuff. The trouble is that an indigenous race called the Na’vi won’t let the humans mine the unobtanium.

So, the corporation has partnered with science to create Na’vi avatars that will allow humans to control an artificially engineered Na’vi clone through a neural interface. Think the robot doubles in Surrogates except the Na’vi avatars are totally organic. The “driver” experiences everything through his avatar. Every sight, smell, kiss and punch that the avatar feels so too does the human counterpart. The avatars are used to help establish a positive relationship with the rightfully suspicious Na’vi. While the scientists are thrilled with this new culture the suits are growing restless and impatient. When science lags the military is called in to pick up the slack and get the natives to give in to the corporation’s demands or get out of the way of the bulldozers.