We don’t get out that much but my husband and I went to see Avatar last night.  It’s not my usual (romantic comedy) fare, but I thought we should see what all the buzz was about.  And the chance to see something in 3D and on an IMAX big screen was too good to miss.

It’s a visually stunning film that just starts.  None of the usual title scenes with the names of actors, no lion roaring at the beginning to tell you that the movie is about to begin.  In fact I thought at first we were watching a trailer for some other movie.  Because all the bits I’d seen on TV were of the blue Avatars and this was some sort of space craft with real actors.  But eventually I figured out I was watching the feature film.

Many things in the movie reminded me (and my husband) of other events or movies.   When the huge tree which had been their home came crashing down in flames after being attacked from the air, I saw horror in the Avatars’ eyes just like the horror in New Yorkers’ eyes when the twin towers fell.  When they rode their horses into battle I saw just a bit of Brave Heart and when the old leader of the clan handed off his bow and arrow to his daughter as he lay dying I saw a piece of Lion King.  My husband remarked after that some of it reminded him of the Custer’s last stand, when individual bands of Indians gathered together to fight.

It was a visually stunning film.  But I knew I was going to be in trouble early on when the main characters ran and jumped and fell among the jungle and I felt the first twinges of motion sickness.  I don’t know if it was the 3D or the IMAX experience, or maybe all that in combination with lots of flying off of cliffs and along waterfalls, but I was swallowing hard and staring at my feet, hand pressed against my mouth, silently counting how many laps I would have to climb over in a rush for the bathroom during most of the movie. And it’s a long movie.

In the end I listened to it with brief peeks from under my eyelashes.  Nice music!  I got the story, enjoyed what small pieces of it I got to see and would recommend anyone without a propensity to motion sickness to go see it.

And the rest of you?  Maybe take a Dramamine first!