December 16, 2022

So, I went with a friend to the Air & Space Museum in Chantilly Virginia. I hadn’t been there in over a decade, and I’d never seen a movie there. It was an interesting experience as my friend will attest, haha. There were some technical difficulties that were eventually fixed. And we watched the first little chunk of it not in 3D because of that. But it was great the rest of the time. though our seats were, uh, a smidge close to the rather massive screen, so, there’s that. But even so, it was still enjoyable. But I certainly want to see it again with a proper view.

I can’t believe it’s been so long since the first Avatar movie. This was the second of 5 parts. If this does well, James Cameron will go through with the other movies. I, for one, hope that they get made because I missed Pandora and the Na’vi culture.

It starts with a little catch up of what’s happened since the last movie and then dives (pun not intended but welcomed) straight into things. It is a 3 hour movie, but honestly it didn’t feel like it. Even with the couple interruptions. Perhaps since it’s been so long since we’ve been in this world that I just enjoyed sitting in it all. But also I think the story was well-paced. Maybe a couple droplets of slow scenes, but the beauty of the visuals really made me not care about the length of the movie.

There are a few plots to follow and I enjoyed them all. I felt for the characters and the situations they were put through, both good and bad. The kids pull on the heart-strings, as do the animals.

The acting was, of course, fantastic. It was nice to see most of the cast return, you know, other than the various deaths in the first movie. But everyone just slipped back into their roles. I do regret not rewatching the first one again before watching this but I just forgot to.

And of course, the visuals. The 3D aspect certainly enhanced the viewing. They already looked amazing, but man, I had forgotten how great 3D can be when done in a movie that warrants it. I would definitely suggest seeing it in 3D. The colors and VFX just pop and look so real. The creature designs for this movie were brilliant as before. So many animals I would love to interact with. And since this movie was water-based, there were just so very many animals to see and with the visuals of underwater views, it just all flowed into one another to make visual glory.

The main plot was a bit straightforward, but every moment of it was deserved I think. I loved meeting the new characters and the adventures that were had. This movie could certainly be watched on its own and stand alone nicely. But, since it is just part of a larger story, there are threads that will be explored in the next movies. And I am certainly hoping to be able to see what comes of them.

There are some times during this all where you just get caught up in everything going on and you can’t help but feel for characters and there were a couple moments where I teared up. The scenes were brilliantly acted.

I really enjoyed this movie, and I really hope that it’ll do well enough that the other sequels will be made. Though I suppose Avatar 3 was filmed at the same time as this one (in 2017) so it’s probably almost done. And apparently a lot of Avatar 4 has been filmed already. So, we’ll see.

Mid-credit scenes: No

End-credit scenes: No

But, the way it ends, you will want the next movie asap.