REVIEW TUESDAY: In the cinema - AVATAR

One of the great things about "date night" after you're married is that you don't have to deal with those insufferable romantic comedies and overpriced restaurants. Last Friday night Mrs. Bax0jayz and I grabbed burgers from Ruby Tuesdays and then caught the 9:45 showing of AVATAR in "Real 3d."

My biggest concerns walking into the movie were as follows:

• 3d movies tend to be cheesy with cheap thrills.
• Reviews say the story was pretty thin.

That aside, I walked into the movie with little to no expectations at all. When it was all over, I can see what all the raves were about.

Basically, humans arrive on the planet Pandora to mine a mineral appropriately named "unobtainium." Unfortunately there is a a native species of humanoids that live there called Na'vi who happen to live in a giant tree over the richest deposits of the mineral. Humans figured out how to create Navi and implant their own thoughts into the bodies and control them. These creatures were developed in hopes of gaining the trust of the Na'vi and negotiating for the land they lived on. The bulk of the movie is about how one of these engineered aliens is taken in by the tribe and taught to be one of the Navi. Then, of course the humans attack. The rest of the movie is wild action, good vs evil, greed vs generosity, imperialism vs self-preservation, etc. There is also a serious theological undertone to the whole movie as well.

I have to hand it to James Cameron, he went for a fun movie rather than cheap thrills with the 3D effects. However, I'm sure that the increased ticket price due to the 3D glasses has a lot to do with the massive numbers raked in. The film costs nearly 50% just to see, so it'll add up the numbers fast.

It's a really fun movie, definitely worth seeing on the big screen. There is already talk that the DVD will be extended by at least 30 minutes including a cgi love scene, which sounds a little fubar to me, but a wet dream come true for some of the Avatar geeks out there. Of course, with all the money this brought in, there is talk if a sequel and maybe even a trilogy. We'll see. If they keep it good, people will see it.