He's actually Jing Jing, one of the five mascots from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
I wonder if there's a planet out there in a galaxy far, far away with a population of pandas like Jing Jing. Then maybe, I can go into that claustrophobic box and sleep away while mentally controlling my panda avatar on that distant planet called Pandaro.
OK, you must have guessed by now this post is not so much about my panda avatar as it is about Avatar the movie directed by James Cameron. Haha!
Of course, in the movie, it's Pandora, not Pandaro and the natives of the planet is called Na'vi, not Panda!
It is this movie Avatar that made this three-word phrase trendy nowadays. Which 3 words?
"I see you".
With Star Wars it was "May The Force Be With You". That phrase was so famous it's already a classic.
Now with Avatar, it's "I see you".
To those of you who have not watched this movie, you will not know what the heck I am talking about. So go watch it and come back here later and tell me whether you see me or not, OK?
Before you watch the movie however, you may want to watch this trailer. (If you still want to continue reading, be aware of spoilers ahead!)
Anyway, I went to watch this movie on Christmas eve last year without bothering to book or buy the tickets online. So when I went to GSC 1Utama in the morning thinking I was early enough to buy tickets for the night show, I was stunned to see a long queue and the monitors showing tickets were limited and selling fast!
I sure as hell was not going to queue up there, so I walked over to the old wing of 1Utama and tried my luck at TGV cinema. Surprise! There was no queue there, in fact hardly any people there at all! I quickly bought myself 3 tickets for Avatar priced at only RM9 per seat. Too bad they did not have Avatar in 3D, but I guess I was lucky to even get the tickets!
Well, what do you know! After years of being "pampered" in GSC, I found it quite uncomfortable watching a movie in TGV. For one, the seats did not have head rests (my poor neck!) and secondly, they were a little tight! Mind you, I am not fat!
I still remember a decade ago, TGV was like "luxury" to me! Now it has been replaced by GSC. No wonder no one goes TGV anymore! But wait, I have found out an even better version that makes GSC pales in comparison. It's GSC Signature - the crème de la crème of cinemas! Of course, the tickets there are sold at a premium price too.
So you can imagine how my friend who ever so often goes to GSC Signature for her movies, complained about TGV that night! After 3 hours of Avatar, she came out with a backache! Haha! Obviously, she's a little weak as she is not even 25 yet!
I will not go into details about Avatar the movie. If you want to know more and are not afraid of spoilers, go read the reviews here, here and here.
Suffice to say, I love the movie! It's easily my top 3 movies last year and possibly this year, although I really hope not!
I would say James Cameron did it again! I enjoyed his movies from Terminator to Aliens, to Titanic and now Avatar.
Sam Worthington is definitely the next big action movie star! As Jake Sully, he puts in enough emotional depth into his character. You can't say the same for many other big action movie stars out there!
There must be a reason why James Cameron hired Sigourney Weaver again. As the famous heroine in his movie Alien, Sigourney came across as a strong woman in the face of fear. And I can tell you, she was excellent in Avatar.
I like the way her character Dr. Grace Augustine stood up to the sleazy entrepreneur Parker Selfridge (played by Giovanni Ribisi) and the aggressive Col. Miles Quaritch (played by Stephen Lang).
There's one scene where she was about to die (oops! sorry for this spoiler! If you have not watched this movie, stop right here!) and she saw the Tree Of Souls (Vitraya Ramunon) and blurted out that she would like to collect some samples. That's really funny because it was so unexpected!
I thought Zoe Saldana did a perfect job with her Neytiri character. I liked the myriad of expressions on her face - she was good! In fact, Neytiri was such a central character in the movie without an actress of her capability, the movie would surely suffer.
But the biggest star in the movie had to be the CGI and special effects, without which, Avatar would not be raking in the millions by now. If there were any imperfections in the plotlines and cheesiness in the dialogues, they were quickly forgotten as the impressive CGI effects took over.
I liked this movie so much I was a little disappointed for not being able to watch it in 3D. So guess what? I went for a second round just for the 3D!
After "suffering" in TGV, I went to GSC Signature for the 3D version a few days later. A good movie of almost 3 hours long must be watched in complete comfort and luxury, don't you agree? Who cares about the price? It's Avatar 3D!
Here's a photo of the huge Avatar poster I snapped at GSC Signature before the I watched the movie. I felt like taking it home with me as souvenir. Haha!
Amazingly, I found that I prefer Avatar without 3D! It was indeed a surprise, and I still do not know why, but I found the 3D was not as sharp and clear as the one without 3D. In case you are wondering, yes, I was wearing that 3D specs!
Oh well, maybe I should watch it the 3rd time on IMAX 3D! But is there any IMAX 3D in KL? I think the one in Berjaya Times Square is closed for some time already, am I right? Maybe I should just fly over to Bangkok and watch IMAX 3D at Siam Paragon!
Anyway, I still enjoyed watching it the second time. Avatar reminds me of Dances With Wolves, Pocahontas and My Neighbour Totoro all combined. The storyline may not be very original, but it was meaningful enough to drive home some powerful messages.
Among them, is the environmental issues for example, to save the trees and whatever that are left for us to save, and to leave the indigenous people as they are. Avatar also hinted or rather in a way criticized US' attempt at colonizing Iraq and perhaps in another way also reminded us of the oppression of the American Natives.
Very powerful messages indeed and I am glad James Cameron used Avatar as a tool to spread these messages.
I was also intrigued by the issues of energy and the lifeforce as explained by Neytiri to Jake. Energy cannot be destroyed - they only change forms. And we are all connected to the life force. How profound! If humans understand this, they will stop destroying one another and they will start to respect all living beings!
I am rating Avatar 4.5 out of 5.
Made at the cost of US$300 million, Avatar had already earned back that amount and had even surpassed the US$1 billion mark worldwide according to the latest news!
If you can only watch one movie this year, Avatar is the one!
With that, I would like to leave you with this beautiful song "I See You" from the Avatar movie soundtrack, sung by Leona Lewis. Enjoy!!
“I See You” (Theme from Avatar) by Leona Lewis in HD
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