Avatar | ★★★★★★★★

Once again Ann and I were one of the last people in Western Civilization to view a blockbuster movie. In our defense Avatar has been on our Netflix queue for a long time. Most of you probably viewed it last year and can barely remember what Avatar was all about.. to refresh your memory here is the Netflix descriptor:

Disabled Marine Jake Sully travels to planet Pandora to become an avatar, ingratiate himself with the natives and help Americans mine lucrative unobtainium. But he finds himself in an interstellar conflict after falling for Na'vi warrior Neytiri.

It will be no surprise for those of you who know me as "Bob the sci-fi guy" that I really liked the movie! I liked the CGI special effects but was surprised to find the story so engaging.. it reminded me a bit of "Dances with Wolves" - the Kevin Costner flick that told of a man who was changed as he lived amongst Native Americans. I liked the spiritual part of the story as well.. even though it was much different than my spiritual story I liked that the Na'vi (the native Pandorans) understood that there was something bigger than themselves.

I did think that the corporate quest for unobtainium was a bit contrived.. on the other had.. who would have guessed that, just a few months after this movie's release, the Gulf of Mexico would be black with corporate oil.. like the quest for oil on our planet the quest for unobtainium on Pandora had a very destructive result.. both speak to the ill effects of greed on society and the planet. On a scale of 10 I give this movie ★★★★★★★★