Better never than late?

Over the weekend I was one of the last people in the world to see Avatar. It took me this long to drag my feet into the cinema because there was nothing in the marketing of this movie that piqued my interest, but then a handful of friends whose opinions I trust started blurting out sentences like:

"The 3-D is amazing."

"I didn't think I'd like it either, but it was really good."

"It's just one of those movies you have to see."

The reviews I read were glowing, then it won a couple of biggies at the Golden Globes and soon after it overtook Titanic's sales record at the box office. Avatar's CV was starting to look mighty impressive.

Given that I had scoffed at all the losers who had gotten into a frenzy over the Twilight saga only to then lead the charge after reading the whole series, I thought perhaps I should give Avatar a shot in the hope that I'd be pleasantly surprised.

So, at 10.20pm on Saturday Joel and I donned our 3D glasses and settled in for 2 hours and 42 minutes of blue folks prancing around a lovely forest environment. Yes, it was very pretty, but oh my word did it drag on.

I had been warned that the script and acting were secondary to the groundbreaking visuals, but I didn't expect them to also be overshadowed by my banana choc-top. Seriously, "unobtainium"? I have not the words.

Still, as mentioned, this movie was never going to be about the incredible storyline, it was always destined to wow audiences thanks to its revolutionary special effects. Tell you what, there's nothing like the whole world claiming something as a visual masterpiece to really set your expectations high.

Too high, as it turned out.

Perhaps if I'd seen Avatar during its opening weekend I might have been blown away by what unfolded before my eyes. As it was, I walked away feeling like, yes, it looked rather amazing, but in all honesty I felt much the same about Up (which, incidentally, provided a much more enjoyable movie-going experience).

I also expected more from the 3D. The last movie I saw that employed this technology was G-Force, which, now that I think about it, was only marginally more painful than Avatar. Who'd have thought? Anyway, the 3D in G-Force really popped out of the screen, you know? Now I'm no expert in dimensions, but it felt to me like Avatar's 3D went back into the screen as opposed to popping out from the screen, and while it was cool it wasn't quite cool enough.

It probably didn't help that I struggled to adjust to the 3D for the first fifteen minutes, and that left me feeling a bit queasy for the following hour or so.

Speaking of hours and minutes, shall we discuss how long this movie is? I actually think that's where some of my grouchiness about Avatar comes from. I probably just got used to all the fancy schmancy stuff because it felt like I spent half a lifetime looking at it. In fact, had it been, say, forty-five minutes shorter I think I might have actually enjoyed Avatar. There's a lot to be said about leaving your audience wanting more...

In summary, having seen Avatar I now know that (contrary to popular belief) it is not a movie that OMG U HAV 2 C B4 U DY. Well, it's not a movie that omg I hav 2 c b4 I dy at least (but I did anyway, so that's academic really).

Right, that's me. I expected too much and was then disappointed - I'm sure there's a life lesson in there somewhere. What did you think of Avatar, and what other movies do you reckon failed to deliver after a whole lot of hype?

PS: If you are one of those slightly crazed movie nerds who never sleeps and thinks that Avatar is the next Star Wars or whatever, please don't hunt me down and kill me - I was only joking, I loved every second... all 9720 of them.

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