DVD reviews: Avatar

Since it’s now illegal to release media in anything other than 3D, we no longer have to concern ourselves with distractions like character or plot. But when you strip off the glasses and step into the cold, hard, 2D light of day, you’re forced to concentrate on the basic elements of filmmaking. In the case of Avatar, that mightn’t be such a good thing.

There’s no point denying that the film’s hammier than a Yuletide meat raffle; Avatar didn’t win Best Picture because it didn’t deserve to.

But honestly, it seems unfair to expect high art of space opera. Despite all the sickly crystal-rubbing tree deification and naà¯f stereotyping of the hot indigenous Smurfpeople, the script isn’t as terrible as it might have been.

Director James Cameron was also astute in his casting, particularly in Zoe Saldana, who performs admirably even with the significant disadvantage of being a blue cartoon cat.

What you really wanted to watch was some sweet monsters getting slammed by huge robots in super-high resolution, and in this respect Avatar is a masterpiece.

WETA Digital’s animation is actually just as startling in boring old 2D, and there’s a lot of it. The incredible attention to detail is easier to perceive on the Blu-ray release; in fact, it’s probably superior to seeing Avatar in 3D.

If you were one of those few people who caught the film in the cinema, you’ll notice subtle marks and colourings throughout Cameron’s richly imagined world that you simply couldn’t see before. While everything is hyper-saturated, Pandora’s environment is a relatively convincing one. It’s nigh on impossible to distinguish lighting on physical objects from imaginary ones.

As you might expect, the Avatar Blu-ray 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer is impressive. Indeed, it’s probably the best-looking transfer yet seen. The image is intensely detailed and colours are rich without any hint of compression or stray objects – expect this disc to be playing wherever someone’s trying to flog TVs.

But be warned: Cameron hasn’t with finished Avatar. There’s an extended version in the works right now and due for release later in the year with at least six extra minutes of footage, while a 3D Blu-ray is scheduled for sometime in 2011. TG