Are You Really THAT Excited to See Avatar?

That is truly the question. Thus far, I've read several reviews (Well, if you call Roger Ebert and a few others "several") and nearly all of them compare their experience in seeing Avatar as one they can compare to seeing Star Wars for the first time. Really? Star Wars?

What I seem to recall about Star Wars (I was 4 a the time, so when I say "recall" I mean "asked my dad") was that there was a mixture of both anticipation and "What's this?" I know there are some similar ideas around the opening of Avatar, but let's not forget who's directing it. James Cameron is known as the man who started the tur-men-ay-tor (Um...Terminator...in case you didn't get the joke). He directed a very competent, and very scary sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien. He also holds the title of "King of the World!" as an Oscar winner who's film Titanic was also the highest grossing film of all time. So, wouldn't you say we know a little more about Cameron and what he's capable of than we did about George Lucas?

When Star Wars came out we knew George directed a successful, but small film called American Graffiti (American Graffiti received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director). Before that, well George directed...Um...Uh...Oh yeah: THX 1138. THX 1138 received one Saturn Award nomination in 2005. Yeah, I said it: 2005. That's 34 years later, and that was for "Best DVD Classic Film Release". What?!? Back in the day THX 1138 got a lot of yawns. In fact, it was so unsuccessful George named a new quality in sound entertainment THX. I guess he felt something successful needed to come from that crappy idea.

So let's look at the scorecard: Cameron has a lot of star quality based on a lifetime body of work and expectations that come with that work versus George who had...Well...Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. You get the point.

Let's be fair people. You know that you're excited to see a potentially revolutionary film when it comes to CGI technology and 3D. However, you have to admit that what Cameron has done is almost expected during this day and age. What George did wasn't expected. We didn't really know him like we know Cameron. We were totally shocked by what we saw. It was unreal for its time.

But! And there is a but: Both Cameron and George are a couple of cocky guys. They do have THAT in common, in the very least.

Enjoy Avatar as I'm sure I will. In fact, I'm sure I'll enjoy it more than Star Wars: Episodes I, II, and III. Won't you? I guess the real question is who won't enjoy it more than those films. He he. Sorry George.