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Plot coherency: *
Visual loveliness: *****
Emotional impact: ***********
Review is as non-spoilery as possible, but viewer discretion is still advised.
I did not expect this movie to be good. A lot of people I know panned it-- people, not reviewers. However, this movie had earned itself a place on my favorites list by the time it hit the 30 minute mark. Considering that it's a visually lovely two and a half hours, that's not a small feat.
To be perfectly fair, the plot had holes I could drive a truck through-- okay. While towing Pluto. Without scraping the sides. I can easily see how for some people this could be a deal-breaker; if you spend all your time sneering at the implausability of it all, you miss the emotional impact and write the movie off as eye-candy. This is something I consider a crying shame. Despite the story's continuity errors and illogical leaps of logic, not to mention a truly bizzare mixture of tech levels, the characters are wonderfully compelling and the story is, emotionally, extremely satisfying.
Visually, this film is utterly staggering. With the richness of detail charicteristic of Weta, the world is entirely and immediately believable, despite some unlikely xenobiology-- including a humanoid dominant species on a planet where all other wildlife is hexipedal or radial. However, the strength of the visuals, particularly the effects done with light, manage to carry it over well, and the biology of the planet is otherwise convincingly handled.
Overall? This is going on my list of comfort movies. Works best if you can turn your brain off for two-plus hours, but generally a beautiful, feel-good movie with enough of an edge not to be sappy. Definately plan to buy it, but I also want to go see it at least one more time before it leaves theatres, because my t.v. is tiny a** and won't do it justice.
Plot coherency: *
Visual loveliness: *****
Emotional impact: ***********
Review is as non-spoilery as possible, but viewer discretion is still advised.
I did not expect this movie to be good. A lot of people I know panned it-- people, not reviewers. However, this movie had earned itself a place on my favorites list by the time it hit the 30 minute mark. Considering that it's a visually lovely two and a half hours, that's not a small feat.
To be perfectly fair, the plot had holes I could drive a truck through-- okay. While towing Pluto. Without scraping the sides. I can easily see how for some people this could be a deal-breaker; if you spend all your time sneering at the implausability of it all, you miss the emotional impact and write the movie off as eye-candy. This is something I consider a crying shame. Despite the story's continuity errors and illogical leaps of logic, not to mention a truly bizzare mixture of tech levels, the characters are wonderfully compelling and the story is, emotionally, extremely satisfying.
Visually, this film is utterly staggering. With the richness of detail charicteristic of Weta, the world is entirely and immediately believable, despite some unlikely xenobiology-- including a humanoid dominant species on a planet where all other wildlife is hexipedal or radial. However, the strength of the visuals, particularly the effects done with light, manage to carry it over well, and the biology of the planet is otherwise convincingly handled.
Overall? This is going on my list of comfort movies. Works best if you can turn your brain off for two-plus hours, but generally a beautiful, feel-good movie with enough of an edge not to be sappy. Definately plan to buy it, but I also want to go see it at least one more time before it leaves theatres, because my t.v. is tiny a** and won't do it justice.