Avatar - 16 minute preview

Let's peel away the hype - there are many of us that would like Avatar to be a genuine breath of fresh air after a year of deeply mediocre blockbusters. 

So, the footage in full 3D at London's BFI Imax. The scene was set in a nutshell when Mr Cameron appears on screen to tell us, what you will probably already have heard, that Jake Sully is a wheel chair bound marine who volunteers to be transported to an alien planet called Pandora where his mind and faculties will be uploaded into a fully functioning Alien/human hybrid - his avatar.

Let me give you a quick impression of the scenes we saw, it would be unfair to draw further conclusions about plot or character arcs after these morsels:

Jake arrives on Pandora. A grizzled and visibly scared commando type warns a room of soldiers that his job is to keep them alive in a hostile environment where every creature will try and eat them and the indigenous population, the Na'vi will hunt them with poisonous arrows.

Jake prepares to transfer into his avatar body - blue, feline, with huge eyes, looks eight foot tall. Various scientists use fantastical floating computer equipment that looks really cool in 3D.

Jake 'transfers'. His Avatar stands up. He's huge and gangly and you can really see expressions on his face and the 3D works superbly to frame him against two puny human scientists as he bumbles around the lab.

Jake out in the Pandoran jungle. The scenery is alive with alien flora and fauna. Another avatar creature is with him - we know this because it has the voice of Sigourney Weaver's scientist. He faces off with a huge creature which looks like a rhino but has amazingly colourful peacock-like protrusions. Jake stands his ground only to find an even more elaborate creature behind him.

Action chase sequence which is somewhat blurred because of the 3D, I don't mean literally blurred but brain couldn't make out the details any more.

A gaggle of creatures are about to seriously harm Jake (in Avatar form still) but he is saved by a Na'vi [who is called Neytiri we understand] who uses her bow and arrow and a series of nifty attacks to ward off the threat.

Jake and Neytiri walk on a mountain ledge, next to a waterfall. They arrive at a landing which is eye-boggling full of shifting creatures and wildlife. Jake is egged on by a group of Na'vi to try and tame a dragon/pterodactyl creature next to a precipitous ledge. When the camera pulls back the detail on screen is fantastical but.....

My overall impression is that Avatar looks great, in fact it looks beautiful; the detail and depth of field are clearly pioneering. However the types of creatures and the setting are not. The marauding animal-types, flying beasts and even the natives remind you of Lord of the Rings and the second and third Star Wars prequels. You get the impression of seeing visuals that you have never witnessed before but your brain still tells you it's CGI. The design of the Na'vi: when you get used to them they look impressive but some will make jibes about giant Smurfs or Thundercats, that's for sure. The music was great and hinted at dark deeds to come (we only saw footage from the first act). The other aspect which is clear is that emotion is really registered on the face of the CGI characters, this could make the story more involving in the full version. It comes down to that, if the storyline can match the eye-popping level of detail and gorgeous visuals here, then they'll be no limits to its success.

AVATAR opens in cinemas everywhere December 18, 2009.