WOMEN AND CHILDREN LAST ('AVE A CIGAR)

You can kind of hear the kid saying "What about, 'A Whole New World Awaits'?" ... "What, you mean like... Aladdin?" ... "Oh yeah."

I like this poster for a few reasons. One of them is not that is says "From The Director of 'Titanic'" (the trailers just remind you he made Terminator 1 & 2). But I've finally decided to manually inhibit my anti-hype feedback loop on Avatar. The image above is part of the key. What they're saying here is "Listen, this isn't, like, that Beowulf 3-D deal... this is that new shit." The beauty of course is in the eye of the blue beholder, an eye that shows a true-to-life reflection of her environment. James Cameron has marked this aspect of the art direction as one of the "revolutionary" components to the film (another assumedly being a 3-D experience that actually pays off in spades).
And it's not that I'm on board for a computer animated revolution; Anyone who knows me knows I despise the stultifying effect CGI invariably has on me -- I just like to see real shit blown up! But I'm an idiot, and I just can't help respecting this kind of balls-to-the-wall, big-budget aplomb. It would seem that Jimmy likes to sit at increasingly high-stakes winner tables. And why not? James Cameron is like the Johnny Chan of Hollywood high-rollers.

This poster holds the other, related part of the key to my hype-encrusted heart: It's not about humans and green screens/smoke and mirrors anymore... it's about integration. At least I think that's what they're saying. They've rather elegantly shown you the transformation element of the storyline, while calmly heralding a new age of animation.

Jesus I should be paid for this.