BAD LUCK FOR JAMES CAMERON 

I’m a dog man.  I like cats, birds, fish and other animals but at heart I’m a dog man.  Of course there are some women that believe all men are dogs at heart - but that’s another story.  You may wonder where I’m going with this and what it has to do with animation – well, I’ll tell you but let me prattle a bit.

When the NFL reinstated Michael Vick I stopped watching professional football.  Cold turkey!  I just wrote a letter to the President of the NFL explaining that I was done with him and his league.  I wanted him to know what trouble he was in, as I would not be sitting in front of a television watching his product encased in hours of beer, automobile and men’s deodorant commercials any longer.  As he neither replied nor corrected the offense I had to find other things to do with my leisure time.

So last week on super bowl Sunday I went finally to see Avatar.  My wife had been after me to take her, and as I had already written about it several weeks before (yes, I did mention I hadn’t see it), I thought what the heck I might as well suck it up and join the rest of mankind making James Cameron a billionaire.

So we head off to the IMAX Theater in Burbank, super bowl Sunday morning and I can’t believe it, I get in for eleven bucks!  One bag of medium popcorn for another 6 bucks and we get great seats in the back row with no one even near.  I’m in for less than thirty dollars and my wife is happy.  I’m on top of the world.  Smugly I think, ' Today Jimmy Cameron is only going to get a small bite of me!’

Well I did actually watch the film and I did actually like it.  What could I possibly say that hasn’t been said by many others that like reviewing films far better than me?  

However I will go as far as to say that I liked the story a bit more than I thought I would and was a drop less impressed with the 3-D than I might have been.  A lot of work went into making this film and like Cameron’s other big films, it delivers in a big pop culture way.  No one ooed or awed during the screening but everyone left with a smile – Happy endings do that.   This film may well become a major landmark but it will be because it acted as a catalyst for other works to follow, not because of a great script or a insightful narrative vision.  Think Jazz Singer.  It certainly is worth seeing and enjoying but the amount of dollars it will end up grossing, no matter how mind boggling, will never make up for a nice but predictable story even when wed to a visual delight.

And then to top it off, although I don’t really think it was due to me and the wife getting in for only eleven bucks, the film finally fell from first in weekend box office earnings.  I've been told that I'm a jinx - who knows, maybe I am?

First the NFL and then James Cameron.  Gee, whom do I take down next?