Avatar: Departure to Pandora - Special Edition

After a worldwide box office result of almost 3 billion dollars and millions of DVDs and Blu-Rays sold, the cash cow "Avatar" is not yet milked empty. Before an extensive special edition will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray for the Christmas business, the film may once again flush a few million dollars into James Cameron's bulging coffers in the cinema. This is to be achieved with an extended version of the 3D success, which offers fans just under 8 minutes of new material.

A detailed review and synopsis shall be dispensed with here. In this review, only the extended version will be discussed and the question: are 8 minutes worth it to leave money at the box office again?

A good question, but it has now been announced that the film on the upcoming Special Edition DVD or Blu-Ray will not only have the 8 minutes more to offer presented here, but will be a whole 16 minutes longer than the original version. On top of that, there will be just under 45 minutes of (unedited) cut scenes. So what justifies going to the cinema again for the Special Edition?

Here are two reasons. Reason one is that the new scenes are really worth watching - although most of the rather brief moments will probably only be noticed by very loyal fans. But there are also some longer new moments, like a visit to the now run-down school where the Na`vi have been taught the human language. Or a Pandora-esque buffalo hunt of sorts. And finally, there's a very emotional new scene at the end of the film, which does drag out the conclusion a bit, stalling what is in itself a good narrative. But it's very nice that Cameron still decided to include this scene back in the film.

The second reason to see the Special Edition in theaters is the simple fact that the film really only works as well on the big screen and in real 3D. Even if there is a 3D Blu-Ray variant someday, it won't compare to the viewing experience "Avatar" offers in theaters.

So if you loved the film in its previous version, you should definitely enjoy this new, slightly longer version again in theaters. Because even if the obvious weak points of the film do not disappear with more material, a pleasure for the eye is the fabulous world of Pandora again and again. Therefore, even if it's just a marketing stunt to pull even more money out of fans' pockets, this version of "Avatar: Departure to Pandora" is also absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp