Product Description

A reluctant hero. An epic journey. A choice between the life he left behind and the incredible new world he’s learned to call home. Return to James Cameron’s Avatar— the greatest adventure of all time. Please note: This edition of the film is not in 3D.

Versions of Avatar on Blu-ray, DVD, and Video On Demand

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #456 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Published on: 2010-04-01
• Released on: 2010-04-22
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Multiple Formats
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish, English
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 162 minutes

Amazon.com
After 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na'vi, the blue-skinned, large-eyed native people who would very much like to live their peaceful lives without the interference of the visitors. Although he's supposed to be gathering intel for the badass general (Stephen Lang) who'd like to lay waste to the planet and its inhabitants, Jake naturally begins to take a liking to the Na'vi, especially the feisty Neytiri (Zoë Saldana, whose entire performance, recorded by Cameron's complicated motion-capture system, exists as a digitally rendered Na'vi). The movie uses state-of-the-art 3D technology to plunge the viewer deep into Cameron's crazy toy box of planetary ecosystems and high-tech machinery. Maybe it's the fact that Cameron seems torn between his two loves--awesome destructive gizmos and flower-power message mongering--that makes Avatar's pursuit of its point ultimately uncertain. That, and the fact that Cameron's dialogue continues to clunk badly. If you're won over by the movie's trippy new world, the characters will be forgivable as broad, useful archetypes rather than standard-issue stereotypes, and you might be able to overlook the unsurprising central plot. (The overextended "take that, Michael Bay" final battle sequences could tax even Cameron enthusiasts, however.) It doesn't measure up to the hype (what could?) yet Avatar frequently hits a giddy delirium all its own. The film itself is our Pandora, a sensation-saturated universe only the movies could create. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

3525 of 4144 people found the following review helpful.
AVOID THIS EDITION - 20-40 minutes of new missing storyline and no special features. SPECIAL EDITION COMMING SOON!
By M. Western
***THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY***

1. A special edition likely including 20-40 minutes of additional footage is already being leaked to media for release later THIS YEAR!
2. No special features. If you are a fan, of all the discs in your collection this is the one you really want the extra stuff. It really should be amazing!
3. No 3D presentation. New technology in TVs is out this year and should enhance the home 3D experience. I don't usually care about 3D at home but things are changing. Be ready!
4. There is also news that the movie itself will be re-released shortly with the 20-40 minutes of additional content I mentioned above. Why buy the Blu if you can see it with additional content and in the best possible 3D at theaters--- then buy the special edition just a few months later?

I have to echo the comments of a previous reviewer. The studios are becoming so brazen. They released this edition and tried to explain the poor accoutrements by saying "they wanted to save all the space on the disc for the best possible presentation". Are you kidding me? Bust out the extra discs already! Offering this bare bones BR right before re-releasing the movie with additional footage was also a classless act that spits in consumer's faces. Just rent the movie or see the enhanced version in theaters. It will tide you over until the Special Edition comes out.

Lastly, there are plenty of people adding comments that you shouldn't wait for 3D because the home experience with 3D is lack luster or most people don't have the new 3D TVs. That's partly true, however...
IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT 3D! The lack of additional storyline, missing special features and blatent disregard for consumers (in an economic downturn) are what make this a bad deal. There is new home theater technology out this year that should enhance the home 3D experience. Your home theater will catch up. People who are excited about this movie should be standing together against a poor release offering, especially when there are terrific alternatives to hold us over.

Wait a few months and get a much superior release for similar money.

1126 of 1351 people found the following review helpful.
BE CAREFUL!!!!!
By Copella2010
As it turns out, Fox has craftily decided to milk "Avatar" for every possibly penny, since the debut DVD/blu-ray will be a bare-bones release -- and it will be one of the first major films to appear in home video without any of the regular special features, such as theatrical trailers, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage.

If you want all the extra features, you'll have to wait until November, when you can buy a second "Avatar" DVD, currently titled the "Ultimate Edition," which will include all of the fancy stuff. And then, if you have really deep pockets, you can come back to the video store next year and buy a third, 3-D, version of the DVD.

So in a nut shell... This Blu-ray/DVD release JUST has the movie on it! NOTHING ELSE. NO EXTRAS, NO TRAILERS, NO SPECIAL FEATURES.

405 of 519 people found the following review helpful.
Blu-Ray Review (not a review of the movie!)
By the-movie-guy
Five months after "Avatar" received its initial big-screen release, we are presented with its first release to the home-video market. Much has been written about the double and triple-dipping. We know this is a bare-bones release, devoid of ANY extras, special features, deleted scenes, commentary, etc. We know the studio is releasing a more complete edition of the film on Blu-ray in November 2010, and a 3D version at some point in the future. We've all heard the complaints from those who think this stripped-down version is merely a cash grab. So now Earth Day has arrived, and "Avatar" has been released in this bare-bones edition. For those who, like me, love the movie, and want to have something on-hand to enjoy until the more thorough release arrives in the months to come, is this worth it?

In a word, yes.

This Blu-ray is the movie only, with some basic search/bookmarking features and subtitles. There is no commentary, no trailers, no previews, no annoying advertisements that play before the movie starts. It's the movie only, much like the way DVDs presented films back in the early days of that format. You insert the disc (the disc loads and starts playing automatically in my Sony BDP-S570). There will be a moment or two of a blank screen as the disc loads. You'll see a brief message informing you to update your player's firmware if you experience any problems playing the disc. Then you'll see a piracy warning (thankfully it's brief), and then a basic Fox Home Video title screen. Now you come to a nicely animated menu screen, which gives you options to play the film, set up your options or search for a scene or bookmark.

The disc has an advanced feature which allows you to resume playback if you power your player off during the film playback. This option comes on automatically when you turn on the player again, even if you've removed the disc and reinserted it.

The video quality is astonishing, easily besting last month's Toy Story and Toy Story 2 releases from Disney. You have a full 16x9 (1.78:1) picture, which is how I remember the film being presented in RealD and Dolby 3D Digital in theatres. Colors are crisp and bright. No visible artifacts.

Audio is superb, a quite robust mix that will engage fully your 7.1 system.

This is the finest-looking Blu-ray of the year, thus far, and the best way to enjoy the film until the next more complete edition is released in November. Is this stripped-down edition a cash grab? I don't think so. I appreciate having a bare-bones release. It's refreshing to have a disc that is the movie only. Who needs all the junk that we get on most Blu-ray discs? Yes a making-of documentary would be fun, but is there anyone who loves the movie who doesn't already have some idea of the craft that went into making it?

This release is for people who love the movie, end of story. If you love the movie, you'll appreciate having such a wonderful, flawless transfer to enjoy in high definition at home. If you don't love the movie, you will find things to quibble about such as the lack of extras. I, for one, am happy with what we've got now.