James Cameron's latest film has probably now been written about more times than I've eaten Linda McCartney pies. However, my tuppence worth on this 'Dances with Wolves meets Aliens meets the Smurfs' film is going to look at the way the Na'vi tribe treated the animals that they shared planet Pandora with. I'm grimacing with self-restraint to stop myself calling them Pan's People.
You know what? I've decided to up-sticks to Pandora. I've put the house in Musselburgh up for sale, given away the TV, computer, sega master system and complete collection of Carry On Films, bought a little blue suit for the cat and have decided to go and live with the Na'vi people. Who cares if the air isn't compatible with our lungs - neither is it here on earth at times.
I read in the paper recently that cases of depression have been reported from people that have watched Avatar. This melancholia is not a result of, as was the case with a film like 'Police Academy 5' from people feeling that two precious hours had been stolen from their life, but because those two hours in the cinema offered a vision of a way of life that seemed very distant from the reality outside the movie theatre.
The Na'vi treatment of animals was for me one of the key elements in building a picture of a culture that placed respect and compassion at the top of the list of their must-have personality traits. Theirs is a community where the power of the group is nourished by the collective power of each individual and this physical and metaphysical cooperation has led to a sense of togetherness with all living entities.
When the Hometree was blasted to the ground by the sadistic Colonel Quaritch, the Na'vi and the audience knew that it was more than a bunch of cells that had been destroyed. This tree and the animals within it were part of their shared heritage and collective memory.
Jake Sully was a Marine and knew how to kill or at least he thought he did. It was only when out hunting with love interest Neytiri that he understood how to make a clean kill, to take the pain away as quickly as possible, to hold and speak to the animal with tenderness in its final moments.
During the battle towards the end of the film, the animals of Pandora fought with the Na'vi - a brave move by Cameron considering how daft this kind of thing can look. Cast your mind back to the latest Indiana Jones film when the monkeys started to help fight the baddies - talk about a 'jumping the shark moment'!
Neytiri's lizard/bird-type creature was killed in this battle. Becuse of the close bond between the Na'vi and the other animals around them, this was given as much screen time as you'd expect if a leading character were to die.
This attention to the humanoid-animal relationships is surely not accidental. What the film-makers are highlighting is that the future of our world depends on improving our respect for nature and her animals - and that includes ourselves. If we look after them, they'll look after us.
Maybe I'll postpone the Megabus to Pandora, take the house off the market and I'll keep Carry On Up the Khyber for another day. Judging by the audience reaction at Avatar a chord has been struck which could resonate long and loud. Perhaps we are closer to OneKind world than I thought.