If you only see one DVD or Blu-Ray (if you're lucky enough to own one), make it this one.

Jake Sully, a paraplegic war veteran recounts how when he was lying in the VA hospital, he dreamt of flying - he was free. "The trouble is, you always have to wake up," he said.

We join him almost at the transfer station to be shuttled down to Pandora; a moon orbiting a Jupiter-type planet, light years from Earth. He recounts how his brother, Tommy was the scientist and he was just another dumb grunt off somewhere he was going to regret.

No sooner had he heard how his brother had died in a shooting incident at the hands of a mugger, the corporation was talking to him about taking over his contract. Apparently, they had invested a significant amount on Tommy and since their genomes were identical, Jake could fit right into his shoes - in a manner of speaking.

(anti-clockwise from the left) Jake Sully, Dr. Grace Augustine, Norm Spellman and Trudy Chacon

So, after five years, nine months and twenty-two days, Jake finally reaches Pandora; a place he grew up hearing about, but never thought he'd go to. It's a moon rich in vegetation - namely trees, but also in a particular mineral which is worth a fortune to anyone who can get their hands on it - which explains what the corporation is doing there in the first place.

Jake and the others that arrived with him are briefed on how hostile the place is; how the indigenous humanoids - the Na'vi, are difficult to kill, have bones that could best be described as natural carbon fibre and if they don't get you, the environment certainly will. They will have to learn to play by 'Pandora rules' and some will not survive.

The atmosphere is poisonous to humans and whilst the majority have to survive kitted out with breathing apparatus or inside either the buildings or vehicles in order to breathe, others can link to an avatar - a hybrid of Na'vi and human DNA, grown for a specific person. In Jake's case, his twin brother - hence the corporation's interest in him.

Upon discovering about this sudden change in personnel, Dr. Grace Augustine gets a definite flea in her ear, feeling that the company had gone over her head not giving her the scientist she was expecting, but another 'jar head marine' instead, which gets them both off to a bad start.

Jake discovering some of the plant life	In linking to his avatar, Jake has no problems with being paralysed as he can move perfectly freely and almost as soon as he gets to grips with his new found freedom, he is asked to be a door gunner on a trip out with Trudy. However after an attack by a large carnivorous animal, Jake gets separated from his group and winds up spending the night in the forest. He comes under attack again, but is helped when one of the Na'vi - the beautiful Neytiri, comes to his aid, but she is not happy when he tries to thank her. "You do not thank for this," she says, disgusted at the way the animals had to die because of his stupidity, however, visitors from the sacred tree change the dynamics between Jake and Neytiri, who takes him back to their tree. When the wise woman of their tribe hears what happened, she charges Neytiri with looking after Jake - something she's none-too impressed by, but for the corporation, this could not have been better. The gung-ho Colonel Quaritch tells Jake that if he gets intel on the Na'vi, he'll make sure he gets the surgery he needs to be able to walk again. Jake reports regularly with intelligence, spending more and more time with the Na'vi and as he gets to know the Na'vi and Neytiri in particular, Jake becomes less and less interested in returning to his own kind, but the wheels of industry turn and the massive machines begin to encroach upon the Na'vi's sacred land. He manages to stop the machines, but at the cost of being videoed, which sets off the colonel, who declares war on the Na'vi, to take the mineral and their homes regardless. Neytiri and the others discover at this point that Jake is nothing more than a corporate spy and with the colonel, his men and all their mechanical might behind him and Neytiri and her people choosing not to listen to him, Jake, Norm, Dr, Grace and Trudy have to formulate a plan to save the people from certain extinction...
A visitors from the sacred tree change everything...
Neytiri showing how to use a bow and arrow<

Winning three Academy awards, a further thirty-nine awards and nominated for fifty-nine others, this film has to be one of the very best.

The storyline is more than just a human versus alien 'shoot-em-up', as it touches on some very real issues, which rather than slowing down the pace, actually enhances one's enjoyment, making the film entirely believable.

The acting is sublime, with the conflict between Grace and Jake almost real. It shows the corpate agenda against that of the scientists, where they are all for the study, where the corporate machine is only interested in the financial gain, regardless of who, what or how many it squishes in its quest.

As far as the film's production and post prodiction work is concerned, another film will have to go a long way to better it. The attention to detail of the story line is only rivalled by the same attention to detail in everything you see on Pandora. Not only have they gone the extra mile to create landscapes, but also flora and fauna, which all seems to have it's own personalities, like the plants pictured with Jake (above). They retract with a kind of 'pop' when they're touched. There are animals too, some of which are relatively similar to those we have here on Earth, whilst others are nothing like.

Despite the length of this film - running at 162 min for the bog-standard version, 171 min for the special edition and 178 min for the extended cut, the time just flies by and you hardly notice you've been watching for better part of three hours. In fact, they could have nailed another hour or two on the end of that and I wouldn't have noticed.

This has to be one of the best films I've seen of this ilk in many a year - possibly the best.

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