All the hatin' stops here.

Some people apparently don't like James Cameron's widely anticipated, disgustingly expensive,soon-to-be-Oscar-winning film "Avatar". Those people are...foolish. OK, maybe that's a bit reductive. Let's try again.

Some people don't like "Avatar." While I largely disagree with many of these folks on the premise of their arguments (regarding the "shoddiness" of the storyline, plot holes, etc.) I can also understand some of their concerns. The whole "White man intervenes and saves the natives" undercurrent running through the film bothered me as well, I won't lie. So did Jake Sully's (and most of the human characters with the exception of the bloodthirsty ex-Marine commander) lack of charisma.

Yet, even these least two issues couldn't really take away the magic of the film in my eyes. It was simply too aesthetically robust, too masterfully told for my critical eye to ruin this particular trip to the cinema. There were points during "Avatar" where my eyes welled up with tears, either at the sadness of a particular narrative moment or sheer awe at the cinematic spectacle taking place before my very eyes.

This was not just a movie.

This was more akin to taking a trip inside the mind of the most hyperactive, imaginative 4-year old on the planet and not wanting to leave. I experienced immeasurable, uninterrupted joy during those 3 hours; losing myself in the pulchritudinous threads of an ornate web of sights and sounds that just wouldn't let me go, couldn't. It was quite honestly the most fun I have ever had in a movie theatre, hands down. I simply felt and thought things that I never had before. I was both uncontrollably excited and undeniably tranquil, caught up in Jake and Nyatiri's love story even as I fumed over the all-too-real warmongering, racist, xenophobic statements being made by the film's villains. By the way, while I'm on that note, the anti-war critique as well as the extended metaphor about climate change were incredibly well-done. Some of the most beautiful writing I've come across in a while.

OK, I'm done. Go see it for yourselves, people. It's time for me to pack and head home anyway. Happy holidays!