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As luck would have it, just after I posted the top ten grossing movies of all-time, a neighbor loaned me the highest-drawing one ever.

Chances are most of you have seen it. The previews hadn't impressed me enough to head for the theater. But I should have.

The plot brought back memories of a handful of other movies:

Dances With Wolves. An ex-marine from Earth sneaks into a Native-American-like colony (of 12 foot tall aliens, but still...) on the planet of Pandora. His goal is to gather some military intelligence in order to clear the Na'vi from their village, so that the American corporation can mine the extremely valuable (and cheesily-named) substance unobtanium. However, the spiritual tribe grows on him, thanks in no small part to the beautiful woman who takes him in. By the end, he considers himself to be Na'vi (which is good, since his human body was paralyzed from the waist down). And you end up rooting against your own race.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. You know that scene where the Ewoks use a clever array of forest booby-traps to defeat a small army of At-Ats and Stormtroopers? Multiply that by a hundred. Include flying things (mechanical for the humans, pteradactyl-like creatures for the Na'vi). Sweet, sweet, sweet.

Native spirituality captures some of the same essence of other religions. It was a poignant moment to see the hero reflecting just prior to the big battle while kneeling in conversation with the tree-spirits and asking for victory. And to hear his mate explain that the all-powerful spirit doesn't take sides, but rather preserves the balance of life. And of course, tree-spirit ultimately decides to break open a can of whoop-ass just in the nick of time. Good balance in the eyes of the audience!

Find yourself 162 minutes some weekend, with a good magazine in hand to bide a few slow parts, and become a statistic in the Avatar legions!