On Dec. 18, 2009, one of the best cinematic movies was released. James Cameron got the idea for “Avatar” after his mother had a dream about tall blue people. He began writing in 1998 but nobody wanted to pick up the movie, mainly because of the cost. He tried again in 2007 because he noticed in the “Lord of the Rings” how well-animated Gollum was. “Avatar” broke records, making $2.923 billion. Finally, 13 years later, the sequel to “Avatar”, “Avatar: The Way of Water” was released on Dec. 16, 2022. “Avatar: Way of Water” took about five years to make, which is very crazy to think because the voice actors for Netyam, Kiri, Lo’ak and Tuk who all play Jake and Neytiri’s kids were much younger during filming. 

In the opening scene of “Avatar: The Way of Water”, we are shown pregnant Neytiri sneaking behind a tree to kill a Mountain Banshee. The scene then transitions to Jake holding newborn Netyam under the Tree of Souls. In the last movie, we know that Grace died, but what we didn’t know was that her Avatar was pregnant. This led to Jake and Neytiri adopting her daughter and naming her Kiri, who surprisingly is played by Sigourney Weaver, who plays Grace in the first Avatar. 

Cameron put A LOT of time and effort into “Way of Water”, from taking the cast to Hawaii in 2017 to get the feel of the ocean life, to hiring an expert diver to help his cast hold their breath underwater. The cast ended up practicing so much that they would hold contests to see who could hold their breath the longest. 

“Way of Water” is catching up to the original movie making $2.28 billion worldwide. It quickly became the highest-grossing film of 2022, the highest-grossing film of the Covid-19 pandemic era and the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time. 

To say you NEED to watch this movie is an understatement. This is a 5-star movie, and I definitely recommend it to any and everyone.