Yeah, that’s right, ‘Avatar’ is a rush

I spent most of yesterday trying to convince people, intelligent people, that “Avatar” was worth seeing. One guy I know grew up in New York, and a couple of his friends back in the Big Apple told him not to bother.

Not to bother? Why? Because “Avatar” isn’t “2001: A Space Odyssey”? Because it isn’t “Blade Runner”? Hey, news flash. It isn’t. But what “Avatar” is coincides with Disneyland (or, for East Coast types, Disney World). If you can see it through the eyes of your children (or even your own inner child), you may just enjoy it.

But see it in the biggest 3-D screen that you can find. Let the effects carry you away. Don’t be put off by the tree-hugger sentiments, no matter your attitude (climate change is real! climate change is an international plot to destroy America!). And don’t get put off by James “bigger is better” Cameron’s arrogance.

What’s weird about my New York friend is that he’s a big fan of Jason Statham films, and he grew up watching bona-fide grindhouse movies (not faux Quentin Tarantino remakes) . And yet he was going to pass on “Avatar”? Please.

And about New York sophistication? That was the city where my daughter and I first saw “Boogie Nights.” And I remember walking out of the Loews Lincoln IMAX Theater and hearing people saying, “What the hell was that?” This, I thought, was a movie-literate crowd? I could have been watching a revival of, say, Bruce Lee’s “The Big Boss” in Guatemala City and listening to the teenage boys throw catcalls at the screen - which is something I experienced one night in 1990.

I’m not usually into regional jingoism. But I have to say I was proud of the movie crowd that I saw “Avatar” with yesterday. They got into the movie in a way that enhanced the experience just the way that Cameron intended.

Uncle Walt was smiling in his grave, wishing that he could find a way for the House the Mouse built to cash in.

Below : Yet again, the trailer for “Avatar.”