This movie was spectactular, the 3D effects were awesome.
The plot was predictable, and some of the dialogue a little cheesy, but it was handled well. Performances were fantastic, pacing was good, and the action was simply jaw-dropping.
It's a shame it won't be in 3D when it comes out on blu-ray.
The problem with mystical religions is the line between 'believable' and 'bollocks' is so unbelievably fine, and unfortunately Avatar falls foul of it.
Another problem is the sheer amount of tropes shoved into this film. 'Cop goes native', 'Romeo and Juliet', 'the noble savage', 'nature good, technology bad aka the battle of Endor' are all shoe-horned in, to the point where they begin to bludgeon the senses. It really is ham-fisted storytelling by numbers.
But the middle is complete win. Cameron manages to let the film unwind in a really unhurried way - it's basically a real-time training montage - but it allows to you to fall in love with the planet and believe in the central love story.
Anyway, complaining about the storyline is irrelevant. It's just so pretty. Avatar's best approached by immersing yourself in the gorgeous and not expecting or caring too much about the rest.
Forgive my ignorance, but is there not a children's show called 'Avatar'? I heard there was going to be a movie based on that, but I'm assuming this is not it.
This one looks pretty, but I probably won't bother with it until it hits dvd.
I quite enjoyed this, though I agree with my brother on two points:
1. The story is pretty much Disney's Pocahontas;
2. James Horner had bits of his Titanic, Enemy at the Gates and A Beautiful Mind musical scores lying around. Smoosh them together and hey presto! No need to write anything new for Avatar!
I have to add, by the way, that it's fun to note the anatomical similarities between all the animals on Pandora (also fun to think that the plants have phosphorescence activated by mechanically gated ion channels in common, too). There seemed to be a bit of care in creature design.
EXCEPT the Na'vi. Seriously, where the f*ck did the Na'vi come from on that planet? Everything looks so cool, and alien, and similar body plans, and then you have human-lookalikes. WTF?
On Thursday 12/31/09 - 7:55:02 PM Jiggle wrote: 2. James Horner had bits of his Titanic, Enemy at the Gates and A Beautiful Mind musical scores lying around. Smoosh them together and hey presto! No need to write anything new for Avatar!
On Thursday 12/31/09 - 3:19:34 PM superkay37 wrote: Forgive my ignorance, but is there not a children's show called 'Avatar'? I heard there was going to be a movie based on that, but I'm assuming this is not it. This one looks pretty, but I probably won't bother with it until it hits dvd.
there is, and they are making a movie of it...but that movie is called The Last Airbender.
On Thursday 12/31/09 - 3:19:34 PM superkay37 wrote: Forgive my ignorance, but is there not a children's show called 'Avatar'? I heard there was going to be a movie based on that, but I'm assuming this is not it. This one looks pretty, but I probably won't bother with it until it hits dvd.
On Friday 1/1/10 - 12:59:56 PM wilde. wrote: there is, and they are making a movie of it...but that movie is called The Last Airbender.
On Friday 1/1/10 - 1:18:24 PM 1bunnyfoofoo wrote: "Fern Gully in 3D"
We get it, "going native" is an old trope. Is Pocahontas or Fern Gully original, either, though?
Interesting point of discussion, by the way:
Notice the actors that play the Na'vi. Any similarities among them that distinguish them all from the humans in the film?
On Friday 1/1/10 - 1:29:50 AM Malletman wrote: EXCEPT the Na'vi. Seriously, where the f*ck did the Na'vi come from on that planet? Everything looks so cool, and alien, and similar body plans, and then you have human-lookalikes. WTF?
So what other animals on earth do we look like? Most of the creatures in Avatar had a Terran counterpart, why should the Na'vi be any different?
None of the animals had overlapping mouths/respiratory tracts for one; respiratory openings for all the animals were in the neck. Further, Pandora's lemur counterpart had six limbs (as did all the other animals on Pandora).
It's not that animals had Earth counterparts; it's that the Na'vi are so anatomically different from every other animal presented on Pandora that, were Pandora real, I might consider the Na'vi prime candidates for intelligent design.
I mention the lemur counterpart specifically because it is, on Earth, something that's not too far from humans. The Pandora lemur, though, was just as remote from the Na'vi as everything else on the planet.
And the primary complaint isn't that the Na'vi are humanoid; the complaint is that such care seemed to be made in making everything BUT the Na'vi anatomically similar.
Actually the only thing that bothered me was, was the kissing. Seriously, even humans don't kiss everywhere, why the hell would an alien race? (or a native race, this time).
Also, it would've made a funny scene.
"Umm.. What are you doing?"
"Trying to kiss you?"
"What?"
"It's what people do where I'm from."
"I don't want your freaky alien sex."
"..That hurt me."
"Can't we just do it normal?"
"Whose normal?"
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