Let me start by saying this is the first successful trip I have had going to see AVATAR out of the 3 times I intended on seeing it. The first 2 times the movie was SOLD OUT. Even this time, I made it in by the skin of my teeth; I actually had to sit in the front row of the theater b/c I got one of the last 5 seats in the theater this Sunday for the 2:30 show.
The 3D visuals, paired with great special effects and Dolby Digital Sound made the movie AWESOME in theory. However, the storyline killed it. I am tired of the All American Boy saving the world and representing all of mankind. They added the unnecessary cliche love story to it as well which was not entertaining or believable at all.
There were a few fight scenes and general topography shots that really brought out the 3D effects beautifully but all in all, over-rated.
Final Thought: AVATAR gets an A for special effects but a C for Storyline.
I would have much rather watched the IMAX 3D version of Action Jackson
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on Jan 30th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Saw it. I just think I’m the only person in America who didn’t like it. Story line was seriously lacking and the blue people sounded (accent-wise, not language) and looked too much like Africans. James Cameron does these silly no-meaning movies and the masses flock to it. I’m just sorry I got sucked in.
on Jan 30th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Colonialistic-hero-foreigner-saves-natives storyline (ie Dances With Wolves) extended to sci-fi is the worst and boring. Nope not going to go see it or Netflix it.
on Jan 31st, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Gonna have to agree with your assessment. The storyline was very unoriginal. The environmental/connection with the earth was a little heavy handed as well. The special effects were nice though.
on Feb 1st, 2010 at 8:57 am
I think the movie was great……People who think the story line was unoriginal are themselves unoriginal.
on Feb 1st, 2010 at 9:31 am
How is this for “unoriginal” Chris? http://blogs.alumniroundup.com/akatito/2010/01/05/avatar/ Replace the names of the characters from Pocahantas and you have the same story.
on Feb 1st, 2010 at 11:25 am
Was matrix original…..?? No it was written after Plato’s play.. Allegory of the cave . Guess that was unoriginal too!
on Feb 15th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
***SPOILER ALERT!!!***
There are enormous, glaring differences between this storyline and the cliched one in which the “savages” are tamed by the “colonials”. First, there’s repeated self-deprecation in the story. The culture of the natives, in this case, is presented as superior to that of the invaders, and the hero spends most of the movie with the name “moron” because of the way he stumbles through learning the Navi culture.
Second, the “hero” is not “mighty Whitey”, but a literally broken man who is mended physically and spiritually by the natives. His being “broken” is done in a really heavy-handed way (James Cameron has never had a problem with understatements or subtlety), but he’s not superior to the natives.
Third, in the end, the derelict culture that has to be replaced is that of the imperialists, and the native culture is the supplanter. That certainly doesn’t follow how things happen in real life or any movie cliches of which I’m aware. And the protagonist the story follows ends up literally becoming a Navi!
Make no mistake, this movie isn’t “Crash” or “Syriana” when it comes to nuanced messages or social commentary, but its heart is in the right place. It’s more like James Cameron pulls out a bag of hammers labeled “Native Americans”, “military imperialism”, “War on Terror”, and “Gaia hypothesis” and slams them into your skull for a few hours, but the special effects and the honest effort make it more than worth the time and the money you’ll spend!