Avatar *Here there be spoilers*

[Rigil Kent]

Maybe I'm weird or cynical or bad but I didn't really feel much when I saw it. It didn't move me and at times I felt even bored. Oh, well...

Visual effects aside (and having seen it on the big screen, I will freely admit they were stunning), the movie actually isn't that good when you start examining the plot. Apart from the usual 'white man's guilt' tripe that is so prevalent with Hollywood, there is a major, fundamental story flaw that is lampooned really nicely here. The titular main character didn't even try to warn the big blue smurfs about the danger they were in until it was already too late.

So it was pretty, but even the awesome military tech (which fricking ruled, BTW) couldn't save me from being bored to tears with this flick.

[Asso]

I finally got to see Avatar. They showed it on the plane.

Granted I was predisposed not to like it, but I felt it was rather underwhelming. Sure the effects were great, and the Na'vi did come to life, but I'm rather used to good CGI by now. Maybe the whole thing wasn't done justice on a small screen on the back of the seat in front of me, or that I really should've seen it in IMAX 3-D to get it all, but effects aren't enough to sustain a movie. And sure they made the female Na'vi rather pretty for a tall blue alien creature (with a cute blue bum), but I prefer the real Zoe Saldana.

The story was all too simplistic and predictable. The term "Dances with Wolves in Space" is a very apt description. And I'm so sick of this "noble savage" tripe, as if we'd all be better off living in caves or trees or floating mountains or whatever. Thanks, but no thanks, I like my indoor plumbing too much. Living comfortably in the nature is a fantasy. As Thomas Hobbes said, that kind of pre-civilization life is "nasty, brutish and short".

And James Cameron's hypocrisy is staggering. In order to portray this paradise world he has created, he is using the very latest our technological development has to offer.

Maybe I'm weird or cynical or bad but I didn't really feel much when I saw it. It didn't move me and at times I felt even bored. Oh, well...

Just so.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

... there is a major, fundamental story flaw that is lampooned really nicely here. The titular main character didn't even try to warn the big blue smurfs about the danger they were in until it was already too late.

"It's the only way to be sure!"

[crystalswolf]

Fair enough.

I guess it's like the video for "Every Oscar Winner" (someone posted a while ago) shows us, even what's considered the cream of the crop have commonly used, boring if you've seen them too many times, themes. It all depends on which you have a tolerance for at the time.

There are some themes in shows and movies that I would rather chew glass than have to sit through yet another retelling of the same old story but others absolutely eat it up. 24*cough*Bond

Personally, I don't think its "White man's guilt" that Hollywood was going for, at least with Avatar. I think Sully could have been any ethnicity but most times roles are not cast that way unless the person's ethnicity is a factor in the story. Not always, but most times. When selecting an actor for a generic character, I believe it all boils down to what tests well with focus groups.

[Elessar]

Maybe I'm weird or cynical or bad but I didn't really feel much when I saw it. It didn't move me and at times I felt even bored. Oh, well...

Visual effects aside (and having seen it on the big screen, I will freely admit they were stunning), the movie actually isn't that good when you start examining the plot. Apart from the usual 'white man's guilt' tripe that is so prevalent with Hollywood, there is a major, fundamental story flaw that is lampooned really nicely here. The titular main character didn't even try to warn the big blue smurfs about the danger they were in until it was already too late.

So it was pretty, but even the awesome military tech (which fricking ruled, BTW) couldn't save me from being bored to tears with this flick.

Did you see it in digital 3D, Rigil? It was as different from the normal digital 2D film as the normal digital 2D film was from... Tron . It was my first experience seeing a film in digital 3D so I'm not saying it was a particularly impressive application of it, but it was freakin amazing.

[Rigil Kent]

Yeah, I saw it in digital 3D (which is actually a fad I wish would go away.) I already conceded that the effects were amazing - its the story that doesn't hold any water. Visually, it was very pretty, but beyond that? Nada.

[honeybee]

Right before the end of term, I had a really interesting discussion with a student about the Na'Vi culture and what it says about James Cameron. I mean, the Na'Vi didn't appear to have much in the way of cultural sophistication - they might have had humor - but really, no wit, no irony, no post modernism, no snark. . . in other words, I wouldn't want to live among them.

Vulcans have wit.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Right before the end of term, I had a really interesting discussion with a student about the Na'Vi culture and what it says about James Cameron. I mean, the Na'Vi didn't appear to have much in the way of cultural sophistication - they might have had humor - but really, no wit, no irony, no post modernism, no snark. . . in other words, I wouldn't want to live among them.

Vulcans have wit.

That's a good point. Aside from the fact that I want all the conveniences of modern civilization, I also want to live where there is wit and humour. This all too serious Gaia hive-mind thing actually creeps me out.

But I wouldn't mind taking a vacation on Pandora. But I certainly wouldn't want to live there.

[crystalswolf]

Agreed! The culture did come across as very bland. But to be fair, Vulcan culture as we know it today took about 40 years to develop into the complex hot-mess that we know and love.

[Alelou]

I didn't exactly give this movie its best shot, since I watched it half on my computer (which actually was fairly involving, maybe because it was so close to my eyeballs), and the second half two days later on the TV (partly because I had company in the house until today and it's such a freakin' long movie). But I can't say I liked the second half much. I really enjoyed the part about the weird alien planet and the guy without working legs who gets to learn to run and fly. After that, though, I felt like I was watching The Empire Strikes Back thrown in a blender with The Lion King. The love story felt really perfunctory to me, too.

So...I'm glad I saw it, but once was enough.

[justTripn]

It was a really great movie, but it was too long. It is weird that all the great elements of that movie didn't add up to something I'm dying to see a second time. And it's not just me being old and jaded since there were several movies this year that I was nuts over.

[Bether6074]

I liked it much better on the big screen. I guess I'm a sucker for visual stimulation and romance.

[starwatcher]

My dad and I went to the cinema to see it, and I had mixed feelings about it. A part of me was convinced that it could never live up to the hype, simply because it had been so over-hyped, and in that I think I was right. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, although I'm already over the 3D thing, namely because (I don't know if this is the case in the US too) the glasses we have to wear were so damned uncomfortable after a while, and because I have to wear glasses when I watch TV anyway, I had this weird 3D-blurred thing going on. But visually, it was stunning, I would recommend seeing it at the cinema because seeing it on the tv may not do that aspect of it full justice.

As for the plot, I will say that I completely agree with the 'Last of the Mohicans/Dances with Wolves' themes, and the 'noble savage' convention. And I totally saw the environmental message, although I wasn't so sure about the anti war on terror message. Maybe I missed that because of the blurred glasses The plot was ok, Sam Worthington is definitely easy on the eye, although he's not in it that much as a non Pandora person. All in all, it was ok: I wouldn't buy it when it comes out on dvd, but I enjoyed seeing it at the movies. I think that when it boils down to it, its not Cameron's best - I'm far more of a Terminator/Aliens/Abyss/True Lies kinda girl

[WarpGirl]

Well, I saw the last 20 minutes of it on my crappy tv! Bottom line: I'M IN LOVE! So I hacked into my parents Netflix account, moved it up to the top of the list, and am now eagerly awaiting it's arrival so I can watch on the totally awesome TV the parents have thanks to my ex being a tremendous con man!

I was terrified it would be the biggest disappointment. I only saw the last 20 mins, and it blew my mind completely. The hype was well earned. As was the box office take. Who knew the guy who created Titanic had this in him? Not even Terminator blew my mind like this.

[Elessar]

Ellie got me the 3-disc blu ray collector's edition with the extra 45 minutes or something so I can't wait to see that!