After I delayed forever I finally saw Avatar, and what do I think.  Well I felt there was a reason I held off, it was the hype.  No movie could ever live up to the hype this one had and I knew if I went at it too early I would hate the film.  I don’t hate the film but it’s not one of my all time favorites either. 

First off the story borrows heavily from various sources, I saw pieces of Furngully, Pocohantas, Dances With Wolves, Michel Jackson’s Billie Jean video (Ok just kidding but when the ground lit up as they walked I got flashbacks), even bits of Aliens and Titanic (at least Cameron plagiarized himself there) which brings me to a point, has Cameron done anything truly original in his life. He was sued on Terminator by Harlan Ellison (ever notice that last bit that says in appreciation of the stories of Harlan Ellison, read the stories and you see it very plainly). There is also a new rumor that says this story was a rip off of a story called "Just call me Joe."

Either way it wasn't a terrible film, but also wasn't great. Some say "Oh but you must experience it, that is what it’s all about." And I will grant you I saw it in 2-D, but I saw Lord of the Rings in 2-D and I defiantly felt I "experienced" that set of films more vividly than this. I also feel the same way about the original Star Wars Trilogy. The films sold me on both a visual and emotional level. Avatar does great on the former but lacks on the latter.

Actually to be fair there are a few points I am not sold on, and since this film is viewed as an "ultimate effects film" I feel I can go there. First when Jake lights his torch the way the fire flows just doesn't sell me. The whole time he is fighting the displacer beasts (D&D reference if you get it you get 45 cool points) I was watching the fire and thinking "Didn't they master the fire code in cgi during LOTR?" Also the scene in which Jake jumps on top of the big bulldozer thing to KO its cameras. As soon as he gets to the top the picture shifts to almost a cartoon like state. Where as I am forgiving to LOTR and Star Wars for some moments like this, in this case if you are going to tell me this is the "ultimate" in effects you need to deliver, not one second can be flawed and that is not the case. There are more moments but tat would be rambling.

There is plenty of good in this film though, the environmental themes do hit you over the head but also have impact. I loved the sequence where Jake got his banshee, I also liked the whole destruction of the great tree as well as the final battle. The big cat like thing was pretty awesome.  There are enough good points to really like in this film, more than I expected. Ignore the hype and you might enjoy it, go in expecting your life to be changed, you will be disappointed. Sorry Cameron but you didn't change the way we view movies, you reminded us of why we love them though and made us wish you did too.

The Na’vi are regulated to the role of Nobel Savages, while the inquisitive scientist (Sigourney Weaver, who still has it BTW), the weak but loyal assistant, ect, ect are all pretty bland and predictable characters.  You can argue this was just to keep such and epic tale simple to follow, but in the case of Avatar it does stick out kind of glaringly.  Characters are one thing, but this is simple put the cliché’ on the character and role with it.

One HUGE criticism I have heard on the film is the Anti-military aspect.  However this can be argued cause the soldiers in this tale are all ex-military and are now mercs.  I mention this because I think an argument will later be made these guys were so awful the military wouldn’t keep them on.  Still they, like everyone else, is treated as a cliché  and not a human (Then again I have met some cliché’s in my life so there you go).

On the “wonders of Pandora” I have to say it seems Cameron gets this idea that you add an extra limb to an animal and it makes the creature more exotic.  There really is no practical reason for the extra appendages that I can see.  In fact in most cases the extra appendages move uniformly with the accompanying ones making them null and void.  Kind of similar to the argument that humans will lose their pinkies in a few millennia cause we really don’t use them (But then again computers hadn’t been invented when that was postulated).  

The exception to the uniform motion of the extra appendage is the Banshees who have two sets of wings, and at the least you can kind of see how this works when they fly and argue for their existence.  Also on a logical level, why do the animals all have extra appendages and the Na’vi do not?  Look at our world and notice MOST animals have four appendages, cats, dogs, horses, monkeys, humans.  It would have made more sense for the Na’vi to have six appendages as well but also that would make them seem too alien I think.  Better to just dump the extra legs on the horses and big cats.  They look exotic enough without them.

Another thing I give the movie credit for is treating the idea of a “linked” planet seriously and actually selling the viewer on it.  I could see this falling so flat so easy and the cast (primarily Sigourney Weaver) just sells it to the max.  The movie is also the bluest film I have ever seen, and I think that might be on purpose as blue is a calming cool color and the blue used primarily in the film is the exact colros marketing experts say we respond well to. 

But I don’t think this film will ever have the cultural impact we have seen from movies in the past.  At this point I think back to Mel brooks and Spaceballs when Yogert says “Merchandising, where the real money is made from the film!”  If that is true, Avatar is a flop.  The toy line went on clearance so fast I never knew what happened.  It was clearenced out before the DVD hit shelves (and I think Avatar holds some kind of record for the change over from big screen to DVD release).  I got a ton of the toys at a steal of a price (most as low as $2.50 a figure).  No bedding that I have seen, no T-shirts, no costumes, I have never seen anyone dress as a Na’vi at a convention yet, no lunchboxes, lampshades, books, tins, salt and pepper shakers, jewelry, or anything.  Yet every movie that comes out has these things (with varying degrees of success).  To me something is way off here.

I mean if we go to a movie and literally love it, don’t we wear it as sort of a badge of honor?  When we experience something so great don’t we take souvenirs back with us?  This is the whole basis of Star Wars STILL being on the shelves 30 years later.  Yet I am told some people committed suicide cause Pandora wasn’t a real place, couldn’t they just buy a toy and pretend?   Or is it something more than that?  

With Star Wars its almost a lifestyle, You tend to watch the films at least every few months and are still riveted the same way you were the first time you saw the film.  With many people whom I have spoke with have said that the more times they have seen the film the less the effect of the film.  It’s interesting because I think (don’t know) that many people are wowed the first time they see it by the visuals and then they realize the film just has less impact than they expected.   I felt this same way after viewing Terminator 2 (another Cameron film, what a coincidence). 

Also, on visuals I have heard many people remark about the performances by the Na’vi which of course were CGI Models.  Thing is I don’t see anything any more spectacular than Gollum in LOTR.   In fact I would have to say Gollum was in many ways better.  Of course he was a much more complex character who had more time in the LOTR films to develop.   The point is that I think I am a tad bothered that people go off about this small aspect that is really what we have seen before only this time there are more of them.  Still its not a bad thing to use, but please don’t credit Cameron for it. 

In summation, watch it, see what everyone else is talking about.  Its already the biggest money maker of all time so supporting it or not is a null issue.