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[nasher168]

How come there hasn't yet been a thread about this film?

I saw it the other day and thought it was pretty awesome. A few people-like TheAmazingAtheist-said it wasn't that great and was only worth seeing because of the CGI effects, but I thought the storyline was relatively good, if a little implausible (who calls a mineral unobtanium, really?). But all things considered, I thought it was a good film, certainly worthy of an Oscar or two.

 

[SchrodingersFinch]

I saw it in 2D. Visuals were great, storyline not so much. In fact, it was quite bad. The same predictable Hollywood plot you've seen a dozen times before. But my expectations weren't that big, and I did enjoy the movie as a whole. However, with little effort it could've been much much better.

My biggest problem with the movie was the scifi. I'm a fan of more realistic scifi, so I like my aliens alien. In Avatar their biology and culture were almost identical to humans. But since I knew what was coming I shouldn't really complain.

 

[DeistPaladin]

It's important when you review a movie to evaluate it on the basis of what it's supposed to be. If you evaluate a light-comedy or an action-flick in terms of whether or not it's Citizen Kane, as many movie reviewers seem wont to do, that may not be the best approach.

The plot was exactly what it was supposed to be. The story was about pitting corporate greed vs. the rights of a group of people in a sci-fi setting with underscored parallels between the alien culture and Native Americans. The hero was going to be charged with spying for the corporation but ends up "going native" to help the good guys in the end. Predictable? Yes. Formulaic? Yes. Appropriate for the genre? I'm comfortable saying "absolutely".

I did wince when the introduced the term "unobtinium" as the unfortunate name chosen for the maguffin that drew the corporate interests in the planet. I know it's just a plot device but a little more creativity here would have been nice. We did better in my high school role-playing game group. Also, Paul Riser would have been a good casting choice for the corporate weasel, reminiscent of Aliens2, but clearly the actor studied the role well enough. Aside from this, no disappointments felt from this movie-goer.

 

[nasher168]

I'm a fan of more realistic scifi, so I like my aliens alien

You should watch this documentary:

 

[xman]

Certainly the CG and imagination of Pandora was a stunning achievement. The acting, directing, camera work were also all very commendable. The script, the foundation of the story ... meh. I could see everything coming which is certainly not what I experienced when I saw Moon for example. I felt the script was heavy handed and unobtainium is just one instance. There are more like, 'fight terror with terror', and 'shock and awe'. They also missed a few opportunities to advance the human story at the expense of action which always disappoints me a little even if it is par for the course. I would recommend the movie though. 7/10. Sounds like an unfair rating given the film's achievements, but I need a good script to really get carried away by a movie these days.

 

[Kvisling]

The plot was exactly what it was supposed to be. The story was about pitting corporate greed vs. the rights of a group of people in a sci-fi setting with underscored parallels between the alien culture and Native Americans. The hero was going to be charged with spying for the corporation but ends up "going native" to help the good guys in the end. Predictable? Yes. Formulaic? Yes. Appropriate for the genre? I'm comfortable saying "absolutely".

If by "parallels between the alien culture and Native Americans" you mean it was a 1:1 remake of Dances with Wolves you are right.

Avatar pushed no buttons and covered no ground, not to mention it looked worse than any N64 game I've ever seen. F-

 

[Josan]

I saw it and liked it overall. I think PZ Meyers summed it up perfectly in his blog-review:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/naked_blue_giants_must_be_the.php

 

[DeistPaladin]

If by "parallels between the alien culture and Native Americans" you mean it was a 1:1 remake of Dances with Wolves you are right.

Never saw Dances with Wolves. I'm allergic to watching any movie where Kevin Costner is expected to suck all the life out of the script with his phone-it-in attempts at acting. It doesn't surprise me that the plot is a sci-fi rehash of it, though.

 

[5810Singer]

If by "parallels between the alien culture and Native Americans" you mean it was a 1:1 remake of Dances with Wolves you are right.

Never saw Dances with Wolves. I'm allergic to watching any movie where Kevin Costner is expected to suck all the life out of the script with his phone-it-in attempts at acting. It doesn't surprise me that the plot is a sci-fi rehash of it, though.

What's with all the unwarranted praise of K Costner's acting ability?

He's nowhere near as good as you make him out to be, seriously.

 

[DeistPaladin]

Never saw Dances with Wolves. I'm allergic to watching any movie where Kevin Costner is expected to suck all the life out of the script with his phone-it-in attempts at acting. It doesn't surprise me that the plot is a sci-fi rehash of it, though.

What's with all the unwarranted praise of K Costner's acting ability?

He's nowhere near as good as you make him out to be, seriously.

Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have said "attempts at acting". That implies that I think he's really trying to act. I expressed a statement on something for which there's no evidence. My bad.

 

[Kvisling]

Hey hey! Better to watch every Costner film in marathon than see one minute of mind melting avatar animation!

 

[DeistPaladin]

Hey hey! Better to watch every Costner film in marathon than see one minute of mind melting avatar animation!

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. By my tastes, good acting (ala Sigorney Weaver) can save a forumlaic script.

Horridly bad acting (Costner or his apparent younger version, Matt Daemon) can ruin even the best script.

I'd sooner watch Signorney Weaver reading the whole phone book than a minute of Kevin Costner performing Shakespeare.

 

[Doc.]

i try not to waste my brains on that kind of stuff

 

[MRaverz]

I just got back from watching Avatar in 3D, I have to say the effects were stunning - it's really worth seeing in 3D rather than 2D.

The storyline wasn't as cliché as I was expecting either, though I wasn't paying as much attention to the film as I should have been.

On a nerdier side, I was impressed with the anatomy of the creatures and the underlying comparison of Pandora to a human brain.

 

[jrparri]

I think the younger people will enjoy Pandora more.

But this movie I've seen a million times. I saw it when it was called Lawrence of Arabia. I saw it when it was Dances with Wolves. The parallels with Disney's Pocahontas have been well documented all over the internet.

edit: I forgot it's also the plot of The Ant Bully, Fern Gully, The Last Samurai,

It was about as original as your typical film on the Lifetime Movie Network.

All that having been said, the experience was fun. I recommend it to anyone, but first revert your brain back to age 12.


Another super-original idea was Unobtainium

Info shamelessly ripped from this blog.

 

[jrparri]

I saw it and liked it overall. I think PZ Meyers summed it up perfectly in his blog-review:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/naked_blue_giants_must_be_the.php

Yes he has it exactly right!

saw the most awesome tech demo reel tonight , a little show called Avatar. It was well worth the admission cost, but you should be prepared with reasonable expectations.

There isn't a plot. Well, actually, there is"¦but it's so predictable that they might as well have left it out. It's a wish-fulfillment fantasy on rails."

 

[borrofburi]

I think the younger people will enjoy Pandora more.

But this movie I've seen a million times. I saw it when it was called Lawrence of Arabia. I saw it when it was Dances with Wolves. The parallels with Disney's Pocahontas have been well documented all over the internet.

edit: I forgot it's also the plot of The Ant Bully, Fern Gully, The Last Samurai,

It was about as original as your typical film on the Lifetime Movie Network.

All that having been said, the experience was fun. I recommend it to anyone, but first revert your brain back to age 12.

I went to the pub with some friends and acquaintences the other night, and this movie came up. A couple of the more "artsy" fellows were fond of pointing out that it wasn't just another pocahontas, because the aliens really *did* have a connection to the planet. It wasn't some form a mystical bullshit about "the earth is our mother", because the aliens did have a direct connection to the planet as a whole and the species on that planet.

But yah, I agree, plot was predictable, still fun though. Just think of it as a bad action movie that starts a little slow and is a lot prettier, and you'll be happy.

 

[scalyblue]

First thing's first, go look up the original treatment called "Project 880" before you completely judge the movie, I'm sure a good deal of the dumbing down was a result of executive meddling. Hell, warner bros made them change humans from being used as extra neural processing cores for the machines into batteries that defy the laws of thermodynamics--because they thought the audience would be too stupid to get the actual concept.

I also believe that a movie with such revolutionary tech needs to have a predictable plot, otherwise there wouldn't be anything familiar for the audience to grab onto.

 

[jonebele]

I saw this movie at last night. I thought it was pretty movie. It is the best movie of the year. It was entertaining and enjoyable movie. Awesome movie. I really enjoyed.

 

[darthrender2010]

I agree with Scaly, I saw it yesterday and sure the plot could have been better, but I've seen much worse story lines or lack there of. Very cliche, but it didn't detract from the experience. The environments had me on the edge of my seat the entire time like a kid in a candy store. It was like a visual orgasm that I haven't experienced in the longest time, and possibly ever. There are so many potential possibilities...