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[Shylodog]

Oh. My. God.

That's really all I can say about this movie. Well that and, "Go See It!!!!!!"

I don't really care that it's a rehashed story plot. I don't care that it's rehashed blue CGI aliens in a rehashed story plot.

This movie was simply.... AMAZING!

I got totally immersed in the story as if I had never heard it before. I totally felt like part of the tribe (no matter which race we were viewing). I totally hated the lead antagonist. And I so just wanted to snuggle up with the princess.

While the CGI characters looked completely alien, the looked so REAL. I can only imagine what it would be like in IMAX! I was just blown away by this movie!

I highly recommend it to everyone! Go see it! NOW!

PS. Oh, and don't forget to bring a catheter! (It's almost 3 hours long)

[IndyJan]

Glad that you liked it. I have spoken to so many people that did see it and were totally disappointed. The special effects/CGI did not make up for the rest. In fact, some also saw The Princess and the Frog and said it was a much better movie. So a nice holiday present for you.

[Shylodog]

Glad that you liked it. I have spoken to so many people that did see it and were totally disappointed. The special effects/CGI did not make up for the rest. In fact, some also saw The Princess and the Frog and said it was a much better movie. So a nice holiday present for you.

I'm sorry some of your friends didn't like it. I cannot imagine why. Maybe they didn't go see it in 3-D, and if they had, they would have had a different opinion.

But I urge you to go see it for yourself before casting aspersions at it. I saw it and loved it. Almost everyone on this board loves Stargate, be it SG1, Atlantis or Universe. As the folks here don't know your friends and acquaintances, I would think they may be hard pressed to take your opinion on the movie seriously. I mean, I know you and I have differing opinions of Universe, but we love SG-1 equally. Maybe your opinion of this movie will be just as polar opposite as your friends' opinions were.

Basically, I guess I'm just saying if you haven't seen it, don't knock it. You have no idea what you're criticizing.

Edit:

I found this online, and thought it was a great summarization and critique of the movie. I agree with it 100%.

Review by: Tina Alexander


Avatar is a familiar, even clichéd story, but James Cameron wraps it in the most dazzling and unique world imaginable. And while the script won't blow your mind, it's tight enough to ignore while your eyes feast on this visual masterpiece.

Jake (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine unexpectedly thrown into an alien world. He is asked to befriend a race of "savages" to help gain intel for an army of hired guns. The army is being paid by a greedy businessman to forcibly remove the natives from their home so that he can mine a precious rock called "unobtainium." You know, because its seemingly unobtainable. Subtle, huh? Prepare yourself for other "subtle" themes.

The story is full of obvious foreshadowing, so there's no major turn in the script that you don't see coming from a mile away. Some of the dialogue feels forced and some of the characters are extreme, over the top caricatures. But despite all of this, the story is believable, coherent, and undeniably exciting. In a weird way, the simple, borrowed nature of the story allowed you to focus more on everything that was created in order to tell it. And that's not to say you are distracted by the special effects either; they actually envelope you more deeply into the film.

So How Does It End?

» Click to Show Spoiler «

Prepare yourself for a three hour experience that definitely has three distinct acts. The first is the set-up of characters, with Pandora being a character itself, and it concludes with Jake being allowed into the Na'vi tribe. The second act is Jake's training and eventual acceptance, but it ends with his betrayal and the destruction of the tribe's home. This scene is haunting and full of terrible war-like imagery, although at times I was distracted by the Colonel (Stephen Lang) and thoughts of Wagner playing.

The third act is the assembly of many Na'vi tribes for a final battle against the humans. Jake is now emotionally attached to his avatar so strongly that he is willing to kill fellow soldiers; a fact easily accepted by the audience because the humans have been unabashadely depicted as pure evil. Despite an intense and well fought battle, the Na'vi are still outmatched until their deity decides to join the fight as well. She controls all living things and thus is able to help over power the enemy. In the end, the humans are all sent home so that the Na'vi can live in peace. Jake not only stays behind, but is actually able to transfer his consciousness completely to his avatar.

While I don't think this film is perfect, I do think it is worth every penny of your movie ticket. I give it 4 out of 5.

This post has been edited by Shylodog: Dec 23rd 2009, 1:39 PM

[IndyJan]

They did see in in 3-d at the IMAX. Actually that review pretty much sumarlizes what they said as well. The look/CGI was great, but not much story, and like the review extremely predictable. We may go see it, but it would be later, not the holiday rush.

[Shylodog]

They did see in in 3-d at the IMAX. Actually that review pretty much sumarlizes what they said as well. The look/CGI was great, but not much story, and like the review extremely predictable. We may go see it, but it would be later, not the holiday rush.

Awesome. You would probably enjoy it more without attributing the hectic holiday to the experience. I so want to go see it now in 3D!

[Arcady]

I was wondering if I was the only one who had absolutely no interest in watching some obviously computer-generated blue people for 2 hours.

Besides the fact that I can't see in 3D, even in real life. Those glasses just give me a headache. So I lose out on that too.

Maybe I'll wait for the DVD (and a 6-pack of beer.)

[Shylodog]

I was wondering if I was the only one who had absolutely no interest in watching some obviously computer-generated blue people for 2 hours.

Besides the fact that I can't see in 3D, even in real life. Those glasses just give me a headache. So I lose out on that too.

Maybe I'll wait for the DVD (and a 6-pack of beer.)

You're definitely not the only one, Arc. I thought the exact same thing, until I watched a couple of snippets from the movie. Then, at the very least my interest was piqued as to what the visuals would look like. It actually was quite a visually stunning movie, even if the plot was overused. But in complete honesty I found that the movie was absolutely enjoyable overall.

Unfortunately, I do believe you will miss out on a lot if you just wait for the DVD. But, to each his (or her) own.

[Invisible Painting]

Yeah, the 3D you get used to to be honest, I wouldn't say it 'makes' the film, but I also thought that about 'Up'. Up was a good movie, the 3D didn't add to the story....

And yeah, very good visuals, more films need to make alien worlds seem more 'alien' as opposed to just....stuff on Earth that we don't encounter everyday like a dessert.

But story, done and overused. It would have been nice had when they decided to throw $300,000,000 or whatever into it's budget that they would have picked a story a lot more original. The complexity of the plot didn't stretch that far outside of a Disney film.

[Revan]

As much as this movie was The Last Samurai on an alien planet, I didn't care. I liked The Last Samurai and I liked Avatar.

The CGI was excellent and there were great action oments, great fight sequences, explosions, emotional moments... everything. Good movie.

Of course, I knew the whole time that the main protagonist would end up transferring his consciousness into a Na're... though I had no idea how until they tried to save Grace.

[JTMAG1]

I have to cosign with Reven and Shylodog here. This movie was fantastic. Due to timing issues, I had to see it on a non IMAX non 3D screening on Sunday. I went to see it again yesterday in 3d. I ordered my tickest online earlier and when we got to the theater, we were told that the 3D projector was broken. I was angry, despite the fact that I had just seen it two days earlier

It was 2 hours and 40 minutes long, but the pace was really good. It didn't feel slow or rushed at any point. The effects were fantastic, the world was incredible. It felt to me like they actually flew to Pandora to film this movie, not just another part of Earth either covered in snow, or covered in sand like most other planets in scifi movies.

James Cameron made his point with a little social commentary about war and destroying the planet, but he didn't beat you over the head with it.

The plot was not original, I can't even relate it to other movies. This story has happened countless times in our history, and is happening right now. I kinda think that's the point. The story has a moral, and it was delivered in an extremly entertaining fashion.

This got two thumbs up from me, but certainly not the best movie this year.

Also, Sam Worthington's career is sky rocketing. This is his second block buster this year, and next year he'll be in 'Clash of the Titans'. which could be great or horrible.

One nitpick that really bothered me

» Click to Show Spoiler «

There is no FTL travel, so most of the people on the ship were put in stasis for the 5 year journey to Pandora. Since there seems to be people who were not in stasis on the ship,why didn't they keep Jake away so that they could get a jump on his training. Grace seemed so upset about it, you would think that one of those scientists would come up with that simple solution. (Even SGU thought of that...)

This post has been edited by JTMAG1: Dec 25th 2009, 12:45 AM

[Shylodog]

One nitpick that really bothered me

» Click to Show Spoiler «

There is no FTL travel, so most of the people on the ship were put in stasis for the 5 year journey to Pandora. Since there seems to be people who were not in stasis on the ship,why didn't they keep Jake away so that they could get a jump on his training. Grace seemed so upset about it, you would think that one of those scientists would come up with that simple solution. (Even SGU thought of that...)

Here's my take on that...

» Click to Show Spoiler «

And realize that I know they didn't really say anything to help us out here. But since I had seen Aliens before, I got the feeling that their trip to Pandora was handled in the same manner that the Colonial Marines trip to LV-426 was. No one was actually awake during the trip, and the medics were awakened hours before the rest of the travelers.

Unfortunately, not everyone will have that background to work from, so I can see where there will be a lot of folks who will have the same nitpick. But again, if they didn't do it that way, how could they possibly justify his bumbling around when he first go there?

I was also suprised the first time I heard the Na'vi speak English. I hadn't realized that they had had a school there already, although it would have made sense given the amount of time they had been there already. But I was shocked, and I'm sure that's what they were going for.

[JTMAG1]

Here's my take on that...

» Click to Show Spoiler «

And realize that I know they didn't really say anything to help us out here. But since I had seen Aliens before, I got the feeling that their trip to Pandora was handled in the same manner that the Colonial Marines trip to LV-426 was. No one was actually awake during the trip, and the medics were awakened hours before the rest of the travelers.

Unfortunately, not everyone will have that background to work from, so I can see where there will be a lot of folks who will have the same nitpick. But again, if they didn't do it that way, how could they possibly justify his bumbling around when he first go there?

I was also suprised the first time I heard the Na'vi speak English. I hadn't realized that they had had a school there already, although it would have made sense given the amount of time they had been there already. But I was shocked, and I'm sure that's what they were going for.

» Click to Show Spoiler «

Oh yes, that's definitely a possibility. I kinda considered that.

They had mentioned previously when they were talking about some of the things that they did for for Na'vi and someone mentioned that they had built a school. At that point, I was expecting some of them to speak English. It wasn't too clear though. I'm sure there is clarity lying on the cutting room floor.

[Shylodog]

» Click to Show Spoiler «

Oh yes, that's definitely a possibility. I kinda considered that.

They had mentioned previously when they were talking about some of the things that they did for for Na'vi and someone mentioned that they had built a school. At that point, I was expecting some of them to speak English. It wasn't too clear though. I'm sure there is clarity lying on the cutting room floor.

I think my wife and I are going to see the 3D version today! YAY!

This post has been edited by Shylodog: Dec 26th 2009, 3:15 PM

[Happy Hopping]

ever since that hype up titanic is cook up by james cameron, I'm not going to buy the hype on any of his movie. If it's air on TV 1 day, I may watch it.

[JTMAG1]

ever since that hype up titanic is cook up by james cameron, I'm not going to buy the hype on any of his movie. If it's air on TV 1 day, I may watch it.

Hype is what happens before an event happens, or something is released. This isn't Hype, it's accurate. The movie was fantastic.