Avatar: Brilliant or Bullshit?

[Wit]

I was hoping to get some feedback on the blockbuster movie Avatar.  I saw it this weekend and was instantly wow'd by the visuals.  It was pretty amazing to look at.  What did you think overall?

[Mickel]

I though the CG was great. It was well worth the the ticket price. The story has been overdone in the past and predictable (especially since I have a job teaching Native American history), but I cant complain too bad. Though tit was good and I look forward to the sequels.

[Wit]

I'll be surprised if there are sequels.  But with Hollywood, you never know.  I've heard reports that people are depressed after going to see this film because of the beautiful world it depicts.

[Og]

Gorgeous to look at. It's an impressive accomplishment.

Story? Meh. Seen it. Characters? Cliche. Villain? WAY over the top. Which means, I guess, it's a blockbuster. Made over 1 Billion bucks so far and going strong. Not that financial success is an indicator of quality, but it does tell me that the movie gave the people what they wanted. You don't earn 1B otherwise. You just don't.

As for Changing Cinema Forever? Depends on what they mean. We'll get a bunch of Avatar-wannabes rushed to market like the Star Wars clones in 1977 and on? You bet. There will be more stereo 3D movies? Of course. Hollywood sees Sci-Fi/Fantasy as more than a niche market with mass-market appeal? They're all ears.

But did the movie lay down the gauntlet in terms of a bold new storytelling dynamic? I don't believe so.

Still all in all, a great accomplishment and well worth the ticket price.

[Wit]

I thought it was a marvel to look at too.  However, I watched the Golden Globe Awards and it kicked a lot of ass.  I don't know that I would put it on that level.

[Matt Forcum]

Brilliant movie.  Such an amazing feast for the eyes.  Was the story predictable and has it been told MANY times in the past?  Absolutely.  But I got that same sense of looming dread that I got from Cameron's last film.  You know that this beautiful world is going to get destroyed, and as the story starts to build to that final action scene, you begin to really feel for the characters and you really don't want to see the inevitable outcome.

And that outcome is inevitable, because conflicts like this have been a part of human history since the beginning of time.  The story is not original, But it is real.

Avatar is a perfect example of what a brilliant storyteller can do with a familiar story.

[Wit]

Seems like the movie is virtually unstoppable...Like Oprah.

[Irma]

But.... but... I hate Oprah!

I liked Avatar! A LOT.

I never planned to see it, actually. I wasn't interested. But since it came out and everyone was talking about it so much, I figured I'd be dumb to let the 3D opportunity pass me by. I was very pleasantly surprised. The effects were amazing, and even though it was almost 3 hours, it didn't feel long at all to me.

The only thing was I just kept thinking "Fern Gully, fern gully, Fern Gully" in the back of my head the whole time

[Og]

Yeah, that's the deal - I think if you're going to Change Cinema Forever, people shouldn't be thinking the whole time, "Fern Gully, Fern Gully, Fern Gully" or "Dances With Aliens"... If you're going to Change Cinema Forever, I would hope you wouldn't evoke films from, what, 15 years earlier? Not old enough to be classics, not new enough to want to emulate. 15 years is just long enough for faded glory.

Or, whatever. I'm just jealous.

[Wit]

Hell, if people are coming out of Avatar depressed at the "real world", they should just read The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  They'll love the world they live in a WHOLE lot more.

[Johanan Rakkav]

So why does the movie have to be either "brilliant or bullshit"? That's an either-or fallacy big enough to bury Ganyon's whole village (gratuitous THE LEGEND OF BILL reference). (I don't even like using such language; as Tolkien put it, that's just unnecessary orc-talk.)

I've yet to see AVATAR, and after having the scene of 10,000 Orcs charging in the rain permanently embedded in my mind thanks to LOTR, I'm not sure I ever will. Sometimes we forget that everything we witness, especially when it's something that striking, gets embedded in our memories and shapes our thinking from then on. I have enough trouble dealing with fencing, for pity's sake. All-out warfare between a futuristic mechanized army and a primitive but effective organic one (and that's just from the preview I've seen)? No thank you. I don't get involved in computer gaming either, for the same reason. My imagination is vivid and sensitive enough as it is. It doesn't need to be put on steroids by visually oriented films on AVATAR's level.

I will say this: I LOVE the scene of an Earthlike planet (Pandora) orbiting a Jupiter-like planet. So evocative. That's not precisely a new idea either, but it's one that fascinates me.

[Wit]

Good Point...

The movie WAS worth the price of admission from a visual standpoint.  There were a few scenes that literally took my breath away.  I just felt like the story was flat...and I don't even mean by comparison.  It was just kinda...eh.