Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi
Release Date: December 18, 2009
My Rating: 
(Click here for more info on my rating scale)
Overall, I think Avatar is an okay movie, with a beatiful new world, an okay story, likable characters, good themes, some heart, and good entertainment.
I missed the initial theatrical release of
Avatar in Devember of 2009. I finally bought the DVD the following July, and watched the movie on my television at home. Yes, I had heard a few various things about the movie, about the hype surrounding it, and positives and negatives from both lovers and haters. The big overall negative thing I've heard is that the the visual effects are brilliant and revolutionary, but all the rest is garbage - simple predictable, unoriginal, boring, etc., and a ripoff of
Pocahontas and
Dances With Wolves - and even the visuals are far less impressive if not seen on the big screen and in 3-D. However, when I watched it that July on my television, I was quite blown away. I even gave the movie a full four star rating. Between that time and now, my liking for it has decreased. Well, how I feel about the story, characters, and everything else about the movie is pretty much exactly the same as how I felt about it when I saw it the first time, but to a lesser degree (I've changed my rating to a three-star rating); instead of loving it, I personally
like it a bit, and I just think it's okay overall.
The story is set in the year 2154, and it involves an RDA mission to an earth-sized moon called Pandora. We enter this new world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-marine who goes on this mission on short notice, with no training, to fill in for his murdered twin brother. The RDA is strip-mining the planet for a special ore, and the natives, the Na'vi, are not happy at all about the strip-mining. For a while, the humans, especially Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) have had some success in interacting with the Na’vi via “avatars”, remote-controlled bodies that work just like the robots in Surrogates, but instead of robots, these are living, breathing, organic bodies. Grace has even succeeded in teaching some of the natives the natives some English. However, relations between the natives and the human have turned bad, and all interactions between them stopped.
Out in the jungle, after accidentally being separated from the group he was with, Jake meets the natives after his life is saved by Neytiri, the princess of the local Na’vi tribe, the Omaticaya. This pleases Grace, Quaritch, and Selfridge. For Grace, this is a way to get back into Na’vi society, and the military and corporate leaders of the operation - Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), respectively - see it as an opportunity to get the natives to move out of their current home so that they can mine the ore there. The Omaticaya’s lifestyle is based around nature, respecting and living in harmony with their environment and all the living creatures they share it with. Jake learns the ways of these people, and he falls in love the new world, the Omaticaya tribe, and especially Neytiri (she is sexy and good-hearted, an excellent mix).
The truth is, we’ve all seen this story a million times, but never like this. The story could be considered a sci-fi version of Pocahontas or Dances With Wolves, set in a new fantasy world. Just like in Star Wars (the original trilogy, Eps. IV - VI; not the prequels), Avatar brings some new life into old clichés, and it has not-fully-developed yet likable characters. In my opinion, the original Star Wars trilogy does a much better job at these things, but Avatar (again, in my opinion) does an okay job at it. James Cameron also borrows ideas from some of his own previous films, especially Aliens (military/technology) and Titanic (the love story, and the way the movie is structured). Just as in Dances, our military underdog hero is transformed by his experiences and eventually ends up fighting back against his own people to protect the new world and culture he has learned to call his home.
Let's get the obvious out of the way: the movie is a breakthrough in special effects. The CGI is brilliant, visually stunning, and almost flawless. In fact, the movie goes beyond having great visual and special effects. It is set in, and introduces, a wonderful new world. What we see of the world in the movie is mostly jungle, but it's very beautiful. In many ways, the jungle looks very much like a jungle here on earth, but twice the size. It has a lot of earth-jungle-like characteristics. However, there are also a lot of creative and exotic characteristics in the jungle as well, and even within the familiar characteristics as well. The result of the mixing of the familiar and new characteristics is a wonderful and exotic new world. For lack of a better term, it's a visual orgasm, especially during the night scenes.
Cameron brilliantly designed ecosystems and individual species, and he gave them all names and whatnot (which can be found in Avatar fan material - although I really have no interest because I'm not a fan). And everything is connected by bioelectrical signals forming a connection controlled by an all-great consciousness (or deity) that the natives call Eywa, who protects the balance of life on the planet. No, it's not superstitious, it's actually in the biology of the planet (well, part of it, at least). Overall, it's something we've all seen before, yet never seen before at the same time; simultaneously old and new. And it's all portrayed excellently with brilliant scope and spectacle. In fact, I felt almost like I was actually looking at a new world instead of just CGI.
The same is true about the natives, and the avatars. These are some of the best CGI characters I've ever seen. Like the new world, they are portrayed excellently with the CGI, and they look real, and they look like individuals. The natives are humanoids, but they're ten to twelve feet tall, blue-skinned, and golden-eyed, and they even have tails. They even have a physical bond on their ponytails that they actually use to connect with their horses, their birds, and Eywa. Overall, they are an interesting blend of human, alien, and feline. The same is true about the avatars, except for a few minor differences, such as the avatars having five fingers on each hand and the natives only having four. The Na'vi were well designed, especially Neytiri, who is absolutely beautiful. I found Jake and Neytiri to be very likable characters, and a great couple, and their combined physical appearance (Jake in his avatar, of course) and personalities give them a likability that pierces through the special effects.
That's not to say that everything about the film is perfect. The story is extremely basic, and it's extremely predictable, clichéd, and derivative, and even a bit corny. The characters, aside from Jake, Neytiri, and Grace, are pretty shallow, especially the villains, who are very one-dimensional, almost cartoonishly evil. Also, the dialogue is very clichéd and a bit corny, and it's almost like something out of a kids movie. However, despite these flaws, the movie works. The story is simple, predictable, etc., but it's coherent, it flows, it's well-structured, it's well-paced, and it's effective and it works. In fact, I’m going to quote James Berardinelli, "the traditional film elements - story, character, editing, theme, emotional resonance, etc. - are presented with sufficient expertise to make even the 2D version an engrossing 2 1/2-hour experience." I pretty much agree.
The characters, although lacking a bit in development (mostly the villains), are effective, and they felt real to me instead of wooden. The villains, especially the main one, Quaritch, are very thin, yes, but they did evoke the hate I needed to feel for them in the second half of the movie. The minor good characters are very thin too, but they are definitely a bit better than the villains, and they are effective, too. And best of all, we have Jake, Neytiri, and Grace, who, although, still lacking somewhat in development, are developed adequately, and are very effective, in my opinion, and offer true emotion and likability. They should have been better, but they are dimensional and likable up to a point at which I was able to have a sufficient emotional attachment to them and the relationships between them. Even the dialogue, weak as it is, is tolerable, and it gets its job done.
Also, the new world isn't simply in the movie to look nice. In my opinion, it actually feels alive, and it's pretty much a character (and a story) itself in the film. I must admit that without the new world and great CGI, I would have found the movie to be boring, flat, emotionless, and dumb, despite the coherent and well-structured storyline. But with the visuals and new world, I actually enjoyed the movie, and I found the story to be okay. I want to make it clear that I'm not stupid, and I was
not fooled or anything; I was
not duped or blinded by the visuals. I just can't stare at good CGI for two-and-a-half hours. I would be very bored. I felt that Cameron actually used the visuals and new world to evoke emotion, and also used them as part of the story itself. In terms of the script, the storytelling is not the best - it's basic, by the numbers, etc. - but I also felt that a lot of the storytelling was within these great visuals and the world, and in the way it was combined into the story. The effects helped me get immersed into the new world and helped me care about the characters and the story and everything.
Also, I felt that a lot of what made the story enjoyable was within the simplicity, and in the details. And, while a lot of things in the movie that were not explained should have been explained and allowed to shine and whatnot, the movie does hint at it, and at its depth and subtext, in the details (and yes, while I personally don't feel that the movie has all that much depth, I do feel that it does have some, and that it's not shallow or flat). And, in my opinion, while the film doesn't have much intelligence, it does have some, which very few other movies like this have. It's actually a halfway decent blockbuster overall, and it does not contain the obnoxiousness and imbecility of films like Michael Bay's films. Unlike those films,
Avatar actually has some heart and soul, and characters that the audience can care about. Also, the film has great sound - the sound quality, sound effects, sound editing, etc. is all great. I also liked the score that James Horner composed for this movie, which, in my opinion, is some of the best work of Horner's career. These sound aspects also added a bit to the emotion and immersive effects of the story.
Another thing I like about Avatar are it's moral and political messages, and it's excellent use of symbolism throughout. Some of the messages seem simple and cliché - environmentalism, etc. - but they're strong and true. "Avatar" shows, through a fictional tale, just how strong and important these environmental messages are - the extremes to which they can drive people, both good and bad, and the choices people can make on what to keep and what to destroy. The Na'vi symbolize what can result from respecting and living in harmony with the world, and the good things that result. The humans, on the other hand, made some very bad and arrogant choices on that matter and are suffering the consequences back on earth. We, in real life, are headed exactly the same way if we don't wake up soon and start making some good, wise choices and start fixing things. This is not the only major theme though. There are also other major themes/messages in the movie, all very well symbolized. One of these themes/messages is that who one is is not completely decided by your physical self (body, etc.), but by you, your spirit; this can be summarized as follows: "spirit is all that matters." Another one is the difference between seeing a new world from the outside, through a window, a TV, etc. as opposed to getting out there and experiencing the world - exploring, feeling, tasting, experiencing, etc. -for what it really is. There are also lots of little themes as well, which can be seen if you look for them (again, details).
Remember, what I'm writing here is just how I personally felt about the film, and it's in no way related to my intelligence (I'm not stupid - I'm smart - but that's completely irrelevant here). Now for the overall summary (based on my own opinion, of course). From all of what I've said above, it may sound like I love the movie. I don't. I just think it's okay. Visually, James Cameron’s Avatar is amazing, in both 2-D and 3-D. It's a visual orgasm. This CGI is used excellently to portray the Na’vi and the new world in the movie, Pandora, which is the true star/character in the movie and helps bring the story of the movie to life. The story effectively combines elements of Pocahontas, Titanic, Braveheart, Star Wars, and even The Matrix. A lot of haters feel that there are nothing really memorable about the film. I disagree; I didn't find anything about the film as memorable as, say, Star Wars, but, in my opinion, there are quite a few memorable things about it (relating to the new world, characters, story, etc.). And overall, while I don't think the movie is great or anything, it's definitely unforgettable, and it has a distinct uniqueness about it (in a good way). A lot of haters also feel that in addition to unoriginality, the film was bad within itself, namely, the the story was not told poorly. Again, I disagree, but hey, that's just my opinion. Yes, there are definitely several things that can be criticized - the simple storyline, the clichés, the hammy dialogue, and the one-dimensional villans - but a lot can be said in defense of the movie's story aspects. Besides, these flaws are typical of blockbusters (which is what this film is), and they're not even that bad; and, like I said, it's effective (in my opinion, anyway).
Also, like Titanic, while the story is almost completely predictable, there are also smaller things along the way that aren't. Like I said before, we’ve all seen this story a million times, but never like this. Despite being a bit lame, I actually did enjoy the story somewhat, and I did feel that it had some emotion, enough to make it entertaining, and with likeable protagonists (Jake and Neytiri), and good moral messages (they're extreme, but our society really needs these messages). The film is not as good or emotional as it should be, but it’s still sufficiently emotional and entertaining to make the film enjoyable even in 2-D as a blockbuster. But I do hope that if Cameron makes the sequels, which I think he should'nt do, the scripts will be better - he shouldn't try to scrape by with another blockbuster.
I thought the movie was okay. I found it sufficiently emotional and entertaining. However, the movie that revolutionizes cinema?? No way.
Cast and Credits:
Jake Sully: Sam Worthington
Neytiri: Zoë Saldana
Dr. Grace Augustine: Sigourney Weaver
Colonel Miles Quaritch: Stephen Lang
Norm Spellman: Joel David Moore
Trudy Chacon: Michelle Rodriguez
Parker Selfridge: Giovanni Ribisi
Mo’at: CCH Pounder
Tsu’tey: Laz Alonso
Eytukan: Wes Studi
Dr. Max Patel: Dileep Rao
Twentieth Century Fox presents
A film Written and Directed by James Cameron
Produced by James Cameron and John Landau
Music by James Horner
Running time: 2 hours and 42 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking
