Avatar (by James Cameron)

[ST. Attidude]

Honestly, Avatar bored me. There wasn't anything about the plot that I hadn't already seen MANY times beforehand, and I didn't really like it much THOSE times, either. I didn't find any of the characters very likable either (aside from the bad guy, weirdly enough) so that didn't help much.

I mean, yeah it's pretty and I'm glad I saw it on a big screen, but whenever things weren't flying or blowing up (and, sometimes, even when they were) I was really wanting to be somewhere else.

Yeah, I'm gonna wait for this one to come out, for I fear that I'll receive similar feelings for it, and when that happens, its better when rented than 9 + bucks later in the theatre

[Blitzkrieg1701]

See, there's an odd conundrum in that. I really DON'T think it's worth the extra price of seeing it in theaters... and yet, since the only think I LIKE about it are the visuals, I don't think there's really any point in seeing it on anything OTHER than a big screen.

CURSE YOU, JAMES CAMERON!!! WHY MUST YOU TRAP US IN THESE IMPOSSIBLE CHOICES?!?!?!?

[mechana2015]

I actually can't imagine seeing this movie outside of a theater, unless I had one heck of a home theater. It's just not something that would work on the same level on my 17 or 22 inch monitors. I probably won't be buying it on DVD for this reason, which is the same reason I didn't buy Cloverfield on DVD.

[ADXC]

I really did like the look of the movie. The graphics were amazing and the story was okay(Although, predictable.).

From the commercials, I didn't really expect much, but the movie was actually really good.

[ChristianKitsune]

I thought I posted here already!

I absolutely adored this movie. Yes, like you guys have mentioned the plot was VERY predictable. Its very classic. My father hasn't seen it yet, but he describes it as a Ferngully meets Star Wars type of movie. Haha! I describe it as a Ferngully meets Atlantis type of movie, but the visuals are what drove the plot.

I LOVE the way they created the Navi...they are just..very well done! I mean the expressions, the movements, the world they live in...is just stunning!

I am going to see this movie for the second time today! But its going to be in 2D puuu.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Well, now I know I have to see this flick. I just spoke with my Dad and he's seeing it tonight for the second time in as many evenings. He loved it that much, and he never rewatches movies. He is usually of the belief that one viewing covers everything he needs out of them.

[Silent Seraph]

Aaaammaaazziinnnnggggg!!! Saw it 2 days ago and forgot to post! I enjoyed all 3 hours of it emensely (did i spell that right?)
I would have liked it better if the storyline was more in depth but it was very good anyways.

I even thought it was nice that *spoiler*[color="DarkRed"] the humans were the badies for once[/color]

[Scarecrow]

I even thought it was nice that *spoiler*[color="DarkRed"] the humans were the badies for once[/color]

Lol... for once? It's actually been a fad for quite a while now. At least here though it didn't feel like it was preaching anything though. It had a message but didn't hit you over the head with it or try to make you feel terrible for being human or something.

[familygibbs]

Ok, Avatar is probably the most beautiful movie visually that I have ever seen. This is really what the theater experience is for. Off of the big screen, it would not be nearly as amazing.
The story line was a combination of Disney's Pocahontas, Atlantis, Naucisaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, and a few other similar stories. The spiritualism of the native humanoids is a mixture of Aboriginal and African beliefs, and Hinduism (the blue skin and the avatar theme strongly reflects some of the stories of the Hindu gods). The message of the movie Avatar is definitely environmental. The natives practice "oneness" with nature and the humans do their typical pillaging of nature. Obviously some of the thinking in Avatar contradicts Christianity, but as long as one knows this, there is no problem, I think, with watching this film. It really is a beautiful piece of work.

[Slater]

The movie is amazing, pure and simple. If you're going to see this one, see it in whatever the highest quality available to your area is. For me, it was XD format (shorthand for "eXtreme Digital") with 3D glasses: $15 a ticket but oh-so worth it.

Well, let's get one thing out of the way: the story isn't so amazing. I mean, it's not bad, but it's been done a thousand and one times before. Take a sci-fi movie and a handful of environmentalist themes, smash them all together, and what you get is Avatar's storyline. Just fill in the names where the blanks are. The story's pulled off nicely, it's just not too original.

The visuals are what you want, though. Oh yes; they are the meat of this film. You'll find yourself completely immersed in Pandora (the planet on which most of the film takes place): its forest, the human military base, and its skies. You'll be stunned by the superior audio samples and original musical score. You'll forget how to blink.

Don't pass up an opportunity to catch this wonderful bowl of eye-candy in the theaters.

[ADXC]

[quote="Slater (post: 1363272)"]The movie is amazing, pure and simple. If you're going to see this one, see it in whatever the highest quality available to your area is. For me, it was XD format (shorthand for "eXtreme Digital") with 3D glasses: $15 a ticket but oh-so worth it.

Well, let's get one thing out of the way: the story isn't so amazing. I mean, it's not bad, but it's been done a thousand and one times before. Take a sci-fi movie and a handful of environmentalist themes, smash them all together, and what you get is Avatar's storyline. Just fill in the names where the blanks are. The story's pulled off nicely, it's just not too original.

The visuals are what you want, though. Oh yes]

Everything but the second paragraph sounds like what an advertiser would say to get people in the movie! XD Not that I'm criticizing that, it almost made me want to see it again for the heck of it. Not that I wouldn't, it's a very pretty movie and everything is as you said it is.

XD

[Maledicte]

I really wanted to like it, but it's hard to keep up a level of enjoyment when I can predict an entire movie that I haven't watched before and kept myself from learning anything about the movie beforehand. It was too easy to shout out names of other movies that this one bears resemblance to-- District 9, Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas-- even the chief man and warrior guy looked like Powhatan and Kokuum! And I wanted to be wowed by the graphics, but even they felt very VERY familiar--look, a dinosaur. A dog. Deep-sea fauna. I have seen these before.

I heard that James Cameron came up with this story when he was 14. It doesn't seem to have matured past that. I've heard this movie described as "like watching Jurassic Park for the first time when you're a kid"...I don't know. It'll take a lot for something to match up with that experience in my mind.

Don't get me wrong--the visuals were stunning, like on a Davy Jones' face only-applied-to-every-part-of-the-screen, and the acting was decent, but...I can't really describe how, but it all just fell incredibly flat to me. No offense to anyone who enjoyed it but I wish I hadn't spent my money on it. And I saw it in 3D!

[sdzero]

Spending nearly $400 million dollars on one movie is rather unsettling to me. Consider this, for all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, it cost nearly $430 million dollars total. Now I have a question to ask. Did this one movie feel like it had more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy combined? Were the visuals that much better? How about story and the acting?

Those are questions for everyone who has seen it. This is all hearsay for me until I actually go watch the movie. Then again I do not know if I can watch it in 3-D. For some odd reason 3-D never works on my eyes. Not to mention the lack of high quality theaters within a 50 miles radius of where I live.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I'm pretty sure Lord of the Rings cost about $600 million AUD all up (the exchange rate wasn't that substantially different to the US then but more than it is now). Avatar cost around $300 million US because they developed new technologies and equipment to create the movie. Yes, it's a lot of money but there seems to be a reason it cost so much.

[sdzero]

According to the New York times, “Avatarâ€

[Akimos]

I saw it in 3D on the first day it was out in Australia. Heh, queuing up for 2 hours before the movie started to get the best seats.

To be honest, I'd have rather seen it in 2D. The 3D doesn't have any qualities a 3D movie should have (stuff flying out of the screen, ect) and ended up hurting my eyes.

---

The movie itself was great. Like many people have already stated, the plot was predictable. Still, the visuals made me feel like a kid in a candy store, so I can forgive that

[Cognitive Gear]

I've been hearing a lot of people comparing Avatar to Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas, but I personally see a lot more in common with Lawrence of Arabia. Jake's character arc bears more similarity to LoA than it does to DwW, and than the romance arc bears towards Pocahontas.

I also want to note that I'm glad to see that there wasn't anything flying out of the screen, as I think that 3D is used in Avatar to further immerse the audience in the world. I usually feel the things flying out of the screen is a sort of cheap, yawn inducing trick. Difference strokes for different blokes, I suppose.

[Akimos]

I'd argue that the 3D as it's presented in Avatar doesn't really help immerse you any more in the world then the 2D version, but you're right. It also depends on one's eyes :S

[Maledicte]

I've been hearing a lot of people comparing Avatar to Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas, but I personally see a lot more in common with Lawrence of Arabia. Jake's character arc bears more similarity to LoA than it does to DwW, and than the romance arc bears towards Pocahontas.

Except that the whole point of Lawrence of Arabia was that he didn't and couldn't become an Arab. And that after he led them through successful campaigns nobody cared about him anymore. Whereas Jake is relatively normal, just physically disabled, Lawrence is able-bodied but eccentric. Jake's arc is about regaining his strength and becoming a hero on top of that, whereas Lawrence's arc is about finding a place where he belongs, and finding out that being a hero is not as awesome as it's cracked up to be. I find Lawrence's arc more similar to Tom Cruise's in The Last Samurai, not Jake's.

The romance arc is very Ferngully/Pocahontas.

[Cognitive Gear]

Except that the whole point of Lawrence of Arabia was that he didn't and couldn't become an Arab. And that after he led them through successful campaigns nobody cared about him anymore. Whereas Jake is relatively normal, just physically disabled, Lawrence is able-bodied but eccentric. Jake's arc is about regaining his strength and becoming a hero on top of that, whereas Lawrence's arc is about finding a place where he belongs, and finding out that being a hero is not as awesome as it's cracked up to be. I find Lawrence's arc more similar to Tom Cruise's in The Last Samurai, not Jake's.

The romance arc is very Ferngully/Pocahontas.

In both cases, I think that the character arc is not really about the destination so much as about their journey. Both characters start out with some personal problem that makes functioning in their societies difficult. They are then assigned missions for which the higher-ups think they are ill-equipped. They then excel at their missions due to the very reason they were supposedly ill-equipped; the similarities continue on until the ends of the respective movies.

At which point the conclusions are different. I'd say that the cores of both arcs are about finding where one belongs, finding beauty in previously unexpected places, and what it means to be strong. These arcs are different in conclusion but similar in structure.

Anyways, I'm happy to see that Avatar has done well enough to make to get the planned trilogy made.

[sdzero]

Anyways, I'm happy to see that Avatar has done well enough to make to get the planned trilogy made.

A worldwide gross of $1.02 billion so far!

[Radical Dreamer]

[quote="sdzero (post: 1363523)"]According to the New York times, “Avatarâ€

[Blitzkrieg1701]

I really wanted to like it, but it's hard to keep up a level of enjoyment when I can predict an entire movie that I haven't watched before and kept myself from learning anything about the movie beforehand. It was too easy to shout out names of other movies that this one bears resemblance to-- District 9, Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas-- even the chief man and warrior guy looked like Powhatan and Kokuum! And I wanted to be wowed by the graphics, but even they felt very VERY familiar--look, a dinosaur. A dog. Deep-sea fauna. I have seen these before.

THANK YOU.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

$12 is expensive? Mate, it costs $20 here in Australia, if not a bit more than that. Students get in for cheaper though - $17.50.

[Radical Dreamer]

$12 is expensive? Mate, it costs $20 here in Australia, if not a bit more than that. Students get in for cheaper though - $17.50.

Dude, are you kidding? That's ridiculous! Prices here for a regular movie run around $8+ for an evening show ($7 for a matinée, usually), and 3D movies are a lot more expensive (like $12, but it can vary depending on the theater). I live in a small town, so prices are usually cheaper than other, bigger cities, but $20 for a movie...that's just ridiculous! XD

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

No, I'm not kidding. Adult ticket prices for normal (2D) movies are $15.50. Students pay $11.50. There is Cheap Tuesday where all tickets are $9.50. When I can, I take advantage of going Tuesday evenings. There are no special matinee prices.

[Cognitive Gear]

No, I'm not kidding. Adult ticket prices for normal (2D) movies are $15.50. Students pay $11.50. There is Cheap Tuesday where all tickets are $9.50. When I can, I take advantage of going Tuesday evenings. There are no special matinee prices.

I believe that it is balanced out by the cost of living. Things like food, housing, healthcare and education tend to cost less over there. 20$ for a movie is still a bit much, though. I went to IMAX and it cost 16$, which felt very expensive.


There has been a small uproar among some parenting groups concerning the smoking habits of one of the characters. James Cameron responded to it with the following: (There's a little bit of insight on what he, as the director, views as one of the themes in Avatar.)

James Cameron Responds to Critics of ‘Avatar’ Smoking Scene

A snippet:

[quote="The New York Times"]James Cameron, the director of “Avatar,â€

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

The IMAX costs about $25 here, if not more.
I don't know if education and housing cost less here but food and healthcare do. Yes, some things are cheaper in Australia but not to that extent. Certainly books, DVDs, CDs, electronics cost more here.

[sdzero]

I live in a small town, so it's only $2.25 for a ticket

[Roy Mustang]

That's ridiculous! Prices here for a regular movie run around $8+ for an evening show ($7 for a matinée, usually), and 3D movies are a lot more expensive (like $12, but it can vary depending on the theater). I live in a small town, so prices are usually cheaper than other, bigger cities, but $20 for a movie...that's just ridiculous! XD

I have came to be thankful for living in the south or any place that has a mild winter most of the time.

When I was in IL, it was $9 for a matinee and $12 to $14 for the evening showing and these were prices just not in big cities, but small towns as well.


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]