Avatar

I saw it in 3D which was awesome.

However I don't think it is as great as everyone says it is. The experience of it was pretty cool, seeing it in 3D I really felt immersed in the world. However I don't think it deserves an Oscar (perhaps it does for special effects though) and I don't think it will change the face of film as some people have been saying.

My friends comment was "It's Pocahontas plus Fern Gully, mixed with the marines from Alien."

I would say worth a watch just for the experience but not anything crazily exceptional.

Seeing it later on today - I'll let you know what i think.

What's really annoyed me about all this though is the trailer . . . it practically gave away everything in the film - so I already know what's going to happen on a rough scale. What happened to trailers showing you enough to get you questioning? Just enough to get you eager to go see it?

The trailer saw like three/four minutes long and it's rediculous. :/ Because I know it's going to be a cliche story, and I know what is going to happen, it became one of the reasons I've put off going to see it. I was interested in the film just from hearing about it, seeing the posters; the makers didn't need to ruin that enigma with an over-the-top trailer/synopsis. It seems more and more films want to tell you the whole story in the trailer just to show off . . .

Definitely worth a see. Special effects are breath-taking. Although, if it weren't the most amazing 3D movie as of yet to be made. If, for example, the movie crtics and the Academy Awards people saw it in 2D, I don't think it would've won the Golden Globe.

They were just stumped about how amazing the effects were and I think that's exactly the point of the movie. It's an out of this world sci-fi adventure film but it shouldn't have won the Globes.XD The story is practically Ferngully, Pocahontas, and Starship Troopers merged together. Nonetheless, for the effects, amazing movie.

The graphics were amazing of course. I saw it in 3D.


I didn't like the plot, not because it was cliche, but because it was unrealistic.

I found the pertrail of humans a bit over the top. While planning to kill thousands of Na'vi they were all cheering and laughing. And one soldier woman gave a nasty smirk that made me want to slap her so hard. I mean only 5 people had a problem with the extermination of a race. I find that hard to believe. Also this program has been going on for years with billions of dollars invested into it. Why all of a sudden can't they wait and decided to attack. Tax payers down on earth would be angry. The government too. I mean even the Indians when the settlers arrived could be bartered with. "They want nothing from us." Is not an excuse.

The scientist lady was a plot device, and if you've seen it you know what I mean.

Yeah this is a major spoiler so don't read if you haven't seen it. You've been warned.

Spoiler

I mean she was shot right. And even though the Na'vi felt that the humans had betrayed them they dragged her Avatar body to the tree. Why because they needed to have it there so they could try to save her with the tree spirit swap thing. Which was put in to justify the end of him permanently joining the Na'vi. Her death was justified for his "Rebirth" Which makes her a plot device.

So all in all I'd say see it because it is visually astounding and the attention to detail is amazing.

I've seen it! *raises hand*
I loved it. Really, I loved it more than I loved...like...my old favorite movie.
Whatever. As Firestalker said, we as writers guess most plots, so for the plot of Avatar being cliche I didn't mind. I guess all the plots anyways, XD.
I felt like I wanted to be one of the Na'vi after watching it, really, I did. I'm so glad they're making a second and third.
-Mizz

Join the club Mizzle, there are thousands of other Avatar fans out here wanting to become one of the Na'vi also. Right now I'm in the process of learning Na'vi myself. It's a great language (although a little limited as of now) that is worth learning. PM me if you decide to learn it too, it's easier to learn a language when one can talk to others in that language. ^^

For those who may not have seen Fern Gully or Pocahontas (of whom a large section may have a y chromosome) it could also be considered a cross between the computer games Warcraft 3 and Starcraft.

It's essentially "Protect the world tree" except the ghouls are replaced by terran marines.

To whomever defended this....lack of creativity with "but all the good plots have been done", I'm sorry to be blunt, but you are wrong. And I'm rather shocked that you, as a writer, would assume this.

Having said that, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It's the best of what it is, though it is not art.

Rubric wrote:For those who may not have seen Fern Gully or Pocahontas (of whom a large section may have a y chromosome)

I'm (finally!) planning on seeing it in a couple of weeks, just as long as my friends' schedules work. It's hard coordinating the dates.

Good luck the

In my opinion You'll either love it or hate it (I hope you love it!)

To whomever defended this....lack of creativity with "but all the good plots have been done", I'm sorry to be blunt, but you are wrong. And I'm rather shocked that you, as a writer, would assume this.

If this was even partially meant for me,

No, I didn't say anything about 'all good plots being done already'. There are so many creative ideas that can be used to create great movies and books. What I did say is that most movies coming out now (most and not all) use a very basic plot and then add some twist and turns and viola, they use it as a script for a movie.

An example would be the classic - girl and boy meet, boy and girl fall in love, someone is against this (could be parents, lover or some other person), try to stop their love, fail, try to kill either one of them - plot. Directors and screenwriters just tweak this a bit, use an space setting, make the girl a vampire and boy a human and viola.

And I also said that we, as writers, who have (as most of you should know) memorized (Well, more or less) almost (not all but almost) all plots can easily guess what will happen in most movies before it happens.

I rest my very long and mostly annoying case.

Yes, but that doesn't mean that thought can't go into it in terms of plot. Avatar featured no twists, really. I mean, my father (a university lecturer in English Lit, so he knows things in terms of plot) kept thinking that some kind of twist was coming up, like the scientist dude was going to betray them, or that Michelle Rodriguez would actually survive until credits (she never does in practically any of her films, or in her stint in Lost). None of those happened.

Anyway, some things I noticed about Avatar that make it less ooey-gooey lovey-dovey:

Spoiler

-You know how Jake goes and gets Toruk to convince the tribes, etc. etc.? Well, what happened to his Banshee? He just discarded it like that, but the writers make no mention of this.

-The scientist dude (forget his name), well, where was his happy ending? He gets to live on a planet where he can't breathe, his Avatar having been killed. Whoop-de-freakin'-doo. And yet, that doesn't matter, because Jake Sully gets a happy ending.

-The aliens were very humanistic. I mean, they seem to treat families and marriage the same way humans do, they ride horses-that-aren't-horses-but-aliens, they shoot freakin' arrows, they are Native Americans with blue body-paint and hair-squid. Could they not be a little bit more alien?

Anyway, in my opinion, if you're over eighteen and didn't like Avatar, watch District 9. It could be said to have the same plot (man is set against aliens, becomes one of them, joins their cause) but does it in a really compelling way. It mixes action with story, the main character really changes in a believable way without falling in ooey-gooey love, and the aliens are actually alien. Oh yeah, and Christopher Johnson Jr., however much his species look like cockroaches, is adorable, merely by mannerism rather than look. It's so junkyard, it's so moving, it's just... it's got oom-pah-pah, which Avatar lacked.
As you can tell, I liked District 9 better than Avatar.

Hmm, you have a point there and I have no way to argue or debate against you as I've not watched District 9. But I liked Avatar anyway and we're getting out of topic here by debating on whether it was good or not while Ranger made this thread only because he could see what everyone else thought of the film. So I still like the film and I've read the original script also... so yeah call me an Avatar freak or anything, but in my opinion its the my best movie yet(with several other movies also being my best ).

As you can tell, I liked District 9 better than Avatar.

My question is - Did you like Avatar?

District 9 may be better but did you like it?

Oooh. Fire. I'm totally gonna PM you lateh. ^^

The graphics were stunning as people have already mentioned. And yes I knew the ending a few seconds into the movie.