By Lisa Fary
Back in 2000, I dated Chad, Former Male Model. Chad was good looking; I mean really good looking, like young Alec Baldwin good looking, like get seated immediately at a trendy restaurant good looking. He was also shallow, vapid, and humorless.
If Chad were a movie, he’d be Avatar.
Avatar is a stunning visual and technological achievement and nothing more. I have never seen 3D look so amazing, so real. The effect was less like looking at a movie screen and more like looking through a window into another world. Avatar should win a mess of technical achievement awards. But, the visual beauty of it was wasted.
In the reported ten year development of the movie, James Cameron put a lot of effort, time, and money into the flora and fauna of Pandora, into the advanced weaponry that devastates the planet, and into fiddling with the look so that the 3D presentation works.
However, it appears that in all that time, he forgot a very important thing: a story.
So, why not borrow one? Avatar takes some from Dances with Wolves, a little from Pocahontas, round it out with the primary plot of FernGully: The Last Rainforest, then tack on the Ewok-battle ending of Return of the Jedi. Cameron even mines his own library of work for Avatar: he recreates Ellen Ripley’s powerloader fight scene with the xenomorph queen, only in the jungle and with a crazed colonel and a Na’vi. Strains of “My Heart Will Go On” infiltrate the soundtrack.
The other very important thing Cameron neglected was character.
Rather, he neglected character in favor of caricature. The Avatar marines are trigger happy Cro-Magnons (just like the marines in Aliens). The corporate toady is. . . well, toady (a copy of Paul Riser in Aliens). The colonel in charge is a maniac. There’s nerdy science guy. Another nerdy science guy. Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Dian Fossey. Wes Studi reprises his role as every wise, indigenous leader he’s ever played.
John and I don’t go to the movie theater unless we’re fairly sure we’re going to like the movie. It’s so expensive and takes up so much time that it really needs to be worthwhile. We didn’t go into Avatar with a bad attitude. We didn’t go in expecting to pick it apart. We were so sure of Avatar’s awesomeness that we walked to the theater in a blizzard. Up hill. Both ways.
Unfortunately, Avatar is a festering load of cliches that goes on for too long and takes itself too seriously.
Save your money. Don’t go see Avatar.
Lisa Fary is a graduate of the creative writing program at Florida State University and holds an advanced degree in Special Education. Her earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She’s angry that it’s almost 2010 and she still doesn’t have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Fail: http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/
You just fail women…
I have to say the story was boring, unimaginative and the characters were caricatures… However, I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in digital advancement and innovation. Just because the plot is underdeveloped is not reason to miss out on the future of digital media. Of course I am speaking as a (girl) computer geek, for those people who have no idea of what is required to pull this off as flawlessly as it did, the only focus will be on the other most obvious stuff. In fact, it is a testament to the film that we can look beyond the digital effects and talk about secondary things, believe me, if the effects didnt work, it would have been the first thing that got trashed…
I don't want to start an argument, and I definitely see where you are coming from in saying that the movie was, more or less, fecal matter in the form of scriptment. However, I DID enjoy this movie, for the same reason that John said he goes to movies, in order "to see something that we simply can't see in everyday life." Avatar definitely qualifies for this, and although the story is borrowed, simplistic, and childish, I enjoyed the spectacle and the absence of gaping plot holes. Although it wasn't ground breaking, it was well thought out and entertaining.
On another note, something doesn't always have to be highly intellectual to be enjoyed. Harry Potter, for example, is a fairly childish story of adolescence and Good vs. Evil that purposefully appeals to the masses, but it's highly entertaining and infectious to read. It's very good of you and John to enjoy thought-provoking entertainment, but sometimes it's okay to watch something that's not in that realm.
Thanks,
JM
You're right – a movie doesn't have to be highly intellectual to be entertaining. Case in point: Flash Gordon. Intellectual? No. Awesome? Totally. But, there was also never any doubt that Flash Gordon was going to be anything other than a silly, pulp adventure with flabby old Brian Blessed in a leather posing pouch. With Avatar, it's one thing for it to have similar themes as other movies – I expect that. What I didn't expect was storylines fully ripped off from other movies and played out by flat, cliched characters.
No worries about starting arguments – we get that a lot around here and already argued in this thread quite a bit.
Okay, I understand now. I didn't realize that you and John had gone into this really expecting it to be anything more than just an entertaining movie. Personally, I had seen the previews, had low expectations of it being uninteresting blockbuster nonsense, and I ended up being blown away by the visuals.
I think that people saying everything is cliche is cliche. A reader or movie watcher is going to find fundamentally the same themes in all the works that he or she experiences. This story is an epic story. Just as the same stories have been told countless times in different ways through writing and oral tradition, so stories are repeated in the production of movies.
(just subscribing to the thread)
I don't get this idea "entertaining" and "well written" are mutually exclusive.
A reader or movie watcher is going to find fundamentally the same themes in all the works that he or she experiences.
I already said that's to be expected. Storyline and character are different than theme.
I think that people saying everything is cliche is cliche.
That smacks of that conversation every college student winds up having at Denny's at 4AM: "What's right for me may not be right for you. Dude, pancakes!"
Great 3D, boring story. Not likely to see it twice.
You can compare any new movie with the past thousands of movies and find some similarities. Avatar was the best movie i have ever seen, visuals and storyline. Go see it while you still can. You only have one chance to see its beautiful 3D visuals!