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[walker]

I saw it last night and loved it + a gazillion. It's much more than I anticipated; amazing on many levels well beyond the special effects & CGI. There is the "humanity is bad" angle, at least I can see how some would interpret it that way, but the theme is VERY resonant and reflective of our current state of mankind. Actually, the message I got was that humanity is a beautiful thing, but is a virtue extolled by the Na'vi, not the humans who have descended upon their planet. (save for the science sector who still have their humanity intact and join the Na'vi.)

The interaction is very well developed, not just a bunch of FX for FX sake. I was amazed not only at the world that Cameron & crew created, but by how effectively pulled in I was. Many times throughout watching this movie (in 3-D) I really did forget that I was looking at an elaborate system of animation, and THAT is a major achievement. Much more impressive to me than any of that krap that Pixar puts out. (Oops! Did I just over-editorialize? Aw, shucks.)

And I couldn't help but notice THIS coincidence: Pandora looks a LOT like YES' album covers of the 70's! Methinks that JC was a big YES and Roger Dean fan!He basically brings scenes like this to life, which is an amazing thing to see.









I'm guessing that Cameron must have been inspired by a lot of "prog" music as well, referencing Yes as well as King Krimson and the influences THEY drew from. Some of the prayer/chant sequences look a lot like this:



(originally posted by Dane Paul Terry here:) viewtopic.php?p=593229#p593229

[johnallg]

And I couldn't help but notice THIS coincidence: Pandora looks a LOT like YES' album covers of the 70's! Methinks that JC was a big YES and Roger Dean fan!He basically brings scenes like this to life, which is an amazing thing to see.

Mark, I've only seen trailers but saw that similarity too.

[melibreits]

Saw the movie in 3D a few days ago, and it was amazing. Going to see it again to ring in the new year!

[melibreits]

...it was just as awesome the second time.

[ram]

Great story - well told and fantastic visuals.... loved it on many levels!! forget the linkage to any point of view - just a well told story. Roger Dean lives!!!

[ajish4]

And I couldn't help but notice THIS coincidence: Pandora looks a LOT like YES' album covers of the 70's! Methinks that JC was a big YES and Roger Dean fan!He basically brings scenes like this to life, which is an amazing thing to see.

Mark, I've only seen trailers but saw that similarity too.

NO WONDER why I liked it SO much!

[rickenbrother]

I love those Roger Dean illustrations!!

[brammy]

Saw it in regular 3d.... visually it was stunning, amazing, groundbreaking and probably well worth a second viewing in an IMAX theater.

However, the storyline was just a repetition of similar "higher tech invaders disrupt paradise and the indigenous folk fight back while one of the invaders switches sides" theme that we've seen many times (the line that this was just "Dances with Wolves in Space" does have a lot of merit). Even Cameron himself admitted that he had these types of movies in mind when he made it. I did like the relationship between a human and an avatar and that only one could be awake at any given moment... that concept was very cool and Cameron deserves credit. But the rest was OH SO predictable, all the way to the Disney-esque usage of the once adversarial animals (dogs and rhinos) coming to the rescue.

My brother's take on it was that a movie that is SO VISUALLY INNOVATIVE cant also have an original storyline for fear of overwhelming the audience. He may have a point to some extent but I basically disagree. For someone to spend THAT much time and money on a movie and NOT come up with a more original storyline was a real shame.

Hopefully next time.

[walker]

I didn't have a problem with the storyline, as familiar as it was, but I thought that a film of this magnitude deserved a much better screenplay. The dialog was pretty cliche, unfortunately.

[jimk]

I didn't really have a problem with the storyline, either. It's the Universal Human Myth retold involving death, resurrection, and redemption. It's a myth as old as human culture.

JimK

[ram]

The theme is old and has been done since forever I imagine. I know what happens in Apollo 13, Titanic, The Longest Day, Lord of the Rings etc, but I still liked the way the story was told. I like it when the good guys win (old notions that one could ascribe to almost anytime or place). True the dialogue isn’t that of say Sherlock Holms but there is a lot that could be said about the KISS mentality here. There is a target audience probably of an age younger than most here in this forum as well. Also Kubrick’s 2001 didn’t have what I would call intense dialogue either but I liked the film non the less. While maybe not the best film of 2009 or in the top 10 of all times – I still liked it and found the animation and 3D to be along the lines of ground breaking. I go back to what I said before – a great story – well told with fantastic visuals. While the plot was prdictable I really enjoyed the ride!

[Tarrbot]

My brother's take on it was that a movie that is SO VISUALLY INNOVATIVE cant also have an original storyline for fear of overwhelming the audience. He may have a point to some extent but I basically disagree. For someone to spend THAT much time and money on a movie and NOT come up with a more original storyline was a real shame.

Well, I've haven't seen it.

I can't quit thinking that it'll have my niece named Ava in it or that it'll be about speaker cabs.

But, I've asked people if it is this generations' Wizard of Oz since that was a time-tested story but well done and it was visually innovative in huge ways at the time. The Technicolor process supposedly hadn't been introduced in major theatrical movies until Oz and what's interesting is that none of the movie was in black and white. The "B&W" scenes were actually sepia tinted and only look black and white in comparison.

Anyway, I'm sure the visuals are stunning. I just haven't heard good things about the plotline. But it's a James Cameron movie... what else was I expecting? He's not a great storyteller but definitely throws his best into the visuals.

[antipodean]

A consensus view from my family of two oldies and two teenagers (18 and 16) is:

- Brilliant visuals and stunning creation of an alien landscape and culture - an amazing achievement.
- Plott thinner than tissue paper, degenerating into cliched farce.
- Characterisation of the "villains" is one-dimensional at best. In fact, characterisation of most of the humans and aliens is stereotypical.
- The poorly-written screenplay's nadir comes in the naming of the mineral coveted by the mining company as "unobtainium". This would be ludicrous in a '50s b-movie sci-fi throw-away. What were they thinking?

[walker]

HA! I caught the 'Unobtainium' reference as well, and thought: "Really?" I made peace with it by assuming that it was supposed to be a facetious moniker that Ribisi's character instigated.

I agree that given the scope of this project, the screenplay could have used a bit more love.

[Tarrbot]

Certain geeks have been using the term 'unobtainium' for well over a decade.