AVATAR

Just got done watching the movie Avatar and it was an excellent movie,some predictable parts but a lot of action and the CG I was out of this world. This is sure to be a big hit in the theaters. I highly recommend seeing it. 10/10
:thumbup

I saw it in 3d yesterday. It certainly looked good, but I wasn't impressed with the storytelling. It was a very good movie though. Better than most I've seen lately. I recommend seeing it as well.

story lacked a lot. not enough character development james cameron has sacrificed his touch 4 special effects

Unobtanium? Seriously? *falls over laughing*

Yeah, the story was a little predictable, but I was totally enthralled with the film. There were scenes where (even though I knew it was digital) I couldn't tell that the Na'vi weren't actors in makeup.

It was absolutely fantastic. Imax 3D was very impressive.

Seems like special effects are what make movies good nowadays. Moviemakers need to give a call to Jim Henson Studios and make movies right.

I agree completely Andy! The only thing that saved this movie for me was ILM. But it was nice to see a combination of Fern Gully and Dances with Wolves even though it is pointless to see it in 3D.

Cry some more. lol. Seems like people forget how to enjoy something now a days. It looks sweet, I can't wait to see it.

El1te

i saw the 2-d version yesterday for my birthday, i've been looking forward to this movie for about 5-6 years, and i was pretty impressed.

visually it's a delight. every scene is very active, but i didn't find them distracting.

the story isn't weak so much as it is simple. there aren't any dub-tee-eff plot twists that leave you scrambling. it's a basic cowboys and indians story with a self-discovery twist.

maybe it's because the movie is so long, but i felt like i had a good grasp of the characters. the characters filled the role they needed to be in, and there was no need to have time expand further than that. did that leave them a little flat? yeah, but it got the job done more effectively than over explaining each and every motivation.

unobtanium... kind of a silly name, but would any other techno-babble name been better? it was a plot device.

i consider myself to be pretty picky about what movies i watch, there are criteria that need to be met. avatar caught my attention, captured my imagination, and kept me entertained and glued to my seat for nearly three hours. there aren't many movies that can do that for me.

I have to agree with all the Avatar love here... the 3D effects were both stunning and subtle in the places they needed it to be, and I thought the characters were great for the length of movie. As for "unobtanium"... I defs chuckled when they introduced it but to be fair... it's not like the stuff (in real life) would just "have" the name, the human scientists that discovered it would give it that name and it doesn't really seem that far fetched or excessively silly to me. All in all I was really engaged in the story and thuroughly enjoyed the movie. Probably will go see it again.

Aside from the few moments that felt more like the Lion King and less like a Cameron film, and the occasional ultra-cheezy battle cries, I really enjoyed this film.

Epic forest battle

Would you guys recommend this for a 7 year old?

Thanks RS. That is long. Ill wait for DVD for him to see it.

I saw it the other day. And I'djust like to fill in that the effects where awesome! On 3D noone can compare, story-wise it blew chunks (but what can you excpect from James Cameron?)
I'm going to see it a second time in 3D.

Originally Posted by cr4nky

I saw it the other day. And I'djust like to fill in that the effects where awesome! On 3D noone can compare, story-wise it blew chunks (but what can you excpect from James Cameron?)
I'm going to see it a second time in 3D.

so terminator, aliens, abyss, terminator 2, true lies, and titanic all had terrible story? you can't make a bold statement like that and then just leave it hanging. can you give some reasons to support that claim?

true, avatar isn't quite up to par with his previous works, however, i felt it was more than adequate. it made way more sense than the prequel trilogy. it took us from point a to point b and we got to watch the character of jake sully grow along the way. yeah it was a greenpeace movie, but so was wall-e and everyone loved that.

Originally Posted by 22ssplt

Would you guys recommend this for a 7 year old?

it depends on if your 7 year old is a Halo fanatic. The ships and Tech had the Halo vibe big-time. I loved it and my 11 year old twins (boy and girl) both loved it.

Originally Posted by vadr_h8r

it depends on if your 7 year old is a Halo fanatic. The ships and Tech had the Halo vibe big-time. I loved it and my 11 year old twins (boy and girl) both loved it.

it does have a halo vibe to the tech, mostly because halo pretty blatantly ripped off the tech look of aliens. so turnabout is fair play.

I saw it today with my 10 year old son, the 3-D version and hands down it is now one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm pretty hard on movies so that means a lot coming from me...two thumbs up!

I really enjoyed this movie as well. Caught the IMax 3D midnight show on the day of release. Worth every penny!

I saw it the other day and agree it was really entertaining. Not entirely thought-provoking but held my attention throughout. I also agree that the story was not weak but rather simple. That's okay, though. Some of the best stories are simple.

There are elements that make it seem at times like Dances With Wolves, and other times like the Matrix.

While I do recommend seeing it, I don't plan on seeing it multiple times and don't have the urge to buy it on DVD. Seeing it and experiencing it once was enough for me. Again, not flawed, that's just me saying it didn't strike that chord in me that made me have to see it again.

I also recommend seeing it on the big screen rather than waiting on DVD.

I think a 7 yr old would probably be fine with it if they're closer to 8. There's some language and violence, but you have that flipping through regular cable channels and they'll definitely be able to grasp the story. Heck, the Happy Meals at McDonalds have Avatar toys right now.

Now the thing that really made me angry was the article on Yahoo, "Does AVATAR Contain Hidden Messages?" http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hmg-...-messages.html

The writer suggests, among other things, that some might liken the Na'vi to American Indians. No! Really?! And then there is this crazy notion that it might be a pro-green, anti-war movie. Duh, thanks for pointing that out Brett Dykes. I would have completely missed these subtle under tones.

I'm being sarcastic, of course. If anything, the messages are blatantly obvious. If the writer of the article had to question whether the elements were hidden, I'm guessing he was watching the film under the influence of alchohol or some other substance and congratulated himself later when he was able to piece the message together later.

Another thing that struck me as insanely stupid in the article . . ."Will Heaven of the Daily Telegraph said that the plot line involving people of color who wear "tribal" jewelry while sporting dreadlocked hair, being saved by a noble white man gave the film a 'racist subtext' that he found 'nauseatingly patronising.'"

Give me a break. Unless this Will Heaven is himself a Na'vi, he has nothing to complain about. And if you don't have this outsider coming in to learn the culture, you've just thrown out 80% of the story and it's appeal. I guess Will Heaven (actually caucasion himself) would have preferred an African American helping save the Na'vi. But wouldn't that have been the same thing? What's the difference between a WHITE man helping save the BLUE Na'vi and a BLACK man helping save the BLUE Na'vi?

I don't know why every once in a while some animated bit of something catches flak on a racist issue. Look at Jar-jar and how people were saying he made Jamaicans look stupid. Hello? Jar-jar was a Gungan; he made Gungans (and George Lucas) look stupid. He was a bad idea for comic relief on his own without calling it racism. I've heard before with the two cartoon jellyfish on one of those animated movies and the two cars that were also supposedly making African American people look dumb.

Give the racism issue a rest. No one watches Uncle Buck and says, "Man, that John Candy makes white folks look stupid." Want to take some steps in ending racism an segregation, drop the Miss Black America and the Negro Scholarship fund--things which caucasions are excluded specificially because of their race.

I've deviated from the AVATAR topic itself, but I haven't heard of any Na'vi protesting how they were depicted.

See it on the big screen and enjoy it. Don't try to read too deeply into it.

Originally Posted by saint_nasty

so terminator, aliens, abyss, terminator 2, true lies, and titanic all had terrible story?

Yup. The ending in Titanic was totally predictable. *falls over laughing* Kidding. I couldn't resist.

Originally Posted by saint_nasty

it does have a halo vibe to the tech, mostly because halo pretty blatantly ripped off the tech look of aliens. so turnabout is fair play.

I think we found his next movie! We have been promised a Halo movie for the last 5 years!!

Have to admit, it was better than I expected. Everybody talked up how "Al Gore- preachy, Greenpeacey" it might be. I'm glad that story element wasn't too distracting. It looked fantastic and it was well shot and a lot of the lab and military scenes felt very ALIENS.

And FINALLY, a 3D movie that doesn't have stuff sticking out or just spinning in your face for the sake of an "Oh look! I'm a 3D effect!"

i saw it in 3d.great movie.
when they make ep4,5,6 in 3d?:-)

Originally Posted by vadr_h8r

I think we found his next movie! We have been promised a Halo movie for the last 5 years!!

I'm pretty sure Cameron's next big movie is going to Battleangel, which is an adaptation of the manga "Battleangel Alita". He's said if Avatar works out the way he wants it to then BA is the next big thing for him. He wants to make sure the technology is ready to tackle it, so I'm guessing it's going to be a BIG movie.

I finally saw it and loved it! It's not 3 hours long, 2 hrs and 42 min long. Not too rediculous. The CG was AMAZING! It set a huge milestone for CG animators. Best part about it was how everything worked. Good sense of emotion, fun plot line, AMAZING WORLD. Coming up with a new world, with new creatures and have it flow and the viewer buy into it is VERY hard these days, especially with how rediculously picky viewers have gotten. It's one of my top fav movies. The characters, ideas, creatures, concepts, all was very original (aside from the very halo-ish ships hahaha). What were they called in Halo, Pelicans? lol. Overall it was top knotch. Took CG to the next level and provided a wonderful world to get lost in. How you can hate or think it was an okay movie is beyond me. Learn to freakin enjoy something, overly critical people lol!

El1te

I thought Avatar was great. I actually went into the movie not expecting it to be more than flashy eye-candy, but I actually fell into the story and dug it. The only thing I didn't enjoy is the headache I had after because of the 3D. I guess my brain isn't used to the whole convergence/accommodation thing yet. Maybe I should watch it a 2nd time and see if that helps.

Hahaha, yeah the 3D does get goofy after a while. 2D is was great. I loved it.

Saw it in 2D and loved it. I will be seeing in IMAX 3D on Saturday.

Lufo1138, make us such a movie then.

El1te

Originally Posted by TehEl1te

Lufo1138, make us such a movie then.

El1te

trying.

Excellent! I can't wait to see it

El1te

Great movie! I am real biased when it comes to Sci Fi. However, this movie had a great story and message!

I absolutly loved it. I'm planning on seeing it two more times this week. It wasn't just some super CG flick, it was an EXPERIENCE.
But the ending totally sucked...


...because it HAD one.
It hurt me so much at the end to leave the lush, beautiful, vibrant Pandora and come back down to Earth.
And what I don't get about the haters saying "It's so unoriginal and all it is is Dances with Smurfs" Well, if they're such masters of originality then WHY do they keep using that stupid South Park joke, huh?

I know what you're saying Sareth. It's like if there is anything in a movie that has been seen in other movies, its deemed garbage. They had guns. This movie sucked. lol. People are so overly critical today.

El1te

I loved it too, it was mostly about the visuals but who cares, it was one of the best cinema screenings I've seen ever!
It's impossible to please everyone!

I saw it today.... I miss words for it... loved it.. not becouse the storry, not becouse the effects... I loved it becouse all was so nice together ! 10/10 !!!

Saw it over the weekend. It was pretty good. I actually almost felt sad leaving the theater. It was a beautiful world to live in. When I was a little boy, I always dreamed of flying around like that. Being able to jump from place to place with out fear. Specially Jumping off a hill onto a waterfall.

Just my 02.

Definitely a movie that needs to be seen in theaters, preferably on an IMAX screen. 3D didn't really do anything for me, atleast, not any more than the IMAX did.
As everyone else has said, definitely a movie we've all seen before ( a friend of mine likened it to Smurf Pocahontas IN SPAAAAAACE), but a fun little movie all the same.

FINALLY saw this movie. All I can say is This was another good Cameron film. The guy hasn't let me down yet.
I'll tolerate the environmental message as long as it's wrapped up inside a good entertaining film.
AS far as being done before, I think if you try hard enough, you could call just about anything derivitive.

Originally Posted by oneone1111

AS far as being done before, I think if you try hard enough, you could call just about anything derivitive.

Just about everything IS derivative. Star Wars is highly derivative. Nobody is faulting Avatar for that especially. The problem is, Avatar is highly derivative (nearly plagiarized) of a really lame kid's cartoon from the early nineties that has been largely forgotten because it is a movie for babies. Heck, District 9 is highly derivative (watch the first two minutes of Alien Nation). But I'd take District 9 over Avatar any day because it is full of interesting, somewhat sophisticated ideas as well as a plot line that, although not perfect, whips around corners you can't really predict. Someone please give Neill Blomkamp $300 million to make a movie.

I did see it in 3D... good movie !!!

It was like a mix of some cowboy movies, vietnam, alien...and ... some others.

= )

The whole **** thing was predictable. I saw everything coming 30 min into the film. not to mention like most said it was like the lion king or something.
glad I only paid $5 to get in

Who cares if parts of it were "predicatable". Enjoy a story. Enjoy the world they created. There were many original ideas in that movie. Who cares if the idea is similar to another movie. That can be said about so many things... If the story is similar to an old FORGOTTEN baby tale... then whats the big deal, they revived it in a very epic way. There are tons of movies out there that share the same qualities, story elements, plot lines, etc... with other movies. As I keep saying, people need to learn how to actually enjoy a film. It's like they forget how to be positive. Also, watch your language. May want to read the rules a bit.

El1te

Originally Posted by TehEl1te

As I keep saying, people need to learn how to actually enjoy a film. It's like they forget how to be positive. Also, watch your language. May want to read the rules a bit.
El1te

Look, that's great that you liked Avatar. Take heart. You are definitely not alone. However, contrary to what you are implying, I enjoy plenty of movies. "Learning" how to enjoy a movie is not really an issue. Suppose for a second that you did not enjoy the movie Gigli, for instance. Maybe far-fetched concept, I dunno, but then what if someone who obviously liked Gigli then told you "you need to learn how to enjoy movies, what's the big deal, forget what you don't like about Gigli, it was a great movie. You have forgotten how to be positive." Now maybe that would be enough for you to see past its plot problems, the bad acting, the stale ideas. Maybe. Maybe not. I dunno. Or maybe you might realize you arrived at an opinion that was different from this other person because you see things the other person does not, and vice-versa. And then you tell them, "It's great you like Gigli. I'm glad you liked it. It doesn't mean I have to like it. I much prefer movies like The Empire Strikes Back" and then just be on your way. Something like that. Cheers, mate.

If all it takes is a few predictable parts and a story that may have similarities to that of others to make a movie bad then I really hope your movie you say you are making iis 100% original Lufo. I'm not saying people HAVE to like avatar. I just think its weird that something as simple as predicting what might happen next and elements of a story that people see in others (like that never has happened before) are enough to deem the movie horrible and a waste of $5. To me, that seems like people forget how to just sit down and enjoy a movie for what it is. It's obviously set a benchmark, especially in the world of 3D graphics. It's different if someone says "I didn't like how the environment looked" or "I didn't like the idea of the avatar, its just not my thing" that is a legit opinion. Sure, maybe people don't like movies that have fantasy like that in them, then they dont like avatar. That is different than saying what dead eye said "The whole **** thing was predictable. I saw everything coming 30 min into the film. not to mention like most said it was like the lion king or something.
glad I only paid $5 to get in "

Lion King? really? I guess the "or something" justifies your wacky connection to it right?

It's people like him I am talking about. Something like that. Jolly Good....

El1te

Fair enough, but er, again, never made the point something has to be 100% original to be good. None of the movies I love and worship are 100% original. Rest assured none of my own films to date are 100% original nor will any in the future be. Doesn't mean they are not good nor are they bad. Just because one may like science fiction movies in general does not mean one necessarily must like all science fiction movies, either. I have been in the movie industry for some time now, especially in the 3D field and I have a very deep appreciation of the artistry of Avatar. Heck, I was even offered a job on Avatar (I turned it down because the pay was too low). I have friends who worked on it. I am proud of the job they did. But if one doesn't dig the story, doesn't matter much about how good it looks. And if someone thinks it was like The Lion King, well, actually that's something of a compliment because that's a darn good movie. At least, I think so. But there's no accounting for taste, right?

Hahaha, yes. Lion King is an amazing movie. Not sure how avatar was like Lion King or how it being like Lion King made it bad but it was to dead eye. Haha. I know what you are saying. I just get frustrated with overly critical people. I am not in the movie field but I am a 3D artist/animator so I REALLY appreciate that film. Many people don't know what really goes into something like that. It's incredible. In defense, I haven't even heard people say the story was bad.... It's not the most amazing story ever but it has some interesting concepts and ideas that are original and even if predictable at times doesn't make it a bad movie. It's a motion picture... visuals are involved and it does matter how it looks. If a good story doesn't have good acting or visuals, id rather read a book of it. I think story and visuals come hand in hand and if one lacks a little than the other can pull through for it. By the way, I watched a lil trailer for your Horses on Mars short film. Seems fun!

El1te

Originally Posted by Lufo1138

Just about everything IS derivative. Star Wars is highly derivative. Nobody is faulting Avatar for that especially. The problem is, Avatar is highly derivative (nearly plagiarized) of a really lame kid's cartoon from the early nineties that has been largely forgotten because it is a movie for babies. Heck, District 9 is highly derivative (watch the first two minutes of Alien Nation). But I'd take District 9 over Avatar any day because it is full of interesting, somewhat sophisticated ideas as well as a plot line that, although not perfect, whips around corners you can't really predict. Someone please give Neill Blomkamp $300 million to make a movie.

I'm totally with you on the District 9 thing. I do think overall it is a better movie than Avatar. They took an old idea and made it seem fresh again. D9 proves you can have action, special effects, AND a good story.
Anyway, my personal criteria for a good movie is short and simple. Was I entertained? With Avatar the answer was yes. Sure, it lacked intellectual depth but it was a fun experience.

Ok it was nice to see

nice effects and stuff


but a real thin Plot... CloneWars: Thundercats feat. Pocahontas.
And i critizize this much CG...

I am a Moviemake myself and focus films with an other eye

Ok infact i hate overused CG-effects. (the Boba Fett which holds the rope in ROTJ was more awesomer then the CG Jango)


And Avatar was all about CG.

F***ing the Eyes of the viewer - they will be overwhelmed...



But i dont regret seeing Avatar in Cinema and paying 16$ for my ticket.
Atleast i was entertained for a couple of hours XD

I’ve seen it three times, my wife sees movies for free and does a movie review blog, sometimes I tag along.

In short, the movie is pretty…its way too long and the story is just rehashed and way too politically correct for my taste. I got real tired of dancing/chanting blue hippy natives that pray to the fiber-optic tree of life and can do no wrong. While the hero of the film is nothing more than low-level traitor to his fellow service men.

I’m sad they are going to do a sequel, it’s a huge waste of resources that could be used for other things.

I agree...very well put! I will pass on the sequel if/when they bother making it. Happy I saw it but once was enough.

If you don't see this movie in Imax 3D then its a waste of your time. I couldn't imagine seeing it any other way now that I saw it in that format, unbelievable.

great movie ,didnt the avatars look a bit like the tirbe from the clone wars cartoons ,or is it just me.

I saw this a couple of days ago in 3d and was a bit sceptical about the 3d technology used.... Now there's no point talking about the film as a lot has already been said from the weak story line to the so called hidden messages (that cracks me up).. the main talking point should be the 3d technology used.... Did it work for everyone? I soent the first 20mins concentrating on looking for all things 3d... but then when I relaxed, I found the movie more enjoyable... I found the movie too dark, but I guess that's was due to the 3d glasses.... also at times, you could see blurring (a lot as a matter of fact) on ones peripherial areas of vision.... it's almost as if the 3d technology had a central focus of optimal operation..... Simple story line, predictableending and not a gungan insight... lol. Kinda reminded me of the Endor battle though... hehe.... As good or better than Starwars... no way, not a chance.... never...

I have to admitt, i'm waiting for this to be released on Bluray