[David]

HOLY FRAKIN' SHIT!!![/size]
I don't give a damn if the story line is derivative of the treatment of Native Americans here in the US or other native cultures or a partial rehash of Aliens this movie rocks big time. It's almost 3 hours and it didn't feel it. Only one bathroom run with a large diet coke! The 3-D is simply awesome. Never a fake 'poke in the eye' moment. Characters have weight and fantastic movement and emotions thanks to motion cap tech. And these cat people are just plain beautiful. Zoe Saldana was very good as the native woman the hero falls in love with, moving from Na'Vi language to English during her scenes. Her character had a life that was inspiring. Sigourney Weaver's character was a little schizo at first. All business and stuck up in human form then liberated and free in Na'Vi form. Stephen Lang was great as the gung-ho corporate merc'. Then again I can't remember a bad performance from him. Sam Worthington who did a really good terminator in Terminator:Salvation was very good as the crippled Marine who is sent to infiltrate the Na'Vi. He did a very good job making you believe he was crippled with some effects help and was good as the Na'Vi newbie.
The landscapes are at times so beautiful and ethereal it made me want to cry. A lot of Roger Dean influence it seems. Can there be another lawsuit in the works? There were times where I'd think the tech looked a little 'fake' against the incredible vista and then the reality of the total unreality hit me. The creatures are fantastic only the 'dogs' seemed slightly unreal to me. The flying creatures were the best, wildly designed with terrific animation.
There is one Bugs Bunny moment in the movie but ti wasn't at all jarring.
Go see it as soon as you can. Preferably in a new theater where the sound and screen are very good. I give it 5 outa 5.

[FlakBait]

This is a wonderful little spoof of James Cameron and his addiction to CGI special effects for Avatar, though NSFW due to some adult content and language…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk7tUKaW59I

;D

[AlexG]

I agree it's a great movie, even if Cameron ripped off the plot from "Dances With Wolves" and the VTOL aircraft design from "The Incredibles" – what movie, or novel for that matter, doesn't draw inspiration from what's come in the past?

Even Shakespeare used the Bible as a source for his plays.

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[BlackKusanagi]

To be honest, as an artist, seeing the use of color, and other things in that movie, raped my senses, and by the time it ended I wished I was on that planet… kicking ass with the others too. 🙂 Loved it!

And Lang's character reminded me of an evil version of Guile from Street Fighter. XD

[TC2]

Sonic… DOOM!

[stevexyz]

Yeah, what everybody else said. I sat there so entranced that the 2 hours 40 minutes felt very short. I think I moved once during the entire movie, it was so awe-inspiringly fantastic and the 3D was incredible.

[CDR]

Visually it was really breathtaking and the smurfs were quite awesome in design but I cant really say its a good movie due to the critical mistakes made with the plot.
Its like they concentrated on the graphics only and merely used a skeleton plot to hold it together. The villains were sadly underdeveloped and cliched. The corporation manager would had made a much better villain if it wasnt tossed away in the middle of the movie and substituted by the cartoony, insane portrayal of the "war mad" military boss.
The "plug and play" aproach on the creatures was a crude, infantile way of simplifing metafores of spiritual comunion that usually sustain other movies by themselves.
The vehicles and the creatures themselves lacked originality in their shape design although they were quite stunning in the color aspect.
The motion capture and animation was simply spectacular and its clearly the responsible of the natural feel of the movie's world.
I was particulary astonished by the 3d particles used in several scenes, including a flametrower one that allmost had me taking cover under my seat.
Overall I would say that this movie flashed us with a leap in visual 3d techniques but we'll soon forget it to a newer one, hopefully with a story that will be worth telling by itself.
6 or 7 point of 10 at best.
Dont hate me for being honest! 😀

CDR

[FlakBait]

WHAT?!?!?!?! are you claiming there was a movie made with more emphasis on visual effects then actual plot development?? you bastard!!!

I felt the same way 😛

[Robert McNay]

I think it was put best by the reviewer in The Reader, here in Chicago…..

"…..watching it, I began to understand how people in 1933 must have felt when they saw King Kong."

[David]

I agree that the villains were cliched. The Company merc leader was developed well enough. He had a job to do and his disdain for the savages and his loathing of the world were enough. They even gave him a bit of a background. But the corporate manager was about as deep as water on a mirror.

The "plug and play" approach on the creatures was a crude, infantile way of simplifying metaphors of spiritual communion that usually sustain other movies by themselves.

Here I disagree. I liked the idea that it gave them more than a physical link to the creatures.
On another group there was a discussion about whether or not that connection had been bio-engineered.

If you want a Sci-Fi movie that is the complete opposite check out The Road. No where near as fun. Not much in the way of effects. But a whole lot of character development.

[Author]

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