My husband Ben and I went to see "Avatar" on Valentine’s Day. I think it was our first outing to a movie together since we went and saw "I am Legend" in December of 2007. Now that we have two young boys, our adventures out to the movie theatre are scarcer! My in-laws were in town for a visit and graciously watched the boys so we could have a date. Ben and I are both great fans of science fiction and have heard the 3-D experience of "Avatar" is not to be missed.Overall, I was underwhelmed by "Avatar". I thought the special effects were spectacular and watching it in 3-D was awesome. The story was lackluster. I found myself thinking during the scene where the chief’s daughter took Jake Sully to camp to meet her hostile parents and people . . . isn’t this "Pocahontas"? I was waiting for the main female character to throw herself over Jake to protect him from a death sentence, but sadly that didn’t happen. At other moments I thought, didn’t I see this movie before, and it was "Dances with Wolves"? I never felt like I really knew the characters or cared enough about them to mourn their deaths. I may have even fallen asleep in the middle for a few minutes and woke up to think . . . wait a minute, is this alien sex?
I thought "Avatar" was an okay or good movie. It was an enjoyable movie going experience that fulfilled my sense of amazement at wonderful effects, but did not fulfill my mind with deep thoughts to become a great movie. (Especially as the scientist in me couldn’t get over the floating mountains.) I think "Avatar" should definitely win all of the special effects awards at the Oscars, but I don’t think it was best picture worthy.
What do you think about Avatar?
My husband and I both thought the story basically was "Dancing with Wolves." My favorite parts were the scenes with the Avatars and humans together where you could really get perspective about the contrast in size. The 3-D didn't do much for me. However, we did see it previewed on IMAX 3-D and that looked much more impressive. Overall, I enjoyed the movie although I don't have the desire to see it again. We went to see Sherlock Holmes for our Valentine's Day date and really liked it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that the IMAX 3-D version is the one to see to really enjoy the full effects. I thought the musical score for the movie deserves an academy award. I loved the computer generated graphics or whatever you call it - the movements, the color, and the music together were wonderful, never mind the story.
ReplyDeleteI'd choose it as best pix of the year.
Thats a shame you didnt like it - i really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI found the story disappointing as well... visually interesting, but over-used plot. Did you ever see a cartoon film called "Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest"? It reminded me of a combination of that movie and Pocahontas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The effects were stunning but my mind did tend to wander because the story was not completely holding my interest. I will say that seeing it in 3D made up for a lot of the story's flaws, for me at least.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Avatar did a good getting its point across. Sure, the plot feels way too familiar, but that's a part of the experience. This is something that happens again and again throughout history. It may not be as original as you would like it to, but it has its place.
ReplyDeleteSomething I really liked about it was the theme of "I see you". From beginning to end they didn't lose sight of "sight". The visuals are beautiful, and the fact that it opened and ended on Jakes eyes made me smile and give it a nod of approval.
Thirdly, I thought the cinematography was pretty nice too. They took scenes that we were expecting and made them little visual gems. Even without the 3D (I did see the 3D), there were scenes with character placement and other little hints that really made me pause and think.
It's certainly not the best thing out there, but it was enjoyable. I went with my other teenage friends, who were putting much less thought into it, and they absolutely loved it.
I'm a little late in posting on this one, but I wanted to share my thoughts just the same! I enjoyed the movie for entertainment's sake. I didn't think it was the best movie of the year, by far, but it was fun. I agree with the familiarity too, but I thought it was more like "Fern Gully"!! Have you seen that one?
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