EEEK Avatar (thumbs down)

I watched it last night, and up to a point it was very good..
BUT..

The main character gets lost in the big GIANT woods
He meets Netiri (or how ever you spell it) And at first she talks like any native who know rudimentary english..
You are like baby, you go now.
Then within moments as they walk along..... she suddenly starts talking as if english is her first language...
There is a scene where some glow in the dark seed pods cover him... and she is all awe struck..
but the language goes from "you go now'...
to "Like OMG.. the sacred tree just farted all over you.. wanna come down to my teepee for some cheetos!!"
(not really but from broken english to first language is VERY VERY Jarring.)

The space ships, drop ship, helo types.. mecha battle suits are are very well done.
The creatures are very well done, but are 6 legged multi eyed versions of prehistoric mammels and dinosaurs...
The music is straight from Aliens and Terminator...

And yes with enough stone knives, marine corp trained natives and a half sentient planet...you can beat back
the corporate baddies who want.. Unobtainium... which was first used by the movie The Core...

We called it Dances with Giant Ewok Smurfs on Steroids...

Oh but don't miss the great inspiring speech that suddenly makes you start to spout, Brave Heart, and Winston Churchill.. OH..
AND very very Henry the 5th, it is more like Henry the 2 1/2th.. but this ain't no Agin Court.

I loved it. Easily one of my favorite movies of 2009.

I prefer to call it Ferngully on Steriods though :)

I can't read your post because it seems like you're outlining the movie. It is a surprising opinion. On the radio last night the DJ said he was looking around online for tickets and everything, everywhere (In the Bay Area, not the world) was sold out. Not trying to discredit your opinion, we're all different and that's a good thing.

Hmmmmm, since I've already celebrated Christmas with my family this past Thursday, and won't be doing anything on Christmas day, I thought that perhaps I might make this on my list of things to go see. Still may.

Just because a movie is kind of dumb and full of plot holes doesn't mean it isn't fun :P

A movie doesn't have to be a Good movie, to be a Popular movie.

I'll end up seeing Avatar sooner or later, but I already knew the basic storyline, if you've seen commercials, you should already know. Actually.. just knowing the basics, and the producer.. you should be able to figure out the plotline completely, it's nothing new. You should go see Avatar for the tech, to see how far CGI has come, and for the cool action sequances. That's why I'm going anyway.

But then.. I LOVED GI Joe, saw it 14 times. Yeah, I did that.

It's worth seeing in 3D. The 3D was so flipping amazing! I loved it. The last 3D movie we saw was Coraline, and that wasn't nearly as exciting as Avatar. But still cute! There were a few times where I flinched because of the 3D... Forgot I was in a movie theater and not IN the movie, lol...

My BF's sister saw it in imax 3D... She said it was amazing, and once she walked out of the movie was depressed to be back on Earth.

Me and my gf drove 45min into town last night to see it, it would have been my first 3D movie but alas, itwas sold out 2 hours before it even started.:mad: . its ok though, we'll see it during the week while everyone is at work . A silver lining to being unemployed! lol

We went and saw this tonight..

Graphics are GREAT!!

3D Fantastic

but....its Fern Gully 2009.. Same plot..Even the same set up leading up to allot of the action..

But I'd still recommend it to people that like a kick ass Sci FI flick with loads of action..

I just got home from seeing it... it was the best movie of 2009 hands down

I didn't like it much either. Way too long, seemed like everything was really drwan out. The 3d wasn't that great, it was better in Final Destination. Maybe not saying much but I don't really like predictable movies either. No twists, just completely straight forward and very predictable. I am also one who does not base the rating of a movie on it's graphics and director. Over all it was a good movie, but I didn't really like it. Make sense? I hope so lol. ~Caylan.S.~

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Originally Posted by Elise.m

I loved it. Easily one of my favorite movies of 2009.

I prefer to call it Ferngully on Steriods though :)

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I hope it's good, and I <3 ferngully lol

And you know the company will be back in 12 yrs. give or take 6 to
"Nuke em from orbit, just to be sure." Then mine away.

Is the whole thing in IMAX 3D or just parts of it? I saw the last Harry Potter movie in 3D but I was a bit disappointed that so much of it was NOT in 3D

This was definitely one of the top movies I've seen, ever. Graphically beautiful, engaging characters, interesting storyline.

Is it a brand new story? No, it's a combination of primitives versus high-tech exploiters, and a very common science fiction theme, the idea of a sentient world. But it's definitely an old story done in a new way.

We've seen a similar story in Dances with Wolves, though the ending didn't turn out quite as good in that one.
No, not in Fern Gully. This isn't about an evil demon directing people to destroy the environment. The destruction of the environment is really secondary to the issue, here--at least, that's what the invaders thought. This isn't about environmentalism, it's about respecting the rights of people who may be 'more primitive' technologically than you are. It's about how people can use force to oppress others in order to take what they want, and feel they have a right to do so. It's also an epic story about how a single person can make a difference, and also about how it's really dumb not to listen to the scientists. <grin>

In this one, the scientists turn out to be the good guys--that's always a nice change.

You've never been so happy to see people being eaten, at least not since Jurrasic Park. ;)

There's many layers here dealing with 'human' rights, environmentalism, and the wisdom of looking before you leap. The human future painted is unabashedly dystopian, but not without hope of redemption. They just won't find it on Pandora.

In terms of an alien world, perhaps the Na'vi are bit too human--a common enough error in science fiction. But the planet itself is incredibly colorful and unique, with air too thin or too toxic for humans to breathe without respirator masks, for all of its lush profusion of life.

Rather than seeing the wildlife of pandora as 'modified prehistoric animals', I was very impressed by the variations in body form (six-legged carnivores, 4-winged fliers, nectar-drinking hooved animals with breathing pores on their necks that are ridden like horses--land-going corals, small reptile-like animals that fly via propeller-like fans...the biology of this created world is detailed, fascinating, and realistic. One does expect to see things taking similar forms and routes to what we see on earth, because these body plans and forms work for the environments they are in, and Pandora is just enough like Earth to pull that off. Pandora actually has more diversity in its land-going organisms than Earth does.

For example, we see wolves in the Northern hemisphere--a 4-legged carnivore built for stamina. It has a long snout with sharp teeth for grabbing and pulling down prey. It's a communal hunter.
In Africa we see the Hyaena--it looks so similar to the wolf, a canine, that we thought it must be related, but in truth, it's not related to the wolf at all--it's not a canine, it's actually a type of weasel.
So we would expect to see creatures with a somewhat similar appearance filling a somewhat similar niche on another world.

It was an AWESOME movie. Not a complicated plot by any means, but the graphics/fx alone were fantastic. I look forward to watching it again on DVD.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Is the whole thing in IMAX 3D or just parts of it? I saw the last Harry Potter movie in 3D but I was a bit disappointed that so much of it was NOT in 3D

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The whole thing is in 3D.

I didn't care for it. I'm not real big into war, and this movie is all about war. Not exactly a Holiday Classic!

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Originally Posted by Jenn

I didn't care for it. I'm not real big into war, and this movie is all about war. Not exactly a Holiday Classic!

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Perhaps. But the causes for the war should give pause to think.

The movie was completely aligorical and had a good underlying message if you could pick it out...

I'm with this guy on Avatar.
YouTube - Avatar Movie Review by Fury of the Film Fan

I give the movie A++. Breathtaking special effects and good story.

I completely loved this movie! It was entertaining, had amazing graphics, and gave us one hell of a happy ending. A fantastic 3 hour escape.

I absolutely loved it! I want to go see it again and will buy it when it comes out to DVD. I want to be blue with a tail!

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Originally Posted by Elise.m

It's worth seeing in 3D. The 3D was so flipping amazing! I loved it. The last 3D movie we saw was Coraline, and that wasn't nearly as exciting as Avatar. But still cute! There were a few times where I flinched because of the 3D... Forgot I was in a movie theater and not IN the movie, lol...

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Coraline was the creepiest movies I've ever seen. I don't know how but that movie kind of freaked me out a bit.:O

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Originally Posted by temec

The movie was completely aligorical and had a good underlying message if you could pick it out...

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Underlying message:
"When the scientist says, 'hey, wait a minute, you shouldn't do this, because I don't think you understand what the potential consequences could be...'
...don't shut them up and run off and do it anyhow".

:rofl:

Actually it had a lot of underlying messages, but that was one of my favorites.

And yet another plot hole popped into my head...
IF all the creatures, or most of them are six limbed...
why aren't the na'vi??
AND yet another one...
If most of the larger creatures have 2 "antenna" that have the filament ends that can bond with the na'vi or each other...
Why do the na'vi only have one??? is the other one in their tail?? eww... bleh...
Why didn't any one spend at least an hour briefing Jake on na'vi? and the night fauna, and the filament thing in his braid??
sigh..
Yes its a good film.. gorgeous lush plant life, a sentient planet, great big dinosuar critters.. nectar eating horse creatures....
And the dragonoids were WOWOWO.. kewl..
but.. come on...

You really just can't enjoy the amazing graphics and appreciate a movie that have been in the works since the 1980's? I mean, it's a sci-fi movie. Of course everything isn't going to make sense. That's why it's called fiction.

Avatar = Delgo.

http://img.denihilation.com/delgovatar.html

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Originally Posted by juggalo_415

Avatar = Delgo.

http://img.denihilation.com/delgovatar.html

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It's similar, but different in the biggest way. The graphics in Avatar blow Delgo out of the water. There are a bunch of differences between this Delgo and Avatar, I wouldn't really compare the two other than they're similar, but completely different.

My gf and I finally saw it last night and it was simply amazing. Good graphics, good action and an awsome story ( plot holes eh? you can find infinite plot holes with words like if and maybe lol) that had a very important message, one that so many people turn a deff ear to. I loved every aspect of the movie. I'll give it a rating of Flawless victory or Epic Accomplishment, somewhere between those two.

saw it the day it came out. definitely one of the best movies i've seen this year.

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Originally Posted by Montessa Python

And yet another plot hole popped into my head...
IF all the creatures, or most of them are six limbed...
why aren't the na'vi??
AND yet another one...
If most of the larger creatures have 2 "antenna" that have the filament ends that can bond with the na'vi or each other...
Why do the na'vi only have one??? is the other one in their tail?? eww... bleh...
Why didn't any one spend at least an hour briefing Jake on na'vi? and the night fauna, and the filament thing in his braid??
sigh..
Yes its a good film.. gorgeous lush plant life, a sentient planet, great big dinosuar critters.. nectar eating horse creatures....
And the dragonoids were WOWOWO.. kewl..
but.. come on...

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Another thing I wanted to point out in case anyone who plans on seeing Avatar and reads this...

They do not imply that you need to know anything about how the planet evolved or why things work how they do. That is not what this is about. There is a whole other point to the movie, one that is way more interesting than how this fictional planets beings evolved.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Montessa Python

And yet another plot hole popped into my head...
IF all the creatures, or most of them are six limbed...
why aren't the na'vi??
AND yet another one...
If most of the larger creatures have 2 "antenna" that have the filament ends that can bond with the na'vi or each other...
Why do the na'vi only have one??? is the other one in their tail?? eww... bleh...
Why didn't any one spend at least an hour briefing Jake on na'vi? and the night fauna, and the filament thing in his braid??
sigh..
Yes its a good film.. gorgeous lush plant life, a sentient planet, great big dinosuar critters.. nectar eating horse creatures....
And the dragonoids were WOWOWO.. kewl..
but.. come on...

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Perhaps the animals had two antenna due to the need to be balanced and symmetrical. This would not be so much of an issue for the Na`vi. Also, the animals may have need of two for their own uses, mating, bonding, connecting to their world.

I bet those two stuck their braids together when they got..friendly. I expected them to show that, but if they did I missed it. But it makes perfect sense to me.

As for the leg issue, well lots of animals on our earth have a different number of legs than we do. Perhaps more variety could have been shown in that certain case, but I thought it was grand the things they showed despite that.

Anyways, just my thoughts on that.

Saw it tonight, loved it. A bit predictable, but that's okay. The graphics were amazing, the 3D was beautiful. A visually appealing story all around, and a pretty good plot.

Enjoyed it highly!

i think the ammount of legs thing was used to show how different and freakish the planet was compared to earth.. because we all know the general population is afraid/shocked by what is different/unusual

I liked it, but didn't love it like I expected to. I've got issues with movies that are over 2 hours long, and had a headache after having to wear those 3-D glasses for near 3 hours. The CGI was pretty good, and in another 20 years I imagine we'll be seeing near-lifelike quality on screen. Incidentally I just got done watching District 9 for the first time on the same day as watching Avatar. I feel kind of sheepish saying this, but IMO District 9 was the better movie...

I saw this movie last night. Was easily the best movie of 2009. For the people that didn't like this movie, you lack imagination.

We didn't see enough of Pandora's wildlife to determine if one or two tendrils was the norm. But even if most of the wildlife had two, consider snakes--many snakes have only one functional lung. The other is vestigial. Perhaps it is the same with the Na'vi tendrils. ^_^

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

We didn't see enough of Pandora's wildlife to determine if one or two tendrils was the norm. But even if most of the wildlife had two, consider snakes--many snakes have only one functional lung. The other is vestigial. Perhaps it is the same with the Na'vi tendrils. ^_^

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We also didn't see much of the mating ritual. Suppose there are appendages kept within the body except when in use...

Wow.. 300 Million Dollars put into this movie... :cool:

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

This was definitely one of the top movies I've seen, ever. Graphically beautiful, engaging characters, interesting storyline.

Is it a brand new story? No, it's a combination of primitives versus high-tech exploiters, and a very common science fiction theme, the idea of a sentient world. But it's definitely an old story done in a new way.

We've seen a similar story in Dances with Wolves, though the ending didn't turn out quite as good in that one.
No, not in Fern Gully. This isn't about an evil demon directing people to destroy the environment. The destruction of the environment is really secondary to the issue, here--at least, that's what the invaders thought. This isn't about environmentalism, it's about respecting the rights of people who may be 'more primitive' technologically than you are. It's about how people can use force to oppress others in order to take what they want, and feel they have a right to do so. It's also an epic story about how a single person can make a difference, and also about how it's really dumb not to listen to the scientists. <grin>

In this one, the scientists turn out to be the good guys--that's always a nice change.

You've never been so happy to see people being eaten, at least not since Jurrasic Park. ;)

There's many layers here dealing with 'human' rights, environmentalism, and the wisdom of looking before you leap. The human future painted is unabashedly dystopian, but not without hope of redemption. They just won't find it on Pandora.

In terms of an alien world, perhaps the Na'vi are bit too human--a common enough error in science fiction. But the planet itself is incredibly colorful and unique, with air too thin or too toxic for humans to breathe without respirator masks, for all of its lush profusion of life.

Rather than seeing the wildlife of pandora as 'modified prehistoric animals', I was very impressed by the variations in body form (six-legged carnivores, 4-winged fliers, nectar-drinking hooved animals with breathing pores on their necks that are ridden like horses--land-going corals, small reptile-like animals that fly via propeller-like fans...the biology of this created world is detailed, fascinating, and realistic. One does expect to see things taking similar forms and routes to what we see on earth, because these body plans and forms work for the environments they are in, and Pandora is just enough like Earth to pull that off. Pandora actually has more diversity in its land-going organisms than Earth does.

For example, we see wolves in the Northern hemisphere--a 4-legged carnivore built for stamina. It has a long snout with sharp teeth for grabbing and pulling down prey. It's a communal hunter.
In Africa we see the Hyaena--it looks so similar to the wolf, a canine, that we thought it must be related, but in truth, it's not related to the wolf at all--it's not a canine, it's actually a type of weasel.
So we would expect to see creatures with a somewhat similar appearance filling a somewhat similar niche on another world.

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YouTube - Science of Avatar: Convergent Evolution

Yes I like the biology 101 lecture...
But 4 winged flyers were actually six limbed...like the other evolved creatures on the planet except the Na'vi...
4 limbs for flying, and then legs...
wolves have 4 limbs, whales have four limbs, the others are vestigal now or part of their tails...
INSECTS...have multiple limbs...
Mammels do not. on Earth....
there have been countless sci fi / Nat Geo biology shows showing what evolution on other planets may be like..
I think the biggest failure here in this movie is the greatness of multilimbed creatures, and the wonderful variety of wild life showing.. and then you have giant blue skinned., 4 limbed smurf/elves...
Why couldn't James Cameron have gotten the bright idea to have co-hesiveness in his creatures to his intelligent, gorgeous Na'vi??
THat is a failure. I like my movies to have cohesiveness...its jarring to some sense in the brain.
It is a wonderful movie, great special effects, great creature creations... but lack of a good story, plot holes the size of the moon, and non cohesion, make my brain go OOOOOKKKK.

I didn't see 6 limbs on the flyers--only 4. And the primate-like ro-lemurs (sp?) had only 4 limbs as well.

Vertebrate life on earth follows a generally 4-limbed body plan, with some few species sporting 2 limbs, or none. So why could Pandora vertebrates not sport a generally 6-limbed body plan, with some life forms sporting 4, 2, or none?

That the Na'vi are far too human is obvious, but their evolution is not implausible given the other life forms depicted.

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Originally Posted by Montessa Python

Yes I like the biology 101 lecture...
But 4 winged flyers were actually six limbed...like the other evolved creatures on the planet except the Na'vi...
4 limbs for flying, and then legs...
wolves have 4 limbs, whales have four limbs, the others are vestigal now or part of their tails...
INSECTS...have multiple limbs...
Mammels do not. on Earth....
there have been countless sci fi / Nat Geo biology shows showing what evolution on other planets may be like..
I think the biggest failure here in this movie is the greatness of multilimbed creatures, and the wonderful variety of wild life showing.. and then you have giant blue skinned., 4 limbed smurf/elves...
Why couldn't James Cameron have gotten the bright idea to have co-hesiveness in his creatures to his intelligent, gorgeous Na'vi??
THat is a failure. I like my movies to have cohesiveness...its jarring to some sense in the brain.
It is a wonderful movie, great special effects, great creature creations... but lack of a good story, plot holes the size of the moon, and non cohesion, make my brain go OOOOOKKKK.

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Are you really arguing about how realistically Cameron's made up creatures evolved in a sci-fi movie? I think sometimes you have to sit back and just enjoy a movie and not try to pick apart every small detail.

I know I know.. as MSTK3 said.
Its just a show, so sit back and relax

This is fun for me. lol

Sorry.. yet another GIANT plot hole.. as per goofs reported IMBD

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Plot holes: Near the ending of the movie, after the Na'vi have taken over the base, when they are marching the human military back onto the cargo planes to leave they are not wearing any masks to protect them from the air.

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Avatar is not the first nor the last movie to have a lot of plot holes. It isn't worth taking a fantasy movie and getting overly irritated at all the miniscule little things that weren't quite right.

From my experience with writing and creating visual things for story telling it is important to make things that the viewer can relate and connect to. Sure, the Na'vi were a lot more humanoid than what we would probably find on any other planet, but it enables us to connect and empathize with the race on a visceral level.

Yes, I enjoyed the movie. :) Sure, it had it's quirks/easter eggs but you will be very hard pressed to find a movie that doesn't.

Seen it twice. One of my favorite movies and by far some of the best digital/graphic set-ups I have seen in a movie so far.

IMO MP, you're reading WAYYY too much into it. It's a movie, it's fantasy, and it's sci-fi. That makes any of the 'logic' irrelevant and pointless because they can do whatever they want because it does not have to be logical in any way. Basically what pfan said, stop trying to pick apart a movie like it's supposed to be a real life situation. They can make they're creatures however they want to and it doesn't have to be based off of anything.

If you don't like true fantasy, then don't watch the movie. I hate when people go to relatively good movies that they know they're not interested in (the genre) and they purposely find more reasons to hate it. Go watch something else!

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Originally Posted by Montessa Python

Sorry.. yet another GIANT plot hole.. as per goofs reported IMBD

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Quote:

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Plot holes: Near the ending of the movie, after the Na'vi have taken over the base, when they are marching the human military back onto the cargo planes to leave they are not wearing any masks to protect them from the air.

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I don't know WHERE you got that from but it is wrong. After seeing the movie twice I remember pretty clearly that humans are ALL wearing masks at the end, unless there's a stray somewhere that I missed. (the second time around I was paying more attention to visualization and possible accidents such as that). Also, not wearing masks would not be considered a 'plot hole' because plot holes have to effect the plot and story itself. Even if they actually were missing the masks, which they were not, it would not have been incredibly detrimental to the story at the end of the movie.