Avatar: meh...

Rating: 6/10 (15 February 2010)

Really, with all the hype going on about Avatar and its immensely rising status as 'greatest piece of cinema' and 'best selling piece of... anything', I just had to see what the fuss was about. And for the life of me, I don't see it.
First off: to praise a movie JUST for its 'graphics' is bullcrap to me. Flash makes a movie easier to watch and makes it easier to believe what's being displayed on screen, but that doesn't make any of the plot, the writing or the acting better. With that said I will admit that most of Avatar does look good, except for some animals and other details. But what does that matter? It could've been 2D for all I cared. I've seen a lot of anime and I'm always more impressed with amazing 2D animation than CGI (maybe that also has to do with me being an avid gamer, meaning 'stunning 3D visuals' are daily matter for me). So yeah, it looks neat most of the time.
But when you get down to the bare essentials, there's just not a whole lot to look at. I simply sat in my chair watching, waiting for something to take me by surprise or... something. All the characters are stereotypical, the dialogue never is interesting or creative and the plot is pretty much Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves or what have you. Never was I clueless to what was going to happen, and never did I care. Why would I? The characters were like eighties cartoon characters; good guys are naive and get themselves in stupid situations, bad guys are EVILLLLL² because being evil is where it's at! When I was watching GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, I was expecting this, but not with Avatar, currently #51 of the top 250 of IMDb. My god, how embarrassed I was at the shallowness of James Cameron's writing.
When a movie tries to convey a message and tries to connect with its viewers on an intellectual level, it should not at the same time underestimate that very same audience. And the message is laid on so thick that it doesn't hit home, it just bumped me in the forehead while it was trying to force its way down my throat. So here you have a story with unbelievably stereotypical characters who have to play their part in an epic about imperialism and self-discovery, but you just don't care. Also, the message is mostly one-sided and there is no sign of any relativity whatsoever. So any opportunity to add some depth was left untouched, sadly, which makes Avatar a lot like a kid's novel with a moral at the end of the story. It leaves nothing to think about and it presents its points in a, dare I say, pubescent fashion.
All that aside: Avatar is a blast to watch if you can turn your brain off and just look at the purty pictures. With all the predictable build- up, mindless action and other 'never really intense' moments, you can simply sit back and enjoy the ride. But when you look at its intent, I say 'meh, I've seen better'. I just couldn't connect with anything portrayed on screen, and why so many others could, I will never understand.