Avar-rated

Rating: 5/10 (13 March 2012)

I've got to admit that a film like "Avatar" is not the usual film I would go for. I'm not a big sci-fi nut and would only really watch a science fiction film if it was meant to be incredibly good. Don't get me wrong, I like "District 9" as much as the next person, but I would never watch a film like "District 9" if someone hadn't told me that it was incredible. A film about giant blue people riding around on deformed dinosaurs doesn't appeal to me. However, when my blonde friend mentioned that he had the DVD how could I not borrow it? This is the most expensive film ever made and the highest grossing. Also, there's someone constantly drooling over it, telling me how amazing it is. Well I had to put it to the test and my thoughts are that it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. But it wasn't as good as everyone was saying.
If Peter Jackson's "King Kong" had passionate intimate relations with Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland" then I would imagine that the offspring would look something like "Avatar". And there is certainly no denying at how incredible it looks! The film is a visual feast and would be the perfect film to own on Blu-ray because I don't think that DVD did enough justice to the incredible locations. There's such a great juxtaposition between the dull sciency place and the garish land of the giant blue people. The CGI animation is also almost flawless, although I would say no better than "King Kong" in some areas. The blue people for example didn't look that great compared to the incredible Kong and his dinosaur friends.
I think that the visuals were so sensational that people sort of became hypnotised and desensitised into thinking that "Avatar" is one of the most amazing films of all time. I watched it for the first time on DVD, which means that the screenplay also shows up as much as the special effects, and they certainly differ in quality. When we first enter the land of the blue people it plays out almost like a video game, with a big blue man patrolling the forest with a big gun and shooting weird enemies. The screenplay is incredibly dumb in other words. It's nothing we haven't seen before but because it's put into this garish fantasy world it appears almost brand new.
It's also really patronising with the "save the planet" theme being constantly jammed down our throats. The big blue people even use their hair to connect with the wildlife and be at one with them. They're no different from my hippy tree-hugging Aunty Susie. The love story is also really clichéd and sometimes feels forced. Some of the characters are two-dimensional and predictable as well with the evil Army man with his army of evil humans going to destroy the blue people's beautiful habitat to get the oil (I know it's not oil, but really it's no different to it). However, some characters are also quite likable like Sigourney Weaver's character who was really funny on occasions! The final half hour was actually really spectacular with incredible action gracing the screen. It suddenly became really fun, although predictable. It was so obvious from the fight that the paraplegic was going to have a massive battle with the evil army man. That part became predictable, but fun. This is what the end to Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland" should've been like! The directing was really impressive throughout as well, as it was full of energy and captured some truly fantastic cinematography. The use of sound was also very effective.
But in the end "Avatar" may look sensational and it does have a heart but it doesn't have a brain. "Inception" manages to balance incredible visuals with an incredible screenplay and succeeds. Maybe, if "Avatar" was able to do the same it would've been absolutely brilliant. But it didn't. Films like "The Artist" completely counter films like "Avatar" as it doesn't even bother to add any colour or sound, yet wins all the major awards and rightly so! "Avatar" is a loud, in-your-face and dumb sci-fi actioner that is brilliant to look at and it does get progressively more fun as it goes on, but lacks the writing skills. "District 9" deals with similar themes but in a much, much more effective way. Watch that instead.