Avatar doesn't live up to it's hype

Rating: 5/10 (30 December 2009)

If special effects could make a movie, then I would have given Avatar 8 out of 10 stars. It's too bad that special effects do not make a good movie.
The story of Avatar is somewhat interesting when read on paper. In the far future, an alien world is discovered where 10 foot tall blue creatures (Na'vi) live in harmony with nature. Mankind finds out that there is a valuable recourse available on the planet and tries desperately to obtain it. Technology allowed human beings to take possession over the body of some of the Na'vi, Matrix style. This allows for our human hero to infiltrate the world of the aliens and to learn their habits and convince them to let humans do their job and to extract the recourse peacefully while cutting some trees here and there. Of course it's never that simple, since the Na'vi are attached to their trees and **** hits the fan.
Since the movie follows almost all the clichés in the genre, it's not hard to imagine what the rest of the movie will be like. It's like watching Pocahontas again. There is an hour to introduce us to this magnificent world, there is a love story intertwined and there are some epic battle scenes. The dialogue is laughable with stuff as 'Bet you didn't expect this coming now, did ya' said by a human soldier rushing by with a helicopter. Also, almost the entire movie consists out of flat characters. There is the stubborn evil army colonel, the passionate scientist accompanied by another science geek with little social skills, the tough soldier chick played by Michelle Rodriguez and the hero who goes through a process of enlightenment.
The movie's supposedly ace in the hole is the special effects. I have to admit, watching it in 3d on a big screen is pretty impressive, but no amount of technology can cover up the lack of imagination. We see a 3d jungle inhabited by horse like creatures with 6 legs, dragons and dinosaurs. The human army consists out of robots (that look like they walked straight out of The Matrix) and the usual 'futuristic' marines with assault rifles. I found it ironic how The Lord Of The Rings managed to create a more mystical and fantasy-like atmosphere, while being shot in reality in New Zeeland, than what Avatar does with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of special effects. A lot of the time I got the feeling that the creatures where just given a pair of extra legs and holes in their body for the sake of being bizarre. Aside from a few nice details, such as the way the Na'vi connect with the creatures, there is just little in there that makes it really clever and compelling.
To conclude I would like to say that Avatar isn't a terrible movie. It's just a really mediocre one. It might be worth seeing for the lush green landscapes, but don't expect to see things that you have never seen before.