Blockbuster does it again, where is the plot or story?

Rating: 1/10 (21 December 2009)

Yes, I gave this film a 1. Yes, the visuals were great. So are a lot of visuals on video games. These movies shouldn't get a pass if the visuals are good. I can go back to the original Star Wars. The visuals were not that great, but at least the movie was fun and had a great story.
Like others have said, this movie applies the most basic plot. Us against them. You have seen this in films like Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, Last Samurai. It all the basic themes and nothing else. You are just hammered with a bunch of crying and boo-woo and tribal singing and dancing. This can be an OK concept. I actually liked the Last Samurai. Guy joins the tribe and he is eventually accepted. But there was more there. There was the capable use of Bow and Arrow against forces with guns. But the good guys eventually lost because they were outnumbered. Kind of makes sense.
In Avatar, I just don't care that much for the blue people. At first they were pretty arrogant. Jake was this close to being hit by a bow and arrow. I also thought they accepted him pretty easily. There really wasn't a reason. He just kind of joined. Here is a guy that doesn't speak the language, has some kind of foreign connection is down right awkward. Accepting him can't possibly go wrong? Right? They then accept him and reject him and accept him again. He gets accepted kind of quickly and easily passes all of the dumb-down initiation tests. (imagine that). There is nothing really compelling about the blue people Na'Vi culture except for their connection with the environment. They are connected but to what extent. They can talk to the other animals? The trees? Why are we supposed to fall in love with them because of that. Because they use primitive weapons? Towards the end of the movie, I was actually rooting for the humans. Why? Because there never really was a case they were bad. Sure, they went after the Na'Vi's main tree. That is bad, but Cameron never really tells us why. So, for all we know, killing the tree was pretty important to the movie. There was mention about the Pandora ore, supposedly it was very expensive. That is all we here mention of for blowing up the tree. For all we know, that expensive ore could have saved billions on earth. The plot is so dumbed-down, I didn't really care. But, the humans had better weapons, so I just hoped they could pull it off. And of course, this would be impossible even though they had more advanced technology. The blue people have to win.
So yea, this is another Hollywood farce that will get a lot of good reviews. But all those reviews will be based on the visuals and nothing more.