Review - Avatar

Rating: 7/10 (8 July 2012)

I missed the initial theatrical release of Avatar in Devember of 2009, but I got the DVD the following July and watched the movie on my television at home, and I was quite blown away. My liking for it has decreased. How I feel about the story, characters, and everything else about the movie is pretty much exactly the same, but to a lesser degree; I think it's okay.
The story is set in the year 2154, and it involves an RDA mission to an earth-sized moon called Pandora. We enter this new world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-marine who goes on this mission on short notice. For a while, the humans had some success in interacting with the Na'vi via "avatars", remote-controlled bodies. However, relations between the natives and the human have turned bad, and all interactions between them stopped. However, Jake eventually meets the local native tribe, falls in love with them and the new world, and ends up fighting against the RDA in defense of the new people and world he now considers his home.
Let's get the obvious out of the way: the CGI is visually stunning and almost flawless, and with extreme detail. In fact, the movie goes beyond having great visuals. It introduces a wonderful new world. It has a lot of earth-like characteristics, but it also has a lot of new and exotic characteristics (and even some uniqueness in the familiar characteristics) the combination of which is a beautiful world. Overall, the world is something we've all seen before, yet never seen before at the same time; simultaneously old and new. And it's all portrayed excellently with brilliant scope and spectacle. The same is true about the natives and the avatars. Like the new world, they are portrayed excellently with the CGI with utmost detail. The natives are humanoids, but they're ten to twelve feet tall, blue-skinned, and golden-eyed, and they even have tails. They are an interesting blend of human, alien, and feline. The same is true about the avatars. The Na'vi were well designed, especially Neytiri, who is beautiful. I found Jake and Neytiri to be very likable, and a great couple, and their combined physical appearance and personalities give them a likability that pierces through the special effects.
That's not to say that everything about the film is perfect. The story is extremely basic, derivative, clichéd, and predictable, and a bit corny. The characters, aside from Jake, Neytiri, and Grace, are pretty shallow, especially the villains, who are very one-dimensional (but effective). Also, the dialogue is very clichéd and a bit corny, almost like something out of a kids movie. However, despite these flaws, the movie works. The story clichéd, predictable, etc., but it's coherent, well-structured, well-paced, solid, and consistent, and it flows. The characters, although lacking a bit in development, are effective. The three protagonists Jake, Neytiri, and Grace, should have been better in terms of development, but they are effective and I was able to have a sufficient emotional attachment to them and their relationships. Even the dialogue, weak as it is, gets its job done.
We've seen this story a million times, but never like this. The story could be considered a sci-fi version of Pocahontas or Dances With Wolves, set in a new fantasy world. Just like in original Star Wars trilogy, Avatar brings some new life into old clichés. In my opinion, the original Star Wars trilogy does a much better job at this, but Avatar does an okay job at it. The story combines elements of Pocahontas, Titanic, Braveheart, Star Wars, and even The Matrix.James Cameron also borrows from some of his own films, including Aliens (military/technology) and Titanic (the love story, and the way the movie is structured).
Also, the new world isn't simply in the movie to look nice. In my opinion, it actually feels alive, and it's very much a character itself in the film. I want to make it clear that I was not duped or blinded by the visuals. I felt that Cameron actually used the visuals and new world to evoke emotion, and also used them as part of the story itself. In terms of the script, the storytelling is basic, by the numbers, but I also felt that a lot of the storytelling was within these great visuals and the world, and in the way it was combined into the story. The effects helped me get immersed into the new world and helped me care about the characters and the story. Also, the film has great sound - quality, effects, editing, etc. These sound aspects also added a bit to the emotion and immersing effects of the story. I also liked James Horner's score, which, in my opinion, is some of the best work of Horner's career.
I felt that a lot of what made the story enjoyable was within the simplicity, and in the details. And, in my opinion, while the film doesn't have much intelligence, it does have a little bit, which very few other movies like this have. It's actually a halfway decent blockbuster, and it does not contain the obnoxiousness and imbecility of films like Michael Bay's films. Unlike those films, Avatar actually has some heart and soul, and characters that the audience can care about. There are definitely several things that can be criticized - the simple and derivative story, the clichés, the hammy dialogue, and the one-dimensional villains - but a lot can be said in defense of the movie's story aspects (and it has a lot of Cameron elements in it). Besides, these flaws are typical of blockbusters.
I thought the movie was okay. I found it sufficiently emotional, memorable, and entertaining, and it's nice family entertainment. However, the movie that changes movies?? No way.
My Rating: *** (out of ****)
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