Great Visual - Average Story

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2010)

Tried to see Avatar opening weekend on the IMAX 3D but sold out. Saw it on a regular screen. Since then I was at lunch with some friends from school and all they kept talking about was the way it looked so real in 3D and how they felt like they were surrounded by the 3D flakes, and how the Avatar world and it's inhabitants looked so real, and how it didn't feel like CGI and so on. I wanted to jump in and be part of the conversation but I felt like I missed out because I didn't get the 3d IMAX experience. So I went this week and saw it in all it's glory in the 3D IMAX, and I realized something. I thought it was definitely cool, all the special effects and all that technical stuff, but then I realized something half way through the movie–it's a regurgitation of the story of Pocahontas, with the names changed to protect the innocent. I thought to myself, this movie is a revolutionary step in film making as far as special effects, but the story isn't. That disappointed me. How come film makers or Hollywood don't have an original thought? Don't get me wrong, once in a while something will go to the independent theaters that gives us something new. But why, even in a movie with so much special effects planning and all, do they still have to steal from another story? End of the day, if you are going to see Avatar, it's a must see on the 3D IMAX screen. And the execution of the movie is brilliant, but the story...well...I read it in middle school.