Could have been better

Rating: 6/10 (25 January 2010)

Coming from the view of your average 16 year old girl (who is not out to complain or whine about things just for the sake of it) I honestly felt that this movie had so much potential, which it delivered visually but not in the storyline. My main problem with it was the fact that I predicted most of the events that were going to take place, and when that happens, the excitement of the movie gets taken away. I also couldn't help thinking the whole way through how terribly similar the story was to the Disney Pocahontas film (and by the sound of it a few other films too) which I am already very familiar with. At times the Avatar storyline even verged on cheesy, which shouldn't have happened because the acting was very good - cheesiness is something that should only happen in BAD movies. And this movie wasn't bad. Couldn't there have been just a little more originality in the plot? Avatars cliché storyline has been seen time and time again. Even I know that! The story just felt a bit empty and I couldn't get emotionally involved or develop any feeling for the characters, which is what "The best movie ever made" SHOULD be doing.
As for the CGI, you would be silly not to admit that it is amazing. And the fact that it can be watched in 3D makes it even better. You see every little detail, down to the pores on the creatures skin. Everything is individually created to give a very 'real' effect. Although, I did find Sigourney Weaver's avatar character quite odd. Why did it look so young and differ so much from her human character's persona? I remember thinking in the theater that it looked a little... creepy. I'm sure that Sigourney wouldn't have been bothered if they made her avatar look the same age as her, I'm sure she's used to the fact that she isn't in her twenties anymore. The Pandora environment and creatures were interesting and (surprisingly) original. As for the name 'Pandora', it sounds nice, but again, couldn't they have thought of something a bit less cliché? Pandora just seems like a name an eight year old would pick out.
Overall I did enjoy watching Avatar. Although I thought it could have been a little shorter. 162 minutes sitting down, watching a predictable movie feels like a long time for me. It's not the type of movie I can see myself watching again and again either. I feel like overtime it will wear on me a bit and become a lot less exciting once the impact of the CGI wears off. In saying that, if Avatar DIDN'T have it's CGI element, I don't think it would have been nearly as successful. People are being too easily sucked in by new things and not thinking about the movie as a whole. With such an ambitious and costly film, you would have thought there could have been a bit more time put into making the actual story truly spectacular as well. In my opinion, it could have been better.
My rating is 6.5