Reminds me of The Lion King 2 (oh and Ice Age!)...

Rating: 5/10 (5 August 2010)

Before I get on to it I've noted that Avatar has a comparison to the Lion King 2 and here is why:
1) Avatar has absolutely stunning visuals and so does The Lion King 2 (in terms of animation.) For instance, Pride Rock and Pandora (both start with the same letter) each have its utmost lush and breaktaking landscapes, majestic wildlife (animals in Pride Rock and "forest friends" in Pandora) and interesting folks (in this case the Na'vi and the lions in Pride Rock.)
2) In terms of plot both films have the same gender - Kovu (an outsider lion from "the west-side") has been sent to Pride Rock by his family (say as an Avatar) to avenge his dead uncle which one of the lions from Pride Rock had once killed. But it turns out Kovu is not that bad and had decided to look past all this hate with the Pride Rock people, learn their ways and hopefully "be apart" of their community." So, like Avatar (which I am not going to describe the plot because I already sort of have), its just that question of "who's side are you on?!!"
3) Furthermore the lamb falls in love with the lion (which is not supposed to happen) and sure like Neytri and Jake the lions did not "mate" with each other but there was this poignant scene where the two lions sang a beautiful song "Love Will Find A Way." And then it all comes to that "you've been dating my daughter?!!" business...
4) Contining with that, its all that "go away, you're not one of us - we thought we could trust you!" and "you knew this would happen" after you slept with the "cheif's" daughter and you're kind is now coming to hunt out kind down thanks you, idiot". (Sky people invading and the West Side Lions invading.)
5) Also (please do try to bear with me ladies and gentlemen) there's always that scene where the goodies and the baddies have a fight.
I could go on and on and come to think of it, Avatar reminds me of the first Ice Age Movie as well!
Anyway, I'm going to try and bring all this together;;;;;
The plot of Avatar is potentially weak and highly unoriginal!! I have to say I got bored numerous times while watching this movie and thinking "whoa... Deja Vu?!!". Nonetheless its not the originality that bugs me, its the carelessness of the screenplay as well! The film itself is a drag, but I'm not trying to say that its bland because it isn't, it just shows that Avatar had that potential to have a good script, but I felt it was just wasted... (also, I heard that James Cameron took only three weeks to write the screenplay...?) well, OK...
"The best film is the world!". "This is what films should look like from now on...". What a hype! What a hype!! Gee, I didn't know that the disastrous storyline covered up with big visuals = best film in the world!! And um... it would be weird if films from now on starred blue people rather than humans...
But cutting to the chase, I'm not saying I hate Avatar, nor that I found it an exceedingly bad film - its just very weak on the direction side! But aside from that, Avatar can be rewarded for its stunning visuals. Pandora was beautifully enhanced and created and all this leads up to a stependous scenery! So thumbs up for that!!
I didn't see the film in 3D but I imagine it would lighten up the experience a bit more... (knowing that people mainly awarded Avatar 10 stars for its amazing 3D visuals and also for its "fantastic storyline!")
In short, like I said, Avatar is all hype. I don't hate it or found it potentially dreadful, but like I said - it was weak!! But lucky there was fantastic visuals to glam it up... But nonetheless, Avatar can escape with a high five!
5.9 STARS - SASIFACTORY BUT NOT BRILLIANT...