Enjoyable film not be taken too seriously

Rating: 5/10 (21 January 2010)

The story of Avatar is by no means original. Avatar is simply the story of Dances with Wolves retold in outer space. This raises the question: is it really necessary to retell this story in outer space? Well this change in setting does not make it impossible to enjoy this film it does make it so silly that it should not be taken seriously. I for one do not take the premise that a species so incredibly advanced that they are capable of interstellar travel would act this way seriously for even a second. Nor do I take the idea that they would happen to encounter a planet where the native inhabitants are are sexually attractive to them and perfectly in tune with nature like the Na'vi are seriously nor should anyone for that matter.
So the whole premise of this movie is silly but what is worse is that it is incredibly manipulative as well. The whole story is set up in order to manipulate you into accepting its message. And that message is that the Na'vi are good and the military is bad. In order to coax you into accepting this message the military is led by a comical stereotype whose only motivation is to acquire a make believe element called Unobtainium with completely unexplained properties. As a result you do not have to decide for yourself which side you want to root for because the producers of this film have already made this decision for you. Well it is still possible to enjoy this film despite all its flaws it should not be taken too seriously in the process.