beautiful but a tad infantile and predictable story

Rating: 7/10 (16 December 2009)

Unfortunately Cameron looks down to the public and offers us a story so full of clichés and of a simplified view of the world, people and the Universe in general, that it is truly condescending. Neither he nor the studio behind him respect their audience. And after they sunk a reported 400 or so million in the project who can blame them? They need to recoup at least most of this money, and they do it by trying to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. I think Jim Schembri from The Age sums it up very well: "There's no argument that, as a showcase for the immersive potential of 3D visual effects technology, James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar is an unqualified triumph. But as a story designed to engage, enthral and entertain adult audiences for almost three hours, it is a disappointment strewn with weak characters, environmental platitudes and anti-progress clichés. A compulsive envelope-pusher, Cameron invented a pioneering camera system and ground-breaking visual processing techniques for the film, but perhaps he should have spent a little less time obsessing over the technology and a tad more developing the story beyond the compendium of clichés it regrettably is." My vote is 10 + 4/ 2 = 7.