It could have been a classic

Rating: 6/10 (16 January 2010)

I seem to be in a minority who believes that a film's score depends on many factors. Some of which undoubtedly get 9/10. These include the obvious like special effects and direction. However, plot and imagination score poorly, as do dialogue and cliché avoidance. It's fine to take coral reefs as inspiration for an extraterrestrial jungle but it isn't new; neither are floating rocks; illuminating the ground with each step is a tribute to Michael Jackson, I get that; alien sex, which is much like ours only taller; horses with extra legs (come on!); and dragons!? Are our human minds so limited that artists have to fall back on mythical creatures? I might be judging unfairly here. Maybe we've conceived of all we are able to conceive for marketable films. Anything else just wouldn't sell.
And then there's the plot. The good guys win. I've clicked on "contains spoilers" just in case no one knew. Okay, so maybe the question is how. And that is another of my gripes about this movie. Strength won the day. The more woolly among us may say the forces of nature or forces of good intentions did but you only have to scratch the surface of this very superficial and moralising plot to see that winning didn't happen without it. No cleverness or ingenuity, just brute force. The irony is is that this is a sanctimonious movie with an unintentionally gloomy moral.
After seeing the way the majority voted (and I include my own 6/10 vote in that) I think the abiding moral for producers might be; make a movie with lots of bright colours and flashing lights and you're onto a winner.