Game Changing Technology presents a Pop Culture Story

Rating: 5/10 (31 March 2010)

There are two reasons to watch this movie. One is for the beautiful and interesting world that Cameron has created and how he brought his imagination to life. The other is for Cameron's "performance capture" rig which will transform movie making and eventually minimize actors in film.
When you go to the great amusement parks, Disney, Six Flags, or Busch Gardens, you are entertained, thrilled and excited. Quite often, it's a technical wonder that helps to make it happen, usually something that is startling to the world at large because of its possibilities. Much of what Disney is about is moving large numbers of people in a efficient manner. This movie is no different.
As a movie, its akin to the amusement parks' cotton candy or 'candy coated popcorn, peanuts, and a prize'. Its fluff delivered with the best engineering cinematography has to offer. There-in lies the "It's great! No, it's horrible" debate. Technologically advanced, well manufactured, and brilliantly executed version of a tired story riddled with plot holes; hyperbole; mix-matched theologies masquerading as philosophy; marginal acting; a weak script; and where attention to the direction of the film was an afterthought.
So, for everyone who is thoughtful about movies and want to have a good story delivered in a professional manner – they would be disappointed. However, they don't have to be. These folks should watch it for the technical wizardry, especially the flight scenes and the emotions mapped to the character's faces. These are the harbingers of movies to come. In 20 years, will the world of actors be reduced to nameless, union-scale paid, physical performers and voice-over performers? Is this the death of acting as a millionaire profession?
For those whom the spectacle is all, who are able to check their disbelief at the door like you would your coat and hat, they would love the wonder of it all. Enjoy it like the carnival ride that it is. Don't think about what is going on just have fun with it. Because, really, the story, script, character motivations, and science (required in a Sci-Fi movie) is really, really, weak.
My personal favourite plot hole has to do with the magnetic flux mountains – if this region disrupts the communications and sensors of the aircraft, what kind of telemetry is being used by the Avatars such that they are unaffected? I mean, Jake is here and the Avatar is there, and the radio doesn't work but Jake and the Avatar are in full synchronization? Hunh? And my second favourite is the 'unobtainium'. Really? They couldn't come up with a better name? At my viewing, there was an audible guffaw from several parts of the audience the first time that term was used, and the snicker just got louder each time they said it.
So, you will have to treat this like a ride at the park. Some like roller coasters, and some do not. If you like movies, watch it for its technical brilliance and laugh at the plot and the story. Have a contest to come up with the most preposterous bits. If you know its trash, you can still watch it even if its just to make fun of it.
If you love SciFi, watch it for the visuals and the concepts he puts forward of an alien ecology, and then discuss how you would have done it differently. Its okay to love the movie just as an adventure film like Disney's "Pocahontas" or "Dances with Wolves".
If you found it thought provoking and you were impressed by the culture of the Na'vi, you may need to pay more attention in school or read some non-fiction, because all of that stuff in the movie is just 'candy coated popcorn, peanuts, and a prize'.
Ultimately, Avatar is a movie that uses a game-changing set of technology which is presented through a pop-culture story. For those of you who think, don't let the story muddle the thinking around the technology; and for the rest, enjoy the muddle of the story and the wonder the technology creates, just don't think while watching.