Pocahontas from Outer Space

Rating: 3/10 (26 December 2009)

Pocahontas from Outer Space took a great many years and a huge pile of money to get made, but it's finally here. Now the question is: Does it live up to its hype? Avatar is the story of Jake Sully, a war veteran who is replacing his dead twin in a mission on the alien planet of Pandorum. The planet contains a very precious rock on which a native people called the Na'vi happen to be living on. In order to connect to the locals, it is possible to enter a remotely controlled alien body called avatars. Colonel Quaritch is prepared to make a deal with Jake if he can manage to get the Na'vi to move. If he can't, it'll be played the hard way. I'm pretty sure you're seeing where this is going. The movie's often been called a revolution in cinema. Well, is it? I very much doubt it. Truth be told, in technical terms this movie has little to be complained about. The CGI is among the best I've seen. Although you don't impress me with CGI (I already assume everything's possible, show me a story instead of a gimmick), Cameron has created a different world that I felt immersed in. If I had to complain about the special effects it would be that the creature design felt very much designed. There, the special effects are fine, I've said it. Let's move on to the story.
The concept of an avatar is a very interesting one. You aren't just controlling a body with a joystick, but you can actually *be* another species (or humanoid at least). There's something existentially interesting about this. As Jake enters the body of a Na'vi and enters their tribe, there's a much bigger connection for both Jake and the audience. You can literally see things through their eyes. Asking Neytiri if she wants to date his avatar feels a bit less like interspecies erotica. However, Jake is still a human being. When the colonel decides it's ready for the hard way, Jake stands by the natives. "Are you going to turn against your own race?" asks the Colonel. And that's about as much depth you're going to get out of it. So much for existentially interesting.
Well, what about the story? If you've seen the trailer, you can pretty much guess what the story is going to be. If you haven't seen the trailer, you'll figure it out as you're watching the movie. You will have plenty of time to do so anyway considering the movie is at least an hour too long for its own good. Not only is the movie too explanatory, but the audience is always 5 steps ahead. There's nothing original here. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if it weren't so long and didn't have such a big feeling of self-importance. Its great big morality is a bit skewed. I'm very interested in the concept of nature and what the positive or negative aspects are of us placing us so far from it. There's a harmony with the earth that is lost. A harmony lost that brings us many of our modern problems including global warming, floods and even depression. There are a lot of flaws in human society. The Na'vi are a people who are far more in touch with their planet. The comparison is made of the entire planet functioning like a brain functions with each separate piece as important. This is a side of life even from our own species' tribal ancestors (and the Na'vi really are just blue versions of Indians) that we've forgotten. But you know what has also changed? We understand that there's bacteria that we can face with medicine, that we don't have to sacrifice children for an imaginary deity and much more. Unfortunately, Cameron's Avatar its moral message doesn't surpass "Greedy humans = bad, Nature-friendly natives = good". They even worship an existing god of nature that takes sides. What morality is this serving?
This is an epic and pretentious version of Pocahontas, in space. Is it bad? Not really. If you treat it as the empty space version of Pocahontas that it is, it is fine. The story is well constructed, however simple, the planet is rich and there's plenty of stuff to satisfy your action and gimmick-needs (including 3D). However, if like me, you want something deeper or original, this movie simply doesn't deliver. There is a lot of absolutely splendid science-fiction out there, but I don't think this is one of them.