You may not be able to ignore the phenomena of "Avatar". The dedication of Cameron to this movie and the expertise of its execution are a credit to movie making. The movie generated the most amount of employment in Hollywood during a time of recession and now likely will generate the most revenue as well. These factors alone may be enough to secure a Best Picture Oscar.
I went into this movie with very low expectations. There has been so much publicity about this movie and how it may represent the future of movie making. One should always be skeptical when such hyperbole is spouted. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Certainly not the future I would have anything invested in. It is an imperfect offering of the 3D age.
The critique about a "1st draft script" was well justified. Stereotypical characters fill this movie : gun/violence loving military man, plucky army chick, greedy corporate type, noble savage. Sadly, even the gimmick of 3D adds no further dimension (no pun intended) to the members (chief, shaman wife, rival warrior) of the Na'vi tribe nor to the other members of the human cast either.
The dialogue is similarly unimaginative. The single moment of humor and wit lies in the name of the ore that is so precious: Unobtainium. Movies like Avatar are about the spectacle, that WOW factor. The thoughts, ideas and indeed the inner world of our characters should be demonstrated with actions. Instead, James Cameron reverts back to the "voice-over" from our lead man Jake. Very lazy storytelling.
The plot is equally unoriginal. A "white" messiah infiltrates the natives, thinks he can win them over, the baddies come along and our white messiah (painted bright blue now) comes to the rescue of the natives. You've seen this before in Dances with Wolves, Dune and even to some degree with District 9. That last movie at least had an interesting twist in its narrative. So Avatar is just another movie about the white man's guilt from plundering the riches of North America and destroying the native American culture. Yawn.
So, even with low expectations, I tried to enjoy the movie. This is movie that was suppose to be about the awesome experience of 3D. Like Jake being connected to his avatar via the pod, the audience should be similarly immersed into the world of Pandora. Our neuro-cortex would be bathed in the detail and colours of Pandora's fauna and landscapes, especially its extraordinary airborne mountains.
Even taken at its most superficial, the film doesn't offer is any real imaginative leap. Like most "Eden" fantasies (think Jurassic Park), we do encounter dragon-like dinosaurs, sabretooth like mammals, massive awe-inspiring trees with the weird insects. The film doesn't glow as its visionary palette is both conventional and narrow. Remember the visual effects of Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the soft hues and lighting effects that highlighted each scene. Cameron should be taking lessons from Peter Jackson here.
The 3D capture also can't seem to keep up with the action. The movements are often blurred and the motion is somewhat jarring. This unfortunately, all combines to create a nagging low level of nausea which started about 30 minutes into the film and culminated with a not unsubstantial retro-orbital headache by the end.
Perhaps the real innovation of Avatar is in the future of gaming but it certainly offers nothing to narrative cinema, creative storytelling, imaginative dialogue and thoughtful exploration of humanity.
I have no doubt that many will see Avatar more than a few times. I also have no doubt that many more such 3D spectacles are in the works. To avoid disappointment in enjoying a 3D spectacle, I would recommend you wait for a better production. Visually, the world of the Pandora is all undeniably dazzling. Ultimately though, it seems a soulless one.
