Sorry, no air benders here.

Avatar is the first major film release by James Cameron since 1997’s Titanic, which went on to become the highest grossing film in history. And as such, Avatar received a considerable amount of hype, but is Avatar the next Titanic?

Well given that I don’t really like Titanic that didn’t matter to me much, but James Cameron is also the man behind Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which are amongst the best sequels in film history, and if I found Avatar half as entertaining as them, then I knew I would be in for a real treat.

I wish I could say Avatar were the next Aliens or T2, but I can’t. It isn’t that it is necessarily bad, but it does have some pretty noticeable flaws, particularly in the predictability of the plot.

The story takes place in the distant future, where a large mining corporation is making residence on the earth-like moon of Pandora, mining it for its resources. In order to operate peacefully, some of the humans spend a lot of their time in “avatar” bodies. They do this by transferring their minds into artificial bodies modeled after the natives of Pandora, the Na’vi (who unfortunately don’t shout “Hey!” and “Listen!” when advice is needed). The Na’vi are nine-feet tall, have blue skin and have some cat and monkey-like qualities about them.

The humans have been using these avatars for quite some time, as many of the Na’vi natives know how to speak English (and I assume other human languages as well). The thing I like about this avatar concept is that, as deep-rooted in sci-fi as it is, it is never talked about in such a way that it speaks down to the audience. It expects them to follow right along without too much explanation, as it should.

The rest of the movie is the same way when it comes to the world of Pandora, it introduces you to its world in a way that is inviting, not alien.

Which brings me to the strongest aspect of the film, the visual effects. The visual effects of Avatar have been hyped as revolutionary and groundbreaking. And the visuals are indeed quite stunning. The world of Pandora has a realistic look to it, despite its fantastic nature of giant trees and floating islands. And those Na’vi actually show emotions on their faces! This seems like a massive rarity in CGI when used in live-action films, as most CGI characters seem to have dead-eyes and blank stares.

Avatar does something great in that it creates a world with its visuals. Every creature of Pandora is intriguing to look at, and we are given plenty of time to see every creature from a strong perspective, whereas most films would throw a CGI creature at us for the sole purpose of an action sequence which rushes by way too fast with too many way-too-close-up close-ups. With Avatar, we are introduced to every creature and every location, and the world was definitely given some thought. My personal favorite creatures were a kind of insect with wings that acted like helicopter propellers, which is just wonderfully impractical.

I suppose from a technical standpoint I can see why Avatar would be deemed revolutionary. Though I feel like something of a curmudgeon, as I’m afraid I’m not quite as ecstatic about Avatar’s technical achievements as most. Maybe it is because of the abundance of CGI in almost every movie that is made these days, but I find that I can only say so much about the visuals of Avatar. Don’t get me wrong, it is great to look at, and really the visuals are quite stunning. But I’m afraid that isn’t enough for me, no matter how great the visuals are, they can’t be the only factor in a film. And with Avatar, I’m afraid the great visuals can’t back up the aforementioned predictable plot.

The plot centers around Jake Sully, a parapalegic marine who signs up for the Avatar program in place of his deceased twin brother. Upon entering his new Avatar body, he comes to learn and appreciate the world around him, and begins to understand that there’s more to the Na’vi than meets the eye. He also begins to see that the people he’s been working for also aren’t quite the people he once thought them to be.

The primary Na’vi character is Neytiri, the princess of the Na’vi (or at least princess of the prominent tribe of the film, I suppose there could be many more Na’vi tribes on Pandora). Being the most prominent CG character (excluding Jake Sully, who appears as both human and his CG Avatar), Neytiri had to be the most believable of all the CG characters, and I can say that this goal was accomplished. In terms of emotion and interaction, Neytiri is the most believable CGI character in years!

Avatar is a man vs. nature story, with Sully (and a few other heroes) trying to teach the other humans about the ways of the Na’vi and of the beauty of Pandora, and prevent the other humans from destroying Pandora’s recourses completely. I don’t so much mind the environmental story itself, but the problem with Avatar’s plot is that it does very little to make it seem new. Yes, the world of the film is inventive, but in terms of plot, it is pretty by-the-book.

The story is just too predictable. I could predict how every next scene was going to go down for pretty much the entire thing. And I figured out which characters were going to die and which ones would live the moments they were introduced. And personally, I didn’t sense a whole lot of depth in their characterization. Maybe I’m just being too hard on this subject, as I keep finding myself comparing Avatar’s plot and characters with another man vs. nature epic, Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke.

Mononoke had a deep plot and strong characterization to be sure (it is Miyazaki after all), with its villains being more morally ambiguous than evil, and both the human civilizations and the world of nature were both shown to have good sides and bad. By comparison Avatar’s characters and plot seem like cardboard cutouts. You immediately know who is good and who is bad, without any other dimensions being shown in the characters. But again, maybe I am being too harsh with this subject, James Cameron was made famous with films like Terminator after all. I should have assumed this would be something of an action film to some extent. But even if the characters were deeper, the plot still progresses too predictably.

Another story/character aspect I feel I should point out comes from Avatar’s hero himself. As I said, Jake Sully is a parapalegic, but once he enters his Avatar body, he is able to walk, run and jump. The problem is that this aspect seems brushed aside, and the scene in which Sully first becomes an Avatar and regains his ability to walk seemed to lack the power that it should have. It seems to go by a bit too quickly and without the impact that should have been there. This could have been a strong emotional point of the film, but instead it seemed to just rush by.

By now I must sound like a complete prude, marking off Avatar as much as I have. But it isn’t that Avatar is terrible by any means, it has some of the best CGI effects I can recall seeing on film. But as a story, I’m afraid it falls flat. The wonderful thing that Avatar does is that it creates a world all its own, and makes it believable, which is something rare in movies. I just wish the story told within Pandora was stronger.

All in all, I feel that Avatar isn’t the epic it could have been, but at the same time I do recommend it. The visuals are amazing, the action sequences are exciting (albeit a little ridiculous at times) and the world of Pandora is something unique to behold. And despite its weak plot, it is a good return to mainstream filmmaking for James Cameron.

You are like a baby!

(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10, rated)

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