Avatar Movie Reviews

[OnePimpTiger]

I haven't heard anyone mention it here, but a friend of mine brought up a good point that the storyline is very similar to Battle for Terra, the animated movie from 2007. The summary on IMDB: "A peaceful alien planet faces annihilation, as the homeless remainder of the human race sets its eyes on Terra. Mala, a rebellious Terrian teenager, will do everything she can to stop it. BATTLE for TERRA is a fantastic journey to worlds we have only dreamed of. It is a story of friendship, family, sacrifice and most importantly, the realization that all of our survival relies on our earth's precious natural resources. "

[OnePimpTiger]

I haven't heard anyone mention it here, but a friend of mine brought up a good point that the storyline is very similar to Battle for Terra, the animated movie from 2007. The summary on IMDB: "A peaceful alien planet faces annihilation, as the homeless remainder of the human race sets its eyes on Terra. Mala, a rebellious Terrian teenager, will do everything she can to stop it. BATTLE for TERRA is a fantastic journey to worlds we have only dreamed of. It is a story of friendship, family, sacrifice and most importantly, the realization that all of our survival relies on our earth's precious natural resources. "

[Rockman]

Yes, and all without a non-sequitur song by an iguana with the voice of Tone Loc.

Avatar needed a dash of Tone Loc. I don't think Cameron ripped off any movie specifically, simply because it wasn't exactly an original story. It's been done countless times as shown with all the comparisons.

[avstars]

I haven't heard anyone mention it here, but a friend of mine brought up a good point that the storyline is very similar to Battle for Terra, the animated movie from 2007. The summary on IMDB: "A peaceful alien planet faces annihilation, as the homeless remainder of the human race sets its eyes on Terra. Mala, a rebellious Terrian teenager, will do everything she can to stop it. BATTLE for TERRA is a fantastic journey to worlds we have only dreamed of. It is a story of friendship, family, sacrifice and most importantly, the realization that all of our survival relies on our earth's precious natural resources. "

The general idea of outlanders invading a native homeland for resources/land/etc. has been used many time. The movie reminded me of Star Wars: Epi I when I watched it. The idea of people lying on a tanning bed and having their minds transfered to alien bodies is original.

[gatorboymike]

Just watched it a second time, and have some new observations to share (spoilers).

- The evil colonel was wearing an Oklahoma University ring.

- The name of the corporate big shot running the show, Selfridge, sounds a lot like "selfish."

- In a very interesting twist, the movie provides both spiritual and scientific explanations for the Na'vi goddess Eywa. The spiritual explanation resembles the pagan earth spirit Gaea/Terra/whatever you call it, being a conscious mass of energy that flows through all living things. The scientific explanation is that the entire planet is covered by a bioelectrical neural net similar to a human brain, wherein the trees act as individual neurons communicating with each other, and that the majority of the animals on the planet have those tentacle-like projections coming out of their heads that they can use to mind-link with each other and also with the planet, and thus upload and download memories to the neural net, thus they can access the memories of long-dead lifeforms by plugging in. I thought this was an excellent plot point that can appeal to both the spiritually and the scientifically minded.

- In that vein, it reminded me of the end of Contact. As the defectors are rushing Grace to the tree of souls, she says, "I'm a scientist. I don't believe in fairy tales." But when they plug her into it, she says, "[Eywa] is here, I can feel her!" Anyone who's seen Contact will recognize this as an extremely NON-spiritually minded person having the kind of life-changing spiritual experience they thought they would never have. In that movie as well, it's possible to explain everything that happens in purely scientific terms EXCEPT for a single line. For Avatar, it's Grace's line as mentioned above. For Contact, it's the David Morse-alien telling Jodie Foster, "You have your mother's hands." But Jodie Foster's character's mother died when she was a baby. Spooky.

- You could probably make an awesome music video by playing footage from the film to "Parabol and Parabola" by Tool.

[Umpy9]

^^^ you also forgot the metal is called either "unattanium" or "unobtainium", can't tell, but I don't like looking into movies that deeply. I just like to enjoy the ride, and this movie was a great ride.

I disagree with the people that say it's a weak storyline. I think it's very good, but I do agree that it's predictable. Maybe people are confusing the two?

[RenegadeLonghorn]

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies....b-worldwide-ap

Avatar has now crossed a billion worldwide. Ranked #4 all-time. It will move to #2 within a few days. All of this in 17 days.

I must be the only person on the planet who hasn't seen it by now, lol.

[Rabs]

Well go see it!

[avstars]

It's already $1 billion world wide.

[mikpaq77]

I really enjoyed the movie, easy to get lost in it and forget the real world for a bit, which is why I go to the movies like this and don't look for tie ins to real world issues. Going to see it in 3D this weekend.