I just got back from my second viewing of "Avatar," and this time in 2D, so I was able to focus more on the thought behind the movie. It's understandable how some people won't "get it," or say that it's ripping off other movies, but themes like "man vs. nature" or "tradition vs. technology" have been around well before movies were even made, and this theme obviously still resonates in this day and age. One can argue whether the Marines or the Na'vi were right in their fight against the other--the humans needed the resources on Pandora because Earth was a wreck, or the Na'vi simply fought to defend themselves.
As for the visual effects, there were times in which I completely lost track of what was made in the computer, and that is a rare feat. I've always believed that a good movie completely ensnares your attention and imagination such that one completely forgets that one is sitting in a theater and completely engrossed in a meticulously detailed alien world that is still grounded in a logic all its own, whereas a not-quite-as-good movie is a bit more transparent and shallow; of course that's a CG monster because it doesn't look convincing. Have we really become so desensitized to CG effects that we're just unwilling to suspend disbelief? Are we ever going to allow anything to wow us anymore?
Anydangway, I enjoyed this movie very much.
As for the visual effects, there were times in which I completely lost track of what was made in the computer, and that is a rare feat. I've always believed that a good movie completely ensnares your attention and imagination such that one completely forgets that one is sitting in a theater and completely engrossed in a meticulously detailed alien world that is still grounded in a logic all its own, whereas a not-quite-as-good movie is a bit more transparent and shallow; of course that's a CG monster because it doesn't look convincing. Have we really become so desensitized to CG effects that we're just unwilling to suspend disbelief? Are we ever going to allow anything to wow us anymore?
Anydangway, I enjoyed this movie very much.