Anyone looking forward to Avatar the movie?

[peter]

Berardinelli at one of the movie review websites I regularly visit gives it a great review. 3D looks like the only way to see the goodness. The effects may be good, but it still looks a little Pocahontas to me.

[jro]

I would watch a crappy pencil drawn sketch if it had a solid story, with good character builds. Take the Final Fantasy movie, flippin awesome visuals, but the story and characters were weak and undeveloped, so it just became eye candy destined to be forgotten. James Cameron knows how to tell a story, a good one at that too. I am not a Titanic fan, but you have to give the movie credit for its story.

[peter]

Some friends invited me tonight. I'll let you know what I think!

[jro]

Alright, saw the movie last night. Absolutely stunning visuals. The story wasn't anything new, but it was solid and not a ton of holes, but it almost too closely resembled 'Dances with Wolves'. Then again Titanic was essentially 'Romeo and Juliet' on a ship. The 3D visuals are the best I have EVER seen. The blending between computer generated and live is seamless, and the world of Pandora will make you gasp on more than one occasion. The sheer amount of detail they put into this environment is mind boggling.

If you don't like science fiction or computer generated graphic, skip this movie, it has a ton of both. If you were planning on waiting until video to see this, unless you have an awesome audio video system in your house, I highly recommend you see it in a nice theater.

Yes, there were some low points. The Na'vi were a bit rubbery and unbelievable at times, but this movie is a refreshing break from the slop we have been subjugated to to get a science fiction fix lately.

[peter]

The visuals were excellent, probably what we'll see in video games in the very near future.

I like plot driven movies and I found the story light weight and geared to the early teens like the Star Wars series. There was little suspense as to how it would end, it didn't take any risks on this side.

I found it difficult to empathize with either the human villans, who were cartoonish, (even some of the good guys were stereotypical) or the CGI people who seemed plastic. The animal creatures were very well done, and the backgrounds ranged from the impressive, like the floating mountains, to the basic, like some of the scenes where the nuvis were walking on tree trunks "Billy Jean" video style. The director chose his budget carefully.

The panorama will definitely be lost on the small screen.

That isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, a little too much hype for me, but not enough to spoil it.

[jro]

Thanks for that Peter. I think everything you said is spot-on, I just have a tendency to lean a bit more fan-boy than most, so I look over certain things a more discerning eye would catch.

Most definitely though, catch this on the big screen, a digital or better yet an iMax if you can.

[TGAM123]

i've got it in divix HAHAHA!!!

[peter]

But do you have 3D? Some of the 3D is really impressive, not the story.

[jro]

@TGAM123... I think you mean DivX.. Either way, don't miss it on the big screen if at all possible, the visuals are too big to fully appreciate on a little computer monitor

[beezlebubsbum]

did anyone else notice that Avatar is the exact same story as Pocahontas? If you dont believe it, check this link :