I took it as referring to the video game series, which is considered to have pushed some envelopes.
Nice, that’s interesting. I love how they handled the limited resources of the Company. That made it make sense that they were able to win.
As for Guardian AI or not, I am not sure how relevant the origin of the Intelligence is.
And it’s Eywa. 
I don’t think Cameron should have cast a white European as the Administrator. It would’ve added a little depth if it had been a say an Australian Aborigine or Black African or Native American.
Yeah, that’s an interesting thought, but I really loved the guy they had for who he was individually and not for his identity characteristics.
:smack: Never mind, if I’d had a few more minutes to look it up I would have known that’s what you were talking about. I was thinking of a totally different movie, Gone in Sixty Seconds, with Angelia Jolie, and that was released in 2000.
I saw this earlier today with my wife in 3D (regular-sized screen, not IMAX), and I have mixed thoughts. I had gone into it expecting to be blown away by the animation and SFX, and underwhelmed by a crappy story. But instead, I thought the animation was pretty much just “good CGI” and the story was actually pretty good.
That’s not being fair. The animation for the Navi was excellent - they really did seem pretty realistic when they weren’t jumping around and fighting. The scenes where they just stood around talking really made me think they were real, but when they were jumping around and flying on the dragony things, it was pretty much back to “good CGI.” The animals, for that matter, didn’t impress me a whole lot on a technological level, nor did the Mecha-suits. The background looked pretty good, thuogh.
All things considered, I liked it. The plot was fun enough and it moved quickly, and the final fight scene was terrific. I’d recommend it for anybody looking for a fun science-fiction movie to tide them over during the winter, just don’t expect to necessarily see “The Future Of Film” or anything like that.
I was only disappointed in one aspect of the plot: namely, there should have been craploads more of those dragons. The non-dragonny, smaller ones, the ones that were commonly ridden, shouldn’t have been able to stand up to the heli-gunships at all much less take them out. But when I saw the dragon, I thought, “now that’s something that can take on a heli-gunship. Bet we’ll see more of those.”
I’m also disappointed in that any sequel would be “Avatar 2: nuke 'em from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure.” (Unless unobtainium is very fissile in which case Gaia might be able to create nukes or they might not use nukes for fear of setting off the unobtainium). But that nitpick is hardly a fault of the plot, just the fault of my cynicism.
You’re leaving out one method I just recently learned about on this very messageboard: Dolby 3D. Rather than have every other frame be for a different eye like realD, Disney 3D, or using two separate projectors like in IMAX 3D, Dolby 3D utilizes slight differences in the color wavelength. Instead of having a special shutter lens, it has one that polarizes the different wavelengths differently. The glasses are the standard polarized glasses, except that each lens has a slight color filter on it to make the colors match up properly.
I just got back from seeing it. I really loved it. I haven’t felt the grand sense of epic-ness since Return of the King. I thought the movie was absolutely thrilling. And while the themes and plot weren’t entirely original, the world and situations were, which transcends any possible trite interaction.
Again, Cameron’s biggest weakness is his dialog, but nothing to be embarrased about. If you could handle Titanic, then you can handle this. But I didn’t find it nearly as ham-fisted.
How everyone’s parroting the hype that “this movie will change the future of cinema”, I never put any stock in that. BUT, what I do think it will to is change the future of the way Cameron makes films… and in this case, it’s a very good thing. Also, he has raised the bar on 3D and CG human(oids). 100% believable, IMHO.
I can’t wait to see what’s up his sleeve next, now that technology has caught up with his imagination.
Apparently there’s such a thing as a Pandorapedia. Very interesting. Oh and here’s the TV Tropes page in case you feel like wasting vast amounts of time. 
It was visually stunning but that’s about it. The plot sucked.
Basically, a bunch of primitive people have internet as a religion. Then Americans come and try to destroy the main server in order to harvest the dust that’s been collecting under it. So the Blue Man Group is fighting a losing battle until it posts a plea for help on some sacred internet forum. The post goes viral and everyone rallies together and saves the day (and the internet).
I loved the movie. If I had money I’d see it again in theaters a few more times.
Mh only nitpic is during the final battle they had the blue people rush head first into the enemy. That was sgtupid. I would figure a former Marine would know that.
Oh, and I want one of those dragon things, and a mech suit, and a heli thingy.
Loved it.
Plot is very basic. But very basic isn’t always bad.
I really enjoyed it. First off, it did what I wasn’t convinced could be done: proved 3D isn’t a gimmick. It fundementally enhanced every frame of this movie. Did anyone else try closeing one eye at timres just to see the difference? Remarkable.
The CG, too, was fantastic. The characters are absolutley believable, which is all the more impressive given their humanoids.
And I had no qualms with the story–it did exactly what it needed to, and did it very well. Now I want to go see it again and see what all I missed 
Pretty stunning film. Not all of the scenes were perfect CGI wise (and they seemed to have picked most of the less perfect looking scenes for the trailer). But a pretty good portion of the film was flat out astounding. As in I thought of the blue people and their environment as real and not cartoons. Besides being perfectly rendered in most scenes with pores, the slight translucence of skin we subconsciously expect from organic beings, slight flaws, etc, more importantly they move realistically,and gravity feels like it’s working normally.
Plus I got massive vertigo in all the scenes where they were on precipices or flying…
Actually what really impressed me was the verity of small details, particularly the realism with which they depicted Sully’s atrophied legs without making them a plot point or subject of discussion.
The plot…a little slow in some places, a little predictable, a little liberal fairytale, but otherwise fine. The villains were a little arch towards the end, but all the heroes seemed like real people. I liked most of the actor choices.
Can’t wait to see it again. I’ll probably see it in 3D again if not 3D IMAX, though 2D might be interesting for comparison…
I LOLd at your description, but I’m not sure why you consider it a description of suckage. My only gripes with the plot were that it dragged a little in the beginning and the villains were a little arch.
Oh, and my two minor complaints:
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The leg knife on the mech was a stupid gag.
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How can you have those mechs and Sigourney Weaver int he movie and not find an excuse to put her in one at least for a moment. (Also, I don’t know how much digital manipulation was done on human Sigourney, but she was looking pretty good for 60.)
Saw it tonight in 3D IMAX. Truly amazing movie.
There were a couple clumsy bits of dialogue and a few of the themes are a little cliched but that’s the only negative thing I can say. The effects are so far beyond anything you’ve ever seen before that it defies logic. I really didn’t think I could be impressed by effects any more, especially ones as publicly costly as these, but I was wrong. This is awesome. The action sequences were riveting and fun and even tense and emotional. The Na’vi are very believable and I found the uncanny valley effect almost entirely missing. The villains are all well portrayed and enjoyable.
I couldn’t believe how amazing the 3D made this movie. I enjoyed the 3D effects in Up and A Christmas Carol but that was nothing compared to this. Eventually I’m sure that I’ll see this in 2D and I will be curious to see if it’s even remotely as compelling. I suspect not.
This is not Waterworld, go see it.
I saw it last night, and thought it was great! The (IMAX) theatre was packed to the gills, and I had to sit closer to the screen than I like, but the experience was pretty amazing nonetheless.
The movie-going experience was as totally immersive as I believe I’ve ever had, and the predictability of the storyline did not detract from my enjoyment of the film.
There were three parts during the film where the audience clapped, and one where there was actual cheering! Let me tell ya, it’s been years and years since I experienced that.
It has to be seen to be believed.
My SO already wants to see it again.
Just a mod reminder, because the prior thread was full of antagonistic comments directed at the posters:
Our basic principle in this forum is that it is possible to have discussions about the merits/flaws in a film, without hurling personal insults at those with opposite opinions. The wonderful thing about art/entertainment is the diversity of taste and opinion, leading to interesting discussion. In short: BE POLITE TOWARDS OTHER POSTERS.
I guess that depends on what we weren’t shown. Do we know that they were not also simultaneously charging their flank?
But I too thought it was a bad idea anyway (as opposed to taking advantage of cover and height to set up a massive ambush), unless the cavalry mounts had some resistance to bullets. They already established that the rhinoceros-like things were basically immune to small arms, so it isn’t a stretch to think that the cavalry mounts might be somewhat tough, too. And I didn’t see a mount fall down in the charge from bullets, only the humanoids, so that’s either establishing that they are resistant to small arms, or that I just missed it, or that it was an oversight on the filmmakers part (I’m betting on option 1 or 2 :))
So while I do think a completely head on charge is bad, I think a charge is good, considering the opponent has to directly hit the rider behiind their mount to stop them.