# I just saw Avatar for the first time... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226 "2011-10-29T21:05:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/61 "2011-11-02T01:28:39Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I saw it in 3D Imax (I think it might have been the first “modern” 3D movie I saw), and I remember coming out of the theater thinking that I would have been perfectly happy if the whole movie had consisted of people walking around in the jungle, looking at the flora and fauna. Me too. I watched it on my sister’s rather small TV, and loved it. Sure, the characters and plot were predictable, but the world was beautiful; and I don’t just mean the rendering, I mean the flora and fauna were interesting, the geography was stunning, and the cinematography was fantastic. It reminded me of reading Dinotopia as a kid - the world was more than enough. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/62 "2011-11-02T02:22:10Z")
People who compare Avatar with Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas didn’t under the movie. Ewya is actually a supercomputer that controls Pandora and the whole planet is an artificial environment created by the ancestors of the Na’vi. [http://goo.gl/3J04Q](http://goo.gl/3J04Q) ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/63 "2011-11-02T02:28:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > A movie that isn’t any good unless you watch it in 3D, isn’t any good regardless of how you watch it. This. I hated it. HATED. So trite. Ughh. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/64 "2011-11-02T13:36:29Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > People who compare Avatar with Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas didn’t under the movie. Ewya is actually a supercomputer that controls Pandora and the whole planet is an artificial environment created by the ancestors of the Na’vi. > > [http://goo.gl/3J04Q](http://goo.gl/3J04Q) Which background detail, of course, copmpletely undermines the “white guy meets native woman, joins the tribe and leads them to victory over his own people while out-doing them in all the quaint native traditional activities they were just not doing right until the whiote guy shows them.” Doesn’t matter if the magic tree is a sci-fi supercomputer or a manifestation of the Earth Goddess, it is still a magic tree and the plot of Avatar has been done, and done well, before. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/65 "2011-11-02T13:48:48Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > A movie that isn’t any good unless you watch it in 3D, isn’t any good regardless of how you watch it. This. One benefit of this stupid fad burning itself out will be the removal of one more flimsy excuse for bad moviemaking. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/66 "2011-11-02T13:53:18Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > The people who complain about it being too derivative sure aren’t very original with their critiques. That’s like complaining that too many people call lions “big cats”. Facts is facts. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/67 "2011-11-02T13:55:53Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I didn’t like it, but what I’m hearing is that it’s really more of a Disney ride than a movie. Is that it? Pretty much. The only interesting part is the SFX, which, like movies where the only interesting part is the SEX, quickly palls. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/68 "2011-11-02T20:42:28Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Has anybody mentioned Fern Gully yet? If not, let me be the first. I’m glad somebody finally did! I came out of the theater thinking, "WOW! That was a stunning world – but it was basically a live-actor FernGully without the fun fruit bat (RW?) and trying to drill too many different messages into the audience’s not-so-sub conscious minds. But I still haven’t seen discussion of what I thought was the obvious message: Even on someone else’s planet, the Nav’i kicks @$$ all over the Marines! [Hmm no mention of the Arm’i or the Heir Force though.]:smack: ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/69 "2011-11-03T01:37:57Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Still, it wasn’t horrible. It had a few moments I liked. It’s not “Phantom Menace” kind of bad. Now THAT’s damning with faint praise. Avatar is simply not a good movie. So, after the special effects wear off on you, the viewer, the movie falls completely flat. If the movie is meant to be seen in 3D, then I agree that it lacks what it needs to be a good movie period. I didn’t see it in 3D, so I can’t speak to it. However, I wouldn’t waste my time now to watch it in 3D, so that technology is lost on me. I can’t think of a reason why I’d want to sit down and watch it in 3D. 3D hurts my eyes, gives me a headache, and I’ve never seen anything in 3D that I’ve enjoyed because of this. Maybe this is the movie. But I doubt it. 3D is just not there yet as a technology for me, so until it is, I’ll pass. Cameron tries to hard in the movie to create a world that we’ve never seen before. But I think that’s where he blows it. Floating mountains? Really? 6 legged beasts? Simply not necessary and again, it looks like Cameron was just looking for things to change to have his new world. Creating new man-eating animals is simple enough and captures the spirit of being in a new world. The plants, like the ones that collapsed when he touched them were recognized as earth-like tube worms, which are in our oceans and behave exactly like the ones in the movie. So for me, I wasn’t bowled over. I did like the idea of the ability to communicate to the tree or animals. Original concept to me. The plot holes, the stolen plot, bad story, dialog etc have been beaten to death, so I won’t go there again. One thing I think Avatar did have over Star Wars is that the blue aliens didn’t look like kids in bear costumes, like the ewoks. Depending on how they look, alien life can take me into a movie or kick me out completely. The Ewoks lost me. Avatar cannot be compared favorably to Star Wars. I can still watch Star Wars (A New Hope). Avatar is not something I can imagine watching again on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226/70 "2011-11-03T01:39:41Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > The only interesting part is the SFX, which, like movies where the only interesting part is the SEX, quickly palls. My porn collection begs to differ. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-avatar-for-the-first-time/601226.md?page=3)