James Cameron
523 connections found
Filmography
The Terminator 1984 
The Abyss 1989 
Aliens 1986 
Avatar 2009 
Titanic 1997 
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 
True Lies 1994 
Aliens of the Deep 2005 
Ghosts of the Abyss 2003 
Expedition: Bismarck 2002 
Piranha II: The Spawning 1982 
Avatar: The Way of Water 2022 
Avatar: Fire and Ash 2025 
Avatar 4 2029 
Avatar 5 2031 View:
Connections, in both directions
M3GAN 2.0 (2025)
Directed by Gerard Johnstone
influenced by Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986)
Themes Plot
Drawing inspiration from films like Mission: Impossible, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the Austin Powers trilogy, it is clear that director Gerard Johnstone took a loose approach to the script.
M3GAN 2.0 is basically a mashup of The Terminator (I dunno, pick one) with Mission Impossible (any one will do) with some dancing, some killing, and a song or two.
Gemma has pivoted her focus toward AI safety, now working with the government—and a new boyfriend, Christian (Aristotle Athari)—to ensure AI tech can’t go full Terminator again.
Plotwise it’s basically a remake of “Terminator 2,” the movie that saw a revamped T-800 protect young John Connor from the new and improved T-1000 (Robert Patrick).
M3GAN 2.0 fully drains Terminator 2: Judgment Day to such a clumsy degree…
What forces her to quit being the ghost in the machine is the ol’ Terminator 2 of an even more deadly version of herself called AMELIA (Sakhno).
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
Directed by Bill Kroyer
influenced Avatar (2009), Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
Themes Plot
…super-hit Ferngully; The Last Rainforest vs Soldier Blue mash-up Avatar…
…he achieved that very pull, even against the Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves, and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest comparisons and criticisms…
…dismissively likened to FernGully: The Last Rainforest in space…
Many parts of the first half actually reminded me of an old animated film called Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (odd reference I know, but it's truly what I was reminded of) in which another species is being forced out of their home by bulldozers for the resources it contains.
(Most) audiences who have seen Avatar in 2009 may accuse James Cameron’s screenplay as nothing more than a rip-off of Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Pocahontas (1995) and Dances with Wolves (1990).
Among other things, its clunky, unoriginal story elements recall bits from the 1992 animated feature "Ferngully: The Last Rainforest" and the Oscar-winning "Dances With Wolves" (1990).
Underwater (2020)
Directed by William Eubank
influenced by The Abyss (1989), Aliens (1986), Titanic (1997), The Terminator (1984)
Plot Themes Visuals
It’s easy to compare Underwater to other underwater based films such as The Abyss (you’re better than any Alien comparisons though), but the film’s use of tight spaces and bad writing is reminiscent of Sanctum while the monsters seem to be inspired by Cloverfield .
That's basically it in the stripped-down plot from scribes Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad who borrow heavily from the "Alien/Aliens" playbook, rip off a lot from "The Abyss" and have everything play out in the same arena as any number of other deep-sea monster movies.
By the third time that happens, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the movie is being guided along rails like a theme park ride; while the story evokes everything from “Alien” and “The Abyss” to “Sphere” and “The Descent,” the raw functionality of its telling ultimately positions “Underwater” closer to Disneyland’s “Tower of Terror” than anything else (and thanks to Disney’s recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox, this is technically a Disney joint).
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Alien , Aliens , The Abyss , Leviathan , The Meg , Godzilla (2014), The Thing , Gravity , shaky-cam found-footage stuff like Cloverfield , not Citizen Kane .
There are moments here that are clearly lifted from two much better films—Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s The Abyss.
While I haven’t seen Leviathan or The Abyss to compare directly, I am confident in saying that Underwater is a solid effort in this horror premise.
Despite being humorous in its outlook and providing numerous "Easter eggs" to fans of Star Wars , Aliens , Close Encounters , and E.T. (amongst others), this isn't a parody.
The rest of the film's targets are more in line with expectations, with "Star Wars," "Men in Black," "Aliens," "Back to the Future," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and "Mac and Me" all cited at one time or another.
Sigourney Weaver puts in a brief appearance as Mr Big and shares a scene with Blythe Danner which features one of Weaver's signature lines from Aliens , a line that earns huge laughs in Paul.
Pegg and Frost freely drop clever references to iconic modern sci-fi cinema, from Close Encounters to Aliens to, of course, E.T. (one voice cameo in particular underlines the magic that should have permeated the entire film).
"Paul" borrows heavily from so many movies -- "E.T." obviously, but also "Jaws," "Aliens," "Easy Rider" and many more -- but while it definitely takes their lines or plots, it doesn't quite replicate their emotional stakes or dramatic payoffs.
Paul, however, is a sci-fi movie spoof, half its dialogue consisting of lines lifted from Star Wars , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , Star Trek, Raiders of the Lost Ark , Aliens , Back to the Future , and all the other 70s and 80s sci-fi comfort-food staples fed to growing fanboys back then.
Looper (2012)
Directed by Rian Johnson
influenced by The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Themes Plot
For all its glossy sheen, however, Looper seems more intent on drawing on action flicks of yore; Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys and James Cameron’s The Terminator are clear sources of inspiration for Johnson as he interrogates time-travel based conundrums, most clearly via the older Joe, appearing to ask whether by attempting to change the future, how far would you go?
So in an eerie echo from the situation in the original “The Terminator” (1984) Joe is looking for any male child born in a certain hospital on a certain date.
It's essentially a low-tech variation on themes from "The Terminator" but ingenious enough to feel fresh, intriguing and even bewildering at times.
Johnson pays homage to The Terminator with a time-traveling antagonist coming to kill a child and the mother named Sara or Sarah (Connor).
There are echoes of Twelve Monkeys and especially The Terminator in Johnson’s story, and the movie’s final third gets a little bogged down in familiar sci-fi tropes.
With touches of The Terminator , the aforementioned Marker film and the inspired-by-it 12 Monkeys , a classic episode of The Twilight Zone and more, Looper is aware of its sci-fi legacy, but manages plenty of unique touches all its own.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
influenced by Aliens (1986), The Terminator (1984)
Visuals Plot
Yet, the film's big signature set-piece -- where the team is down in dark and wet tunnels and must contend with fast-moving, voracious and large-mouthed monsters -- feels like an homage to (or if you're more cynical, a direct rip-off of) similar scenes from "Aliens."
A tidal wave of deadly oil and an underground tunnel full of mutants – in a scene reminiscent of Ripley fighting off the creatures in Aliens – are both brilliantly realised, hinting at Collins’ devious imagination.
Now Lawrence and the filmmakers use that celebrity for suspense: There's a horribly great sequence in a sewer that pays homage to Aliens, a quiet nail-biter wherein Katniss, now disguised as a Capitol resident, is recognized by a toddler.
Director Francis Lawrence rips off "Aliens" mightily - does Katniss really need to participate in just another bug hunt? - but never convinces us why having unarmed creatures paw and hiss at the heavily armed heroes would be a strategic advantage for the Capitol.
Francis Lawrence makes every sequence potentially life threatening and the Aliens homage with the battle against the mutts is definitely one of my favorite action scenes this year.
It leads to talk of suicide and to a subterranean sequence that reminds a great deal of the final escape in Aliens, ending in a death of a beloved character that's frankly difficult to take--even for someone like me, who has no other relationship to said character except the dim memory that he got married at some point in the first, already-blurry portion of this instalment.
Black Adam (2022)
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
influenced by Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Plot Characters Visuals
One can sort of see the inspiration here: The actor was often compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier in his career, and the film at times seems to be going for a Terminator 2: Judgment Day vibe; there’s even an excitable, skateboarding teen who tries to teach Adam catchphrases and how to act like a hero.
And, instead of allowing Dwayne Johnson’s natural charisma to come to the fore, the requirements of the script demand that he ape Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character (from Terminator 2), right down to the young male sidekick.
Johnson’s movie-star career has long reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s, and Black Adam feels deeply indebted to Terminator 2, where Schwarzenegger turned his rampaging villain of the first film into a shotgun-wielding champion who learned a code of morality from a wisecracking teen.
He also develops a relationship with the young Amon (Bodhi Sabongui) that clearly took inspiration from the Terminator and John Connor in T2 .
Which is a shame since the early related efforts sort of give the impression this could be akin to the second coming of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 cyborg in "Terminator 2" and learning about his trappings (and slang and so on) from the teen he's sent there to protect.
The viciousness feels unearned; Black Adam bends over backward to link its antihero to Clint Eastwood's iconic Man with No Name, but apart from a few flashes of PG-13 gore (signature-free Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra grasps for the vibe of Terminator 2: Judgment Day ), the film is unusually toothless.
Pocahontas (1995)
Directed by Mike Gabriel
influenced Avatar (2009), Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
Themes Plot
…he achieved that very pull, even against the Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves, and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest comparisons and criticisms…
Disney’s Pocahontas to be specific…
Which can be put down to the fact that I've seen "Dances with Wolves", I've watched "Pocahontas" and many other movies which run with a similar theme and although it's well constructed it didn't feel special enough to match up to what "Avatar" delivers visually.
(Most) audiences who have seen Avatar in 2009 may accuse James Cameron’s screenplay as nothing more than a rip-off of Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Pocahontas (1995) and Dances with Wolves (1990).
Essentially, Avatar offers a combination of Disney’s Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves.
Cameron’s script blatently borrows aspects of Dances with Wolves , Disney’s Pocahontas , and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest .
Jurassic World (2015)
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
influenced Aliens (1986), Avatar (2009), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Visuals
But maniacal attention to detail is what can make the difference in such fiercely controlled creative circumstances, and you feel it again all these years later upon immersion in Cameron’s latest and most fully developed world, one that ultimately emerged in collaboration with co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver ( Mulan and two Planet of the Apes and Jurassic World entries).
The director, who penned the script with married screenwriting duo Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver ( Jurassic World , Mulan ), tends to operate in the grand, muscular mode of Greek myth (or if you're feeling less generous, the black-and-white clarity of comic books).
It's several notches above the Transformers movies and it can withstand comparison to other big lucrative modern day tentpoles, like the Fast and the Furious series and Jaffa and Silver's Jurassic World.
Directed by Colin Trevorrow and co-written by Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly—working from a script originated by Planet Of The Apes rebooters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver— Jurassic World mixes many elements from the first film while shifting the mood from horror and suspense to action, not unlike what Aliens did by reworking the raw material of Alien.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard acquit themselves well in such moments, plus, any action scenes nodding to Aliens/Predator 2 play just fine with me.
A military verses dinosaur set-piece is a cartoonish tribute to the first encounter of the marines with the xenomorphs in Aliens , and the final showdown is a prehistoric prize fight that’s worth the price of admission alone.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2026)
Directed by Gore Verbinski
influenced by The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Themes Plot Characters
The stakes are sky high, with humanity’s fate hanging in the balance in a scenario that feels ripped straight out of “The Terminator.”
…it’s easy to feel like the robot apocalypse promised upon humanity by “The Matrix” and “The Terminator” is days away from our doorstep.
Movies warning about AI featuring a man from the future aren’t exactly groundbreaking; just look at The Terminator…
No shade to Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Sam Rockwell makes for a way more compelling figure from the future who is on a mission in the past than any versions of the Terminator.
…he’s doing a John Connor from The Terminator…
He’s not a stoic machine like The Terminator…
If the plot’s somewhat reminiscent of the original film and its influences, not least James Cameron’s Aliens, it is at least a flick that makes good use of its precious resources.
The technique was perfected by James Cameron in “Aliens” and has become the standard of science fiction character teams since (even used again later in the director’s own “Avatar”), and here director David Twohy makes full use of it right down to the token asshole (Santana) who is short-sighted and too smug to know that he will probably be laughed off screen by a hateful audience well before the final act.
Johns' motley crew of space thugs includes a bulked-up sniper named Dahl (Katee Sackhoff, channeling Jenette Goldstein's butt-kicking Vasquez in Aliens).
The movie hints early on at what's coming, but saves the all-out creature-feature festivities for the action-packed climax, turning the tables once again on the audience to give us a final taste of sci-fi horror with a back-to-the-basics nod to Pitch Black and Aliens .
Eventually, Diesel re-enters the fray, and Riddick becomes a shameless rip-off of Aliens, as well as a preposterous cartoon that makes The Amazing Spider-Man seem like an Errol Morris documentary.
One of the most memorable non-monster moments in Aliens is a brief, iconic exchange between two tough-as-tungsten-carbide space marines played by Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Titanic (1997), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Abyss (1989), The Terminator (1984)
Plot Visuals Themes
But now that it has finally arrived, all I can say is 'Is that all there is?' I already saw this story earlier this year in a CGI animation called "Battle for Terra" and I certainly didn't experience the sense of awe that I recall upon seeing "Jurassic Park" way back in 1993, even without 3D.
Sure, this would all look even better if Cameron had used a combination of practical effects and animation instead throwing as much computer processing power at his movie as possible (as proven by the far more convincing effects in Jurassic Park or Lord of the Rings… or for that matter Titanic), but judged solely on an animation level what he’s accomplished is amazing.
Most modern blockbusters attempt to wow us with technical prowess, but few succeed; those that do (the last two I can recall would be The Matrix and Jurassic Park), do because the filmmakers know what they have is special, and they know how to present it to ensure that we know, too.
The exploration unfolds with a sense of wonder, joy, and danger reminiscent of the first half of Jurassic Park.
But it reminded me more of the "Jurassic Park" series.
Then there’s the wildlife on Pandora, which resembles the dinosaurs from “Jurassic Park,” while the action-packed finale recalls the ending from “Return of the Jedi.”
Captain Marvel (2019)
Directed by Ryan Fleck
influenced by True Lies (1994), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Terminator (1984)
Visuals Music
It’s fun to see Vers blast Arnold Schwarzenegger in a True Lies stand-up display.
Troll dolls and True Lies sneak into the periphery.
Friends become enemies, enemies become friends, and just about everyone engages in some of the most tedious fight scenes ever slapped together by a second-unit (Boden and Fleck nod to “True Lies” and “Speed,” but make no apparent effort to recapture the fire-and-brimstone magic of the practical action sequences that made those films into modern classics).
Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (who made the snappy gambling flick “Mississippi Grind,” also with Mendelsohn) use the time period as a way to celebrate a smorgasbord of ’90s nostalgia; there are references to Nine Inch Nails, the Smashing Pumpkins, “True Lies” and “Mallrats,” with soundtrack cues from No Doubt, Hole, Nirvana, Elastica and Garbage.
She immediately takes aim at Arnold Schwarzenegger on a True Lies poster in the first of many nods at '90s culture, including needle drops from TLC, Nirvana, No Doubt, and Hole that range in effectiveness.
It’s the 1990s and her crash landing is into a Blockbuster store; dusting herself off, she picks up a copy of the classic movie about the Nasa space programme, The Right Stuff , and blasts a cardboard cut-out of Jamie Lee Curtis from True Lies .
Līdzīgi kā filmā “Titāniks”, arī te redzama klašu un kārtu atšķirība.
Östlund non ci farà mancare niente su questo Titanic simbolico che verrà devastato…
Una sarta de hits del verano se encadena como fondo musical del Titanic de Ruben Östlund.
During this act, Östlund keeps the camera mostly static and in medium-wide shots, slowly building tension and mixing influences from everything from "Titanic" to "Parasite" and Jordan Peele's "Us" for chaotic and delightfully gross results.
But it’s clear Harrelson took the role so that he could shine during a very “this is the Titanic sinking” part of the movie…
…it’s surprising we don’t see more films that take place abroad them (yes yes, fine, Titanic counts, I suppose)…
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Directed by Lee Cronin
influenced by Aliens (1986), Avatar (2009)
Plot Visuals Themes
“Evil Dead” borrows some ideas from the 1986 sci-fi horror movie “Aliens” but it’s not a complete ripoff.
As well as horror, there are also echoes of another classic, in Ridley Scott’s 1986 Aliens; there are clear nods to it, with a horror taking place in a confined space, and a relationship developing similar to that of Ripley’s protective relationship over young girl Newt.
Cronin also has sequences that appear to reference everything from The Shining and Aliens to The Thing (I even thought there was a little bit from The Last of Us: Part II in this one).
It must have taken an enormous amount of restraint for Sullivan not to quote Ellen Ripley during the finale (“Get away from her, you bitch!”), but the “surrogate mother” dynamic she develops with young Fisher can’t even clear the bar set by Mimic , let alone Aliens .
The film also stars Stephen Lang, known for his roles in "Avatar" and "Don't Breathe," as the owner of the building.
Clearly influenced by films like The Terminator, Videodrome, The Matrix, RoboCop, and there may even be a little bit of Johnny Mnemonic in there as well (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?), Whannell transports us into the future where technology has taken over nearly ever facet of our lives, but Grey Trace (Marshall-Green) still clings to his analog-loving existence by working on classic cars and expressing his desire to make pizza from scratch.
The writer-director, Leigh Whannell , a key member of the “Saw” and “Insidious” franchise teams (though this is only the second feature he’s directed, after “Insidious 3”), would probably be perfectly happy if you watched his movie and name-checked all the influences he’s vacuumed into it, from “The Hidden” to “Ex Machina” to “The Terminator.”
The distinction between Grey and Grey while under control is methodically crafted, giving the body robotic movements and precise command over joints similar to much of the fight choreography in The Matrix franchise (this comes as less of a surprise once you remember that Leigh Whannell actually had a minor role in the series and is no doubt also drawing inspiration from working on that set alongside his own self-professed influences such as The Terminator), all stylishly flavored with swirling camera movements and an edgy hard rock soundtrack that fits with the gnarly brutality from every death on the checklist of generic villains.
He proves to be a good student of the genre—hardly a scene goes by that doesn’t play as a shout-out to some film or another, ranging from the obvious like “Robocop” and “The Terminator” to titles whose very mention would probably be considered spoilers—but when it comes to understanding why those movies worked, he is on less sure footing.
Upgrade is a film that, like James Cameron’s The Terminator before it, shows that humankind is perhaps a bit too dependent on technology.
That such '80s-era films as The Terminator and Robocop were an inspiration becomes instantly apparent in the latest directorial effort from Leigh Whannell (veteran of the Saw and Insidious franchises).
Halloween (2018)
Directed by David Gordon Green
influenced by Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Aliens (1986), The Terminator (1984)
Characters Plot
Sequestered away in a fortress of a house, surrounded by homemade shooting ranges and avoidant of human contact, Reinventing Laurie as something of a killer herself, akin to Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 , both psychologically and physically, makes her inevitable confrontation with Michael one hell of a tense third act.
Fortified by the arsenal in her basement, she channels badass mother figures like Ripley from “Aliens” or Sarah Connor from “Terminator 2.” In 1978, Laurie had no one to rely on but herself.
In a way the script reminded me of Terminator 2 to Terminator.
You know, something akin to watching Ripley do the same in "Aliens 2" where she transformed from victim to warrior, or Sarah Connor in "Terminator 2." In fact, this offering -- directed by David Gordon Green from a script he co-wrote with Danny McBride & Jeff Fradley -- has plenty of similarities to that latter film, including the protagonist being deemed crazy and paranoid for believing the character who previously tried to kill her was going to come back and thus she's prepared herself, including being heavily armed, to deal with the menace.
A good portion of Halloween is dedicated to fleshing out the shell that is her former self; she looks unclean and ragged, totes around heavy firearms with the skill and marksmanship that would make Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day proud, and is a recluse hiding away in an isolated compound full of safety cautions and weaponry.
The new "Halloween" functions as a direct sequel to the original, and Curtis' Laurie returns as buff and badass as Linda Hamilton was in "T2."
Logan (2017)
Directed by James Mangold
influenced by Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Aliens (1986), The Terminator (1984)
Characters Plot Visuals Themes
With its hero suggesting a broken-down cousin to Mad Max, it’s like “The Road Warrior” meets “Shane” meets “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (yes, there’s a “bad” Wolverine).
When “Logan” breaks out into action, it feels organic to the plot, moving the themes and characters forward, much like in James Cameron ’s “ Terminator 2: Judgment Day ,” another film which this one reflects in its road structure and that of a protector for the next generation (and in another way that I won’t spoil).
(In that sense, Logan owes more to Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s aesthetics than, say, Man of Steel.)
Here we’re in a story rooted in the humanity of Logan, not the superpowers of the Wolverine, echoing themes of Cameron’s Terminator 2 and Mendes' Road to Perdition.
In a motel room, Laura catches George Stevens’ Shane on TV, and while the reference feels appropriate — Logan probably owes more to Westerns than to superhero flicks, with a bit of Firestarter, Children of Men and Terminator 2 also thrown in — we may be struck by how little our nihilistic lead behaves like Alan Ladd’s romantic, all-American drifter in that 1953 classic.
After much ado we eventually get on the road, and instead of following typical superhero formulas Logan bites off massive chunks from other movies like Children Of Men, Firestarter, True Grit, The Professional, Terminator 2, Alice In The Cities, The Outlaw Josey Wales, A Perfect World and hell, pretty much the entire cinema of Clint Eastwood until the last-half hour when it becomes a straight-up remake of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
Moonfall (2022)
Directed by Roland Emmerich
influenced by The Abyss (1989), The Terminator (1984)
Plot Themes
Emmerich is apparently a big James Cameron fan, since huge chunks of Moonfall are ripped off from The Abyss (with a little Terminator-flavored “AI strikes back against its human creators” concept).
In Moonfall , the voyage to the moon is reasonably interesting, even if it shamelessly borrows from The Abyss and Contact , so what happens on earth is more of a distraction.
Moonfall cribs from the best with beats clearly inspired by The Terminator , The Abyss , and others as the story grows from silly to inane, and while its Elon Musk love is disturbing and its “Karen” joke already outdated there’s still plenty to have fun with here.
Elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey , The Abyss , the Terminator franchise, and so many other massive science fiction stalwarts crash into one another with freewheeling abandon.
Simply take a pinch of Contact, a dash of The Abyss, a tablespoon of Independence Day, and a cup of Armageddon, mix them all together and the result is Moonfall.
More than two hours of cobbled together bits of everything from The Abyss to the Terminator series, 2001 , The Core , Prometheus , Transformers: Dark of the Moon , Melancholia and Armageddon , all packaged in a blur of second-rate CGI and pseudo-science that attempts to quote Carl Sagan, but has more in common with the conspiracy theories of David Icke.
Disney pulls further inspirations from Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar , James Cameron’s Avatar , and, strangely enough, Osmosis Jones , to mix things up even more.
In this underworld, the crew, which also includes Avalonia’s president, Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu), comes across fantastical creatures and landscapes, recalling everything from Dr. Seuss and Avatar to the films of Miyazaki Hayao, minus much of the specificity and meticulous detail that make the latter so memorable.
Once below the surface, Strange World comes to life thanks to the production’s animators, who create a world reminiscent of James Cameron’s Pandora from Avatar (2009), except mostly pink-hued.
Whatever suspicions you might have about what else the Clades might find there will prove correct, and if you’re thinking about how this film’s plant name is two letters shy of Avatar ’s setting, well … that’s the level of narrative inspiration here, filled as Strange World is with people jumping onto brightly colored flying creatures and its own sort of Hometree metaphor.
You can read the inspirations clearly even in the promotional material: early 20th-century adventure serials, sci-fi pulp fiction like “Fantastic Voyage” and “John Carter of Mars,” the tentacled horror of H.P. Lovecraft, “Avatar,” “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”
On the planet of Avalonia, the Clades are famous: Grandpa Jaeger (Dennis Quaid) is a legendary explorer with a statue in the village square – he’s also been missing for 25 years – and pop Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) has his own monument for discovering and harnessing a plant called pando that provides sustenance and a source of power for airships – think “Avatar” (2009).