Avatar (2009)
Directed by James Cameron
In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.
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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).
Heck, long before " Battle for Terra ," there was 1992's "Ferngully: The Last Rainforest," which boiled down to the same elementary lessons.
We’re talking about a movie that mirrors the plot of the 1992 classic “Ferngully: The Last Rainforest.”
This also plays a part in the overall narrative structure of the movie, with the commonplace ideas of both Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and Dance with Wolves being heavily echoed a bit too much as well as the typical “White Savior” archetype.
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 .
The story here is a variation on the Dances with Wolves template (or Pocahontas template, depending on your cinematic recall): A soldier from an encroaching civilization spends time with the members of the enemy, i.e. the people indigenous to the land, and, through the course of his interaction, gains not only respect and sympathy for them, but falls in love with one of their women ( Avatar digresses from the Wolves example in that the woman in question is an actual, true-blood native).
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.”
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).
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).
Inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter series from the early twentieth century, this science fiction tale borrows from Dances with Wolves, historical events like My Lai, and even films found in Cameron’s own catalog.
The worst aspect of Avatar is its Frankenstein’s abortion of a storyline borrowed from Dances With Wolves , so every single plot move was telegraphed in 1990.
If you have seen Dances with Wolves , you have seen this theme before, the white man migrating into territory of the American Indian.
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The space/military culture is reminiscent of that in Aliens and the cross-cultural romance recalls Titanic.
The Na’vi, with their bows and arrows, are no match for gunships and soldiers inside exoskeletons (the machines being one of several echoes from Cameron’s Aliens, another is the corporate servant Parker, reprising Paul Reiser’s venal Carter Burke), and American military might is casually excoriated throughout the film.
The other chief villain is the mining company’s on-site manager Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) who will remind you of the Paul Reiser character in James Cameron’s “Aliens”, another rousing entertainment.
Certain characters directly recall figures in the director's past movies, such as Giovanni Ribisi's mundanely evil corporate stooge, who is a more two dimensional rendering of Paul Reiser's Carter from Aliens.
The colonel’s pacifist adversary, scientist and fellow Avatar Grace ( Sigourney Weaver , for that “ Aliens ” vibe) wants to create a “bridge of trust” with them instead.
“Avatar” is in the same vein of “Lawrence of Arabia” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
This story’s been told before; many have noted the obvious parallels to Dances with Wolves , or not-as-obvious movies like Lawrence of Arabia and Metropolis ; A.O. Scott draws enlightening comparisons to District 9 and Daybreakers , among others.
Mientras que otros realizadores adoran decir que sus películas responden a una tradición monolítica y ultra conservadora símil el promedio de las franquicias de nuestros días o por el contrario, afirman que las mismas salieron de un repollo autocontenido y narcisista sin influencias externas, James Cameron jamás tuvo ningún problema en reconocer que Avatar (2009) funciona como un refrito de influencias, recursos, procesos históricos y latiguillos formales y temáticos de lo más diversos, basta con pensar que así como el film incluye alusiones a la Conquista de América, la Guerra de Vietnam, la Fiebre del Caucho en el Amazonas, las dos Guerras del Golfo y todo el operativo bélico/ represor/ genocida del desquiciado de George W. Bush en Medio Oriente después de los atentados terroristas del 11 de septiembre del 2001, también recupera el motivo del doble agente de las faenas de espionaje, aquel “salvador blanco/ occidental” de Danza con Lobos ( Dances with Wolves , 1990), de Kevin Costner, y L…
There are echoes in this of Cameron’s “Aliens” (Giovanni Ribisi impresses as the corporate lackey who places profit above life), and of such infiltrator-becomes-an-initiate narratives as “A Man Called Horse,” “Dances with Wolves,” and “The Last Samurai.”
Like his professional debut, it's another transposition to outer space of the western, specifically countercultural films like A Man Called Horse , Little Big Man and Dances With Wolves , in which the white heroes cross over into the American Indian world and take the side of the supposedly primitive people against the supposedly civilised invaders.
If you’ve seen “A Man Called Horse” or “Dances With Wolves” there’s no reason for me to tell you where it goes from here...
I don’t know who I am.? Who he is, of course, is a born-again Injun in the mode of the hero of A Man Called Horse.
Still, the Chieftain Eytucan (Wes Studi) and the Shaman Mo'at (C.C.H. Pounder) are willing to give him a shot, so we get the chance to see Jam-Cam's version of A Man Called Horse, Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas as the Jakenator becomes more and more "one of them"!
The plot to "A Man Called Horse" (or, if you like, "Dances With Wolves") thusly prepped, Jake is able to strike out on his own - narrowly avoiding death in the jungles of Pandora thanks to Na'vi tribe member Neytiri (Zoë Saldana), with whom he quite naturally falls in love.
When that flotilla of ships hoves into view, it reminds me of the helicopters in “Apocalypse Now”.
The nonstop action in the movie’s last half-hour or so borrows not only from “Apocalypse Now,” but also from “Aliens.”
Alas, even during an Apocalypse Now -reminiscent vista of environmental destruction, or an airborne attack in which figures leapfrog between the wings of attack helicopters, Avatar , from a purely aesthetic standpoint, too often feels like a more highly polished version of George Lucas’s Star Wars prequels, in that the synthetic nature of the imagery unmoors one from a sense of engaging reality.
Like Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now , he loves the smell of napalm in the morningâ?¦…
The mining project is overseen by a corporate bigwig and a napalm-loving Colonel right out of Apocalypse Now.
Alas, even during an Apocalypse Now -reminiscent vista of environmental destruction, or an airborne attack in which figures leapfrog between the wings of helicopters, Avatar , from a purely aesthetic standpoint, too often feels like a more polished version of George Lucas’s Star Wars prequels, in that the synthetic nature of the imagery unmoors one from a sense of engaging reality.
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As the film’s technical marvels grow commonplace, it will look like a clunky old theme-park attraction, a Captain EO for our time.
As you’d imagine, the eco-hippie, Gaia mother earth stuff is overdone and is faintly insufferable, Cameron serving up some mature slices of cheddar in the vein of the thumbs up from T2 and slushy romance of Titanic whilst the song that plays out over the final credits needs to have every copy on the planet collected together and hurled into the nearest active volcano.
Cameron’s exceedingly expensive 12-years-in-the-making fictional follow-up to Titanic supposedly represents the dawn of a new era for the art form, one that on the basis of the film at hand will involve ever-more expert CG animation, thrilling 3D effects, and little non-visual substance to prevent one from slowly nodding off amid sensory-overload avalanches of fantastic sights and raucous sounds.
Cameron’s 12-years-in-the-making fictional follow-up to Titanic supposedly represents the dawn of a new era for the art form, one that on the basis of the film at hand will involve ever-more expert CG animation, thrilling 3D effects, and little non-visual substance to prevent one from nodding off amid sensory-overload avalanches of fantastic sights and raucous sounds.
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.