Avatar: User Review Thread

[cybereality]

So here is the spot to post your review of Avatar. Let me start it off.

I thought the film was very well done and was both epic and classic. The story was actually a lot better than I expected, even though there weren't really too many surprises. It was the execution that was key. The movie was just so well done. The acting was great, the facial animation on the CG was second to none and the general effects were great. And the 3D, well the 3D was good too. There was not too much groundbreaking with the 3D to be honest. It had less depth than some other recent films like A Christmas Carol. It was more about it being a ground-breaking movie on its own right plus it was in 3D. There were a few 3D shots that were really great though. For the most part Cameron took a realistic approach and didn't over do it. Keep in mind I only saw this in RealD. I imagine the IMAX3D might have better 3D, I will have to go back and check that. Anyway, the movie was really good everyone should go see it. I almost cried at the end, lol!

[Gae43]

Here's a review that I posted on another forum.....

OK, went to see it today. Firstly, let me just say that Avatar is a visual masterpiece.
That said, the film itself is a weird hybrid of Dances With Wolves, Pochahontas, the Abyss and several video games. I'm still not sure what to make of it if I'm honest. It's an incredible cinematic experience for sure, but overall, it's impact will be largely down to how much you are willing to suspend your disbelief at the onscreen characters. I'm still not totally convinced that motion capture is capable of creating onscreen characters that we can totally empathise with. The CGI characters in Avatar are stunningly realised for sure, but I found myself struggling to identify with them and to see them as anything other than glorified cartoon characters. Having said that, overall, the film does succeed on an emotional level simply because the level of detail is so great, that you can't help but be eventually drawn into the world of Pandora. I still found myself sometimes responding better, emotionally, to the human interactions in boot camp rather than those of the CGI characters, but that's just me.
With regards to the 3D, again the best shots were those during the live action scenes....the military hardware and computer holograms have a cold depth and sharpness to them, while the coridoors of the spacecrafts stretch far back to the distant horizon. With regards the 3D CGI, the Jungle scenes had the best depth to them and yet, the Spaceship battle seemed to had a 2D flatness to them, or maybe my eyes had just adjusted by the time of the final battle.
3D seems to lend itself more to real footage rather than the stereoscopically rendered CGI, almost as if our eyes can differentiate between the "real" and the "man-made".

There has been a lot of discussion that Avatar is a parable for the plight of the North American Indians and while I would agree, I would also say that it could also be a comment on the US Overseas Policies in places like Iraq. At one point, the Colonel even makes reference to the Nav'i tribe as terrorists and by that point in the narrative we have seen enough of them to know that they are anything but that.

Overall, Avatar is a visual masterpiece but doesn't totally succeed. **** out of *****

Gae43

[Likay]

My thought and opinions from metalqueens reviewthread:

Good review metalqueen!

I and a friend saw it yesterday. I was hyped but Avatar lived up to every ounce of it!
To me the plot is a "classic indian/white" movie (Na'vi - Navajo) because of the story. It's not an original plot otherwise that the "big spirit" actually is explained as real and makes way for some great ideas for the movie.
The movie shouldn't be taken "serious" but instead as a great way of spending a few hours of good entertainment. It's Camerons dream in 3D and i enjoyed it very much!

3D is pretty much awesome! The first time getting down on Pandora gives that old "Far Cry" feeling with leaves gently rubbing your face while watching the different and colorful fauna. Just have to say i love it as much as JakeSully did!
Mostly the scene itself was rendered in front of the cinemascreen all of the time, even when watching far away objects. Maybe it was because of the huge screen but in my opinion a little more depth wouldn't hurt. Popouteffects are existent but noway close to those goofy old-school stereomovies where something always is thrown at you just for the sake of 3d... Instead there was a good balance with such effects but there was more than one occasion where people in the audience screamed/ducked because of some very realistic experiences!

3D-technique used was Real-D which uses circular polarization. So this meant i could put away those nice linear clip-ons i brought with me.
The real-d tech itself shows signs of very small amount of ghosting while watching the movie and can't be complained at. Unfortunately the same can't be said about the subtext... It was brigth yellow and showed visible ghosting in almost every scene in the movie. For some reason the subs were rendered at prescreendepth as well which caused the phenomena.

I don't know how much the 3d, the huge screen and the simple plot affected me but in my opinion this is definitely one of the best movies i've seen!

Now: Hurry up with the blu-ray 3D-release!!!

[Killigath]

I finally had a chance to go see Avatar over the weekend. Enjoyed it very much. First let me say, I am not one to read too much into movie themes as political views. I take them as they are and just enjoy them as the fictional works that they are. This was a very good movie. Reminded me a lot of Fern Gully with a military twist. It showed us good and evil on both sides. But the main thing that stuck out with me was the unwillingness by both parties to work together for a better solution.

The visuals were stunning. I sat a little closer this time that I usually do for 3D movies. It took my eyes about 15 minutes after that to adjust where i could focus quickly between objects. After that, I totally forgot that I was wearing glasses and was completely immersed in Cameron's Pandora. One thing I loved was that there were no uncomfortable "pop out" moments like we are used to seeing in gimmicky 3D films. The depth was nothing short of amazing. I really hope the movie ports well to home 3D solutions, because this is something I will want to see again and again.

[Freke1]

I found the main theme very original and somewhat emotional troublesome to watch. I didn't know how it was going to end and who to bet on (I'm terrible at remembering who did what and why and when. Even in James Bond and Alien 4 I'm confused. The Matrix movies is just one big mystery to me). Avatar was nothing like I've seen before and then also in 3D offcause.