The major criticism against Avatar, and one I share whole-heartedly, is the triteness of its story. It’s basically Pocahontas with Blue Indians. Replace Na’Vi with Native Americans, Pandora for the newly discovered America, and you’ve got the same thing. Obviously a retelling of the Pocahontas mythos demands more narrative depth, and Terrence Malick’s The New World would be one’s choice.
But throwing aside the deficiencies in the story (may I still throw in that all the characters are stereotypes and all plot points and developments were telegraphed) this movie is amazing. Even despite those storytelling limitations, Avatar is a must-watch film.
We were promised a film that would change the way that we watch movies. While this isn’t as paradigm-changing as has been promised, it is still a great achievement. Seen as an action movie where the story is merely there to occasion amazing set-pieces, Avatar is an amazing film.
The action sequences are mesmerizing, and even just shots of the planet Pandora can be appreciated for their visual beauty. I suppose that I can’t use the word beauty enough to describe this film, because it looks so amazing. The visual stimulus it provides tires the eyes because it clocks in at about two and a half hours, but that’s two and a half hours well-spent witnessing some of the best images ever committed to film.
Cameron is a master at staging action sequences, and he shows it with each action set-piece. It’s a film that makes you say, “Wow.” It’ll make you jump in your seat out of excitement. And it will definitely transport you to a magical place.
