Honestly, I wasn't 100% into the movie.
For one, I read too much about the movie (although not those spoilers). I read a lot about its technology and ideas where the movie seems to be borrowing from.
And another... I was worried about JYK's eye (to watch something intensely for 3 hours) and her dinner.
But I still watched the movie from the very beginning till the end.
...and I am sorry. It didn't meet my expectations.
First, Cameron copied too many things from other great minds, especially from Miyazaki (WSJ article had pointed out this prior to my viewing, and I confirmed it was true).
Hallelujah Mountain was just like Castle in the Sky. The whole idea of Eywa and the connection between Pandora forest and Na'vi was just like Mononoke Hime. There were other Miyazaki resemblances.
Na'vi actually looked like one of the game characters I saw. Was it WOW? I am not sure where it was, but I definitely saw one that looks alike in the game trailers.
I can't believe I am saying this, but Titanic to me was more impressive as a movie than Avatar. Sure, Avatar got the best visual technology embedded, but I am writing this as a movie viewer, not a regular geek who gets high on anything techy. I know right now, Titanic feels like one of the crappiest movies ever, but when I watched that movie for the first time, I was awed. With Avatar, however, I was not awed or felt nothing except with the visuals.
The theme of the movie, which was centered on the importance of nature and humanity is not a new theme and is exploited so much better by the movies and animations that Cameron is borrowing from.
But still, very good. Not awing, not hella impressive, but just plain very good.
I wanna try IMAX 3D version to maximize its technicalities. I heard people would get nauseous with all the high altitude scenes. I sure would want to try. Maybe I will go alone to Sony Metreon for the biggest IMAX scene in the upper Bay Area on Sunday or so. There is one right across my neighborhood, but the IMAX screen is smaller than Metreon's.
Also, this movie might not be as big of a hit as Titanic was. Everyone, literally everyone could watch Titanic and enjoy it. I don't think elders of at least 65 years would pay to watch blue people for 3 hours. So, I don't think this movie would break the box office hit number of Titanic. That's my guess. I could be wrong, of course.
If you are into action epic movies, you might give 5/5. But I always need some emotional fulfillment in every movie to give 5/5.
To me, this movie was never intended to be 100% action movie, and it was not 100% drama either.
So, I was supposed to expect some emotions flowing from the movie, and I felt nothing.
It was entertaining, it was giving me goosebumps at times with the views, it was exciting, but still felt something was lacking.
4/5
