"Avatar"

[DTro]

Ok, so I just got home from checking out the flic at the Zoo IMAX.

Visually it was the most stunning movie I have ever seen and that is where it ends.

Aside from breathtaking special effects, the movie is a big pile of doggydoo.

First and foremost, the movie is about 1.5 hrs too long. It dragged and dragged. Those fight scenes at the end were just utterly brutal.

Cameron has done the same thing over and over again. There is a scene with a monster tree toppling over. Replace the tree with a big ship and you have the Titanic. I swear it was even the same background music.

And lastly, the political undertones made me sick to my stomach. We all need to be green, save the planet, blah blah blah. Healthcare coverage isn't good enough to fix the guy in a wheelchair. In fact I remember a direct quote from the star of the movie in which he said, "The sky people got rid of green in their home and they are about to do the same here".

I say go see it for an hour and then go home. I wish I would have.

[Larry FlatCaster]

Saw this one on X-mas.... I thought it rocked. Take it for what it is.... a cool sci fi movie.

Cameron does it pretty good... redundant??? Maybe if he put out movies every year.

Take it with a grain of salt when you go.... The kids should like it. Mine got a little spooked with some of the animal chase/battle scenes but over all, we were surprised that it was actually that long.

[DTro]

Maybe I was a little harsh, but the special effects were SO good that I was begging for a great story to go with it. Cutting the movie in half would have been a great start.

[Larry FlatCaster]

Maybe I was a little harsh, but the special effects were SO good that I was begging for a great story to go with it. Cutting the movie in half would have been a great start.

Your right about the effects...it could have been shortened as well. Surpisingly it really didn't seem that long for us with a 6 year old eating sweet tarts and soda.

[croixflats]

Thanks dtro sounds about what I suspected. I'll wait for the DVD so I can use the remote. I know the effects wont be as good but to me the story is more important than the special effects.

[Shack]

We had plans to head over to Albertville and see it today at the Imax theater. I read some reviews yesterday and we decided to just have a nice/big brunch at home and watch football instead.

Some people are just thrilled by this movie (changed their life) and others have a very similar review to what Dtro posted.

We also thought it might be pretty crowded today. I hate a packed theater.

[bucketmouth64]

We had plans to head over to Albertville and see it today at the Imax theater.

Went to St. Michael IMAX and saw it there. It rocked on the big screen. It is non 3D which was fine. I heard the 3D effects can get some people sick. Movie flowed and not chopped up and I knew Cameron's movies were long so I was prepared. To me it didn't seem that long. Good story, take it for its entertainment value.

[Jim43]

Heading over to Mankato tomorrow to catch the 3D version. Have the

PC Avatar game installed and its awesome. Bought the Ipod touch version to and it rocks.

[Chef]

Why can't they just leave the political overtones where they belong and stick to making something entertaining? it's not like we lack a jillion places to get our fill of political viewpoints these days.

[PierBridge]

Did anyone see the guy who tried to get Cameron to sign his poster. I think it was on TMZ or something. Long story short Cameron who is a total jerk to begin with refused and this guy blew up on him and ended the rant with "your movie sucked the plot was so bad a 3 year could have written it better"..LOL!

I'm passing on this one.

[DTro]

I would compare it to going to Hooters for the great food

Lots of eye candy in this film and actually that alone was worth price of admission, but falls way short when compared to other great films included in the “best ever” category.

[Jim43]

I thought the movie was fantastic, my 13 year old son was ready to sit through it again. For those who hated it or did not like

it. Why tell anyone about it ? you go to be entertained ? I was !

Can`t wait to own the Blu-ray version.

[CALVINIST]

I saw it last night and fell asleep twice. Although the special effects were great and innovative, I thought the story line was weak and typical. They could have done a better job for the money, IMO.

[Mr.Seaguar]

The negative reviews here sound exactly like what critical reviews sound like. First hr awesome, downhill after that.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

The effects are unreal! And if you're going to see the movie, 3D is the only way to go!

The story is the same one we've all seen a million times. Take your pic of movie and change up the characters. During the big pre-battle "pep talk" all I could think of was the Braveheart speech. Lap Dances with Wolves is another one that comes to mind.

It's worth seeing, but I wouldn't give it any awards aside from best special effects EVER!

[Back2Dakota]

After an hour I was bored. Very predictable. The guy in the wheelchair is a very bad actor. Blue giagantic American Indians is all they were-way they dress,war paint,respect nature,language...ect-what great imagination....blah!!

[McGurk]

Saw this over the weekend, and I think I've seen this before a couple of times: Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves, a black velvet Jimi Hendrix poster...

Really? Fist bumps? "Shock and Awe"? "Unobtainium"? Blatant Native American stereotypes? C'mon...this is supposed to be the future, not 2003. They might as well have called their ship the USS George W. Bush. I hate movies where the human race is considered the evil antagonist.

Cool 3D, though. The Hooters comparison is spot-on.

[paceman]

I saw it last night. I thought it was a fun movie to watch. Predictable, sure, but still a good entertaining movie.

[ThunderLund78]

This link sums it up:

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/01/05/how-disneys-pocahontas-became-avatar/

[BRULEDRIFTER]

LMFAO!

Audiences experience 'Avatar' blues

By Jo Piazza, Special to CNN

(CNN) -- James Cameron's completely immersive spectacle "Avatar" may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.

On the fan forum site "Avatar Forums," a topic thread entitled "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible," has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

"I wasn't depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy ," Baghdassarian said. "But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed."

A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.

"That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie," Elequin posted.

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

"Ever since I went to see Avatar I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.

Cameron's movie, which has pulled in more than $1.4 billion in worldwide box office sales and could be on track to be the highest grossing film of all time, is set in the future when the Earth's resources have been pillaged by the human race. A greedy corporation is trying to mine the rare mineral unobtainium from the planet Pandora, which is inhabited by a peace-loving race of 7-foot tall, blue-skinned natives called the Na'vi.

In their race to mine for Pandora's resources, the humans clash with the Na'vi, leading to casualties on both sides. The world of Pandora is reminiscent of a prehistoric fantasyland, filled with dinosaur-like creatures mixed with the kinds of fauna you may find in the deep reaches of the ocean. Compared with life on Earth, Pandora is a beautiful, glowing utopia.

Ivar Hill posts to the Avatar forum page under the name Eltu. He wrote about his post-Avatar depression after he first saw the film earlier this month.

"When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed ... gray. It was like my whole life, everything I've done and worked for, lost its meaning," Hill wrote on the forum. "It just seems so ... meaningless. I still don't really see any reason to keep ... doing things at all. I live in a dying world."

Reached via e-mail in Sweden where he is studying game design, Hill, 17, explained that his feelings of despair made him desperately want to escape reality.

"One can say my depression was twofold: I was depressed because I really wanted to live in Pandora, which seemed like such a perfect place, but I was also depressed and disgusted with the sight of our world, what we have done to Earth. I so much wanted to escape reality," Hill said.

Cameron's special effects masterpiece is very lifelike and the 3-D performance capture and CGI effects essentially allow the viewer to enter the alien world of Pandora for the movie's 2½-hour run-time, which only lends to the separation anxiety some individuals experience when they depart the movie theater.

"Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far," said Dr. Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. "It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect."

Fans of the movie may find actor Stephen Lang, who plays the villainous Col. Miles Quaritch in the film, an enemy of the Na'vi people and their sacred ground, an unlikely sympathizer, but Lang says he can understand the connection people are feeling with the movie.

"Pandora is a pristine world and there is the synergy between all of the creatures of the planet and I think that strikes a deep cord within people that has a wishfulness and a wistfulness to it," Lang said. "James Cameron had the technical resources to go along with this incredibly fertile imagination of his and his dream is built out of the same things that other peoples' dreams are made of."

The bright side is that for Hill and others like him who became dissatisfied with their own lives and with our imperfect world after enjoying the fictional creation of James Cameron, becoming a part of a community of like-minded people on an online forum has helped them emerge from the darkness.

"After discussing on the forums for a while now, my depression is beginning to fade away. Having taken a part in many discussions concerning all this has really, really helped me," Hill said. "Before, I had lost the reason to keep on living -- but now it feels like these feelings are gradually being replaced with others."

Quentzel said creating relationships with others is one of the keys to human happiness and that even if those connections are occurring online they are better than nothing.

"Obviously there is community building in these forums," Quentzel said. "It may be technologically different from other community building, but it serves the same purpose."

Within the fan community, suggestions for battling feelings of depression after seeing the movie include things like playing "Avatar" video games or downloading the movie soundtrack in addition to encouraging members to relate to other people outside the virtual realm and to seek out positive and constructive activities.

[DTro]

You know what it is?

It's Euphoria

[bobbymalone]

Some people are just thrilled by this movie (changed their life)

Please....

The only movie that changed my life I found at the top of my dad's closet when I was 14. It was about a young woman named Debbie and had something to do with Dallas, TX. A real eye-opener for a youngster.

Post movie depression and thoughts of suicide?!?! Some people need to get out more.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

The only movie that changed my life I found at the top of my dad's closet when I was 14. It was about a young woman named Debbie and had something to do with Dallas, TX. A real eye-opener for a youngster

AWESOME!!!! ROTFLMFAO!

[Duffman]

This movie got me out to a movie theater for the first time in over ten years. The 3D visuals were well worth it, as for the story line, I'd love to know of any recent movie that isn't a rehash of old ideas? Name just one.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Inglourious Bastards ?