TurquoiseB wrote: > Reading the "reviews" of AVATAR on this forum > since Friday have made me wonder. > Hey, I thought you said you rarely read reviews!
> Wonder whether all the hype was a hype. Wonder > whether the film that cost $230,000,000 and took > 15 years to make and that has been touted as the > film that will change filmmaking forever was just > shuck 'n jive. > > But more, wonder whether posters here have to some > extent lost their ability to experience wonder. > > It's the latter. > > AVATAR is a wonder. > > Every penny of that $230,000,000 is up on screen. > There has simply never been a visual experience > projected onto theater screens that is in the same > ballpark as this one. > > And not only is it vision to behold, it's visionary. > Yes, it references and draws some of its inspiration > from great science fiction and fantasy of the past. > But at risk of sounding like Jerry Seinfeld, "Not > that that's a bad thing." If you're shooting for the > best, steal from the best. And Cameron did. One can > see images and ideas stolen from Anne McCaffery here, > and Tolkien, and especially Ursula Le Guin. But there > is a great deal of original thought and vision, too. > > To reduce this film to an elevator pitch of "Star Wars > meets Dances With Wolves" so far misses the mark that > it's ludicrous. To reduce the plotline to "Boy starts > off on an adventure, faces dangers, grows to manhood > and becomes the hero he was always meant to be, and > saves the world" is no more insulting when aimed at > AVATAR than it would be aimed at The Lord Of The > Rings, or Beowulf, or any great myth in history. > > But if you're not into great myth, see the film just > for the visuals. If there are not scenes in this film > so beautiful that they bring tears to your eyes, you > really have lost your ability to experience wonder. >
