Avatar; the new FernGully?

[Magic Missy]

Personally, I feel it's an overbudget ripoff of FernGully, mixed in with Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves.

I think unlike FernGully, Avatar lacks the wit, charm, lovable characters, good songs, and heart.

But that's just my opinion. What does everybody else think?

[Nilla Joy]

Oh I love Avatar, but I make a root for the Na'vis in the movie. Speaking of Na'vis, some of the students from my college did mention it was like a story about Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas. It's weird cause maybe it is and maybe it isn't!

I found it interesting because there's a good tale behind it when James Cameron made it, but I heard it took him a long time to write down the story before he directed it.

[FaPingMulan]

I haven't seen it so I don't have an opinion at the moment lol

[HeXXus]

I haven't seen it either, but I don't really have any desire to. I've heard reviews on both sides, but from most of them..Eh, I think I'll just stick with Ferngully and Dances with wolves lol.

[Magic Missy]

I watched it again the other day and it's not all that bad. Lousy wrting/rehashed plot, but the visuals surely make up for it.

[FaPingMulan]

I watched it for the first time yesterday and I did see how it had a lot of pocahontas and ferngully related bits in it but I still liked the film and bought it today.

[nightworm]

I haven't seen this movie yet, but my parents and I are really wanting to see it. In my opinion I don't think it could ever replace Fernfully, because I have more fond childhood memories of Ferngully, but Avatar certainly looks like a movie I would like. I placed myself on hold on it through my public library's site but I was like the fortieth person on hold for it when I last checked it so I'll be waiting awhile on it.

[HeXXus]

D: Aw, sorry to hear that Nightworm. Well, I hope you can see it soon! Maybe rent it? Although I suspect it's a fairly popular choice at the video rental store as well.

I was forced to watch some of it lol, and I have kind of..mixed opinions as well. I still am not too crazy about it (mostly because I didn't feel like watching any movie at that time and was forced to go lol)- but another thing was, it felt sooo much like dances with wolves to me.

Literally, I sat there with my family reciting things that happened in dances with wolves, and then it'd happen on the screen. And of course, I pointed out the Pocahontas scenes and such too. xD

And it felt...wayyyyy preachy to me. Nothing wrong with preachy movies, but it felt to me like they were shoving the message down my throat. But I do read into things too much, so that was probably just me.

The visuals were pretty good, I can't deny that. When we watched on an hd screen, it looked very real too!

[FaPingMulan]

I had to rent it from a video store to see it for the first time Nightworm maybe you could try there.

[Magic Missy]

No it wasn't just you, Shauni. I agree, as do many other poeple that Avatar was very preachy. It seemed to be trying to say without an ounce of subtlety that the big, bad Americans (a.k.a. sky people) are evil for destroying the land of the peace-loving, innocent natives. (Na'vi)

So in a way it seems to be telling us as a movie how bad we should feel for our ancestor's mistakes - how white people stole the land from Native Americans and such. Because if you listen closely, many Na'vi sounds and rituals mirror NativeAmerican culture almost far too closely. They're basically blue versions of them if you ask me.

[nightworm]

Well, I finally got to watch Avatar today! My dad watched it yesterday and he told me to watch it because he liked it so well and he just thought it would be something I would enjoy. So, I watched it, and I liked it! Sure, it did remind me of Ferngully and Pocahontas in some parts, but surprisingly, it didn't make me think of those movies as much as I thought it would, though Neytri's dad did sound a lot like Pocahontas' father. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same guy but I can't find his name on any of the credit lists I've found for Avatar, so I'm not for sure if it's him or not. Still, I thought it was a good movie, and I highly recommend it!