Film Review; Avatar (2009), James Cameron

Sure, so AVATAR is old news - but since when has the proverbial sell-by-date ever stopped people from discussing just about anything, from music to political movements that where old before time was. And, with the 3D version set to hit the cinemas soon, I thought it was high time I presented my own thoughts on the CGI blockbuster wonder. 
All remaining mistakes are my own. No copyright infringement intended. Avatar, the Smurfs and any other recognisable element belong entirely to their own creators, I claim nothing. 

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AVATAR - Poccahontas with Blue Crayons

 Having taken a quick, critical eye over the supposed "epic blockbuster of the year", I find that the plot resembles that of the Disney's Poccahontas - humans move in, assume the natives are barbarians, want the precious commidity the area is rich in, invasion begins. A young man is sent in to infiltrate the ranks, he falls in love, epic shit goes down - betrayal, redemption, reconciliation, happily ever after, choosing between his duty and his heart... you know the drill. The only immediate (and indeed only) defining feature appears to be that someone went a little overboard with the magic markers somewhere along the line. Seriously, guys, what is that? Some evolution of the Smurfs from the far distance future?

 Firstly, the plot - if it can be called that. Take Disney's Poccahontas and you basically have the sypnosis for AVATAR. It is as full of life lessons meant to instill as sense of acceptance and tolerance and respect for those different then we are. To prove to the little kiddies that colour, race, tradition and religion is no reason to mindlessly prosecute and destroy a group of people. As you can imagine, most of this was lost between the CGI effects and the blue women with pointy ears and very few clothes, who reminded most of the male audience of Amazon warrior Princesses (or something). Because of this, it employs pretty much every trope in existance and leads to some rather unremarkable "plot twists" that are as predictable as the ending of any Disney Princess film (and they all lived happily every after...). This marked lack of predicatibility is hardly surprising, but faintly disappointing.

 Of course, most of you are probably a little surprised by this opinion - after all, I bet a good proportion of you can remember a vague feeling of awe in regards to this movie. Yeah, that wasn't the movie - that was the sparkly graphics that distracted from the shoddy acting; like Twilight vampires, only without the obsessive fans. Indeed, the amount of money spent on ensuring that the movie literally jumped out at you prevented the casting commity from appointing anyone decent (or allowing the few decent actors time to actually act), and meant that the writers, rather then actually writing a script for the movie, nicked one off Disney studioes and crossed out all mentions of a Native American tribe and replaced them with those strange blue things (what are they actually called? Does anyone know?).

 This bad writing meant that the dailogue between the (terrible) actors was stinted and unauthentic, and all emotion and dramatic effect was ruined by how utterly inconvincing the reactions of the cast where. Of course, this is merely my opinion, but I felt that the characters where dry and lacked any sort of believeable quality or flaw that would make it even remotely possible to empathise with them. As a viewer who lives for the characters, it was a hugely disappointing endevour.

 Lastly, lets take a look at the OSCAR award and nominations it achieved - or rather, failed to. When it was released in cinemas, it was advertised and praised as being the "blockbuster film of the moment," with predicted awards falling in left, right and centre, drowning under all the praise and the limelight. Instead, despite numerous nominations, AVATAR walked away with precious few actual rewards, having failed dismally to make any impression on the Golden Globe awards. Most of the rewards it did recieve where focused entirely on the visual effects - its only vaguely redeeming feature. They are pretty damn impressive, although not nearly enough to disguise how terrible the rest of it was.

 Its almost a shame. This movie had so much potential, and even I can see the faint glimmerings of what really could have been the defining moment in an era. Perhaps had Cameren been less obsessed with "OH MY GOD, SHINY!" these actors could actually have had a shot at making this more then decent - it could have been brilliant.

 But then, they say all critics are merely failed writers, so what do I know? Have an opinion you want to share? Agree with me? Disagree? Want to give your penny's worth? Leave your opinons in the comments and let the debating begin. 


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Thanks for reading, 
Nighty night xx

Introductions!

Hello, there, readers!
 The name's Julia, and welcome to The Bee Hive, the rather handy, compact space where I can share any of my (mostly mundane) personal thoughts, feeling or opinions, showcase my (excessively wordy) original writing, and take the chance to get my (horribly boring) journalisic attempts out into the big wide world of the internet, right out there in the grasp of scathing, bitchy, impossible-to-please critics, where it belongs.
 If you decide to stick around for a little while, you will, more likely then not encounter literary, musical and cinematographical reviews, reports and articles detailing my personal opinions on certain matters, most of which I will admit to having only the most tenacious of grips on, but which I feel strongly enough about to wish to share with you all. They won't be perfect, not by anyone's means, rather like their author. Littered amongst theses you might find questions, concerns, or observations of the day-to-day happenings of my (rather small) life, and occassionally you may even come across attempts at writing some of my own creative prose; it is, after all, my truest passion.

 Congratulations if you read all of that, I'm not very good with introductions, as you may have guessed. Anyhow, its only fair I finish that long winded way of saying "Hello, I'm crap, please take pity on me," with a link to my other personas (be warned, they're very boring).
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Nighty night :) xx