2010-01-09

tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
2010-01-09 01:12 pm
Entry tags:

[film] Avatar (3D)

I was expecting eye-candy and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the morality's black-and-white: yes, this is Hollywood Future (like Hollywood C19, except, y'know, in the Future).
Executive summary: beautiful; long but not slow (I found it compelling watching); well-paced

Some observations:
- like being in a 3D animated Roger Dean poster.

- it's a film of two halves -- the human (live action) and the Na'vi (CGI) -- with very different aesthetics
- reminded me of all sorts of things - Harry Harrison's Deathworld, Anne MacCaffrey, Pocahontos, Hothouse, lots of Vietnam films ...
- has strong female characters
- Unobtanium! (but why is it so valuable, eh?)
- very long (2'46") but didn't feel slow at any point -- if anything, some impressive-but-unessential scenes were cut.

spoilery stuff under the cut )

Added bonus: 3D trailer for Alice in Wonderland!
Here's a review that expands on the allusions, references and influences ...'Totally unoriginal but still pretty cool' (worth checking out for the Pocahontas comparison!