Ruminations of an Old Goat

Well, I finally did it. On Saturday, the Boy and I headed out to the local theater and saw Avatar. I'll do my best to give you enough information to decide if you want to see it, also.

Let's start with the obvious. The visuals in Avatar are truly stunning. While the movie has many live-action scenes, at least two-thirds of it is entirely computer animated. The plant life on Pandora -- the name of the moon on which the movie is set -- is lush, colorful, varied, amazing. The animal life is lithe, quick, varied, realistic. This really is the next step in computer animation.

I've been told 13 different computer animation studios worked together to render Avatar and can readily believe it. You can tell the difference when watching the animals and the Na'Vi, the blue natives to the planet. The predators move quickly, gracefully and intelligently. Large herbivores move ponderously but are capable of building up considerable speed when they need to do so. Smaller herbivores are nervous and sprightly the few times we see them. And the Na'Vi move as humans move, possess expressive faces and body language. It is obvious James Cameron got his money's worth out of the special effects budget.

He should have cut a scene or two and used the money saved to hire better writers.

Before I delve into the story and the script, let me say up front that the movie is fast-paced and exciting, covering up many of its scripting short-falls with speed and action. In this respect, the movie is somewhat like the original Star Wars. Consider this painful bit of scriptwriting from Star Wars:

Darth Vader: When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master!
Obi-Wan: Only a master of evil, Darth!

But we didn't care about such painful dialogue since we were about to see the first lightsaber duel ever shown in a movie. Action trumped words in that scene from Star Wars. It happens a lot more in Avatar.

There will be spoilers in and among what I write. For those who don't want to read them, I'll provide a spoiler warning before hand. However, so much of the broad plot is already known to anyone who simply viewed the trailer that I'm not going to offer any warnings before discussing it.

So, what is the plot of the movie? Essentially, it's Dances With Wolves crossed with Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest. No, I'm not kidding. Mix the first two-thirds of Wolves, where the main character is getting to know the local natives, with the end of Ferngully, where the critters fight to stop man from destroying the forest, and you've got the broad-brush story arch for Avatar.

Jake Sully, paraplegic former marine, is lured into the Avatar Project after his twin brother, a PhD scientist, is killed; shot, if I remember correctly. We learn nothing about why the brother was killed nor do we see any indication that Sully is affected emotionally by his twin's death. We do learn that the twin was part of the expensive Avatar Project, where a living "avatar" is grown from a mixture of human and Na'Vi DNA. Only someone with the correct genome can pilot the avatar. The brother died just before shipping out from earth to Pandora, where he would put his avatar to work learning about the new world and the natives who inhabit the world. Rather than let the expensive avatar go to waste, Jake is hired to become its pilot; incidentally allowing him to earn enough money to get his spine fixed. Jake signs up and spends the next six years in suspended animation while traveling to Pandora.

After landing on Pandora, Jake learns that the scientist in charge of the Avatar Project -- Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine -- doesn't want an untrained "moron" screwing up her project. Meanwhile, the colonel in charge of security -- Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch -- wants him to be true to his jarhead background and perform reconnaissance for the colonel in case it becomes necessary to pacify the Na'Vi. The colonel has such a perfect "bad ass" look that we know he's going to be the primary villain before he even speaks a word. Of course Dr. Augustine is overruled by the corporate villai- I mean, corporate head of the entire project, and Sully joins the avatar team.

It is here that we first find out why this entire outpost is on Pandora. The corporate guy shows Sully a small piece of rock, refers to it as "unobtanium" and tells us it sells for 20 million credits per kilo on earth.

Wait a minute! Unobtanium? Unobtainium? Unobtainium? Are you kidding me? Cameron spends an estimated $300 million making this movie and the best he can come up with is unobtainium? Didn't anyone working on this movie have the guts to suggest a different name for this element? At the very least, it should have been used as a joke. The corporate guy could have claimed the scientific name was such a pain to pronounce that they'd taken to calling it unobtainium. But no, the corporate guy is completely serious both times when he calls it unobtainium. Giovanni Ribosi, the actor who played the corporate guy, ought to get some kind of special Oscar just for being able to say "unobtainium" without bursting out laughing. I realize I've spent an entire paragraph complaining about a word used twice in the movie, but it's such a monumentally stupid name that all reviewers should be required to take a full star from the movie's rating because of it.

Anyway, back to the movie. Spoilers appear in the next eight paragraphs.

All that has come before is simply build up for Sully's first entry into the world in his avatar. In quick order, he gets chased by a big predator, getting away only to be chased by a pack of small, sort of dog-like predators. Suddenly, a nearly-naked, blue warrior-babe bursts onto the scene and saves his life. She spurns his thanks, blaming him because she was forced to kill creatures who were simply doing what comes naturally to them. And there it is, the first indication that the Na'Vi are "one with nature" in a way we destructive humans can't imagine.

Anger changes to wonder, though, when a whole bunch of seeds from the great Ancestor Tree (it has a name I don't fully remember, Eywa or Enya or something like that) land on Jake's avatar. The seeds are beautiful, glowing, flying things. And, of course, it is "A Sign" from the ancestors that Jake is the chosen one. Jake is taken to the Home Tree, where he learns the warrior babe is -- wait for it -- a princess! No, they don't use the term princess, but her father is the chief and her mother is the religious leader. So, yeah, she's a princess. And the princess is ordered by her mother to teach Jake their ways.

Suddenly, Jake is popular all over the human establishment. The colonel is thrilled because Jake can give him really good intel about the Home Tree. Dr. Augustine is thrilled because Jake can tell her all about clan life. And so, Jake learns and makes mistakes and learns from his mistakes and, of course, becomes one of the People. Yes, another trite little bit. The Na'Vi call themselves "the People." Where have we heard that before? Hm, maybe in Little Big Man and, later, Dances With Wolves? But we already knew the Na'Vi were idealized native Americans, so this just reinforces that idea.

Next we learn that the Na'Vi aren't just living close to nature. Due to an amazing bit of fortuitous development, the Na'Vi have a set of tendrils which can be connected to matching tendrils on their six-legged horses and the flying critters they ride. Once the two sets of tendrils are connected, the rider and the mount are as one. The rider need simply think what he wants the mount to do and the mount does it. Later, we learn the tendrils may also be connected to stems on the Ancestor Tree, allowing the Na'Vi to listen to the voices of their ancestors. While its never discussed, I cannot conceive of any possible way such a useful organ could simply evolve among the Na'Vi and all the creatures they ride. On the other hand, I rather doubt Cameron is sending a message of a divine power, either. Worst of all, from a science fiction point of view, none of the humans even discuss the tendrils, much less marvel at the them or question how they could have developed.

Jake is eventually forced to choose between the humans and the Na'Vi. He chooses the Na'Vi, of course, but not in time to save the Home Tree from destruction. Rejected by the Na'Vi as one who brought about the destruction of their home and by the humans as a "treehugger" who joined the natives against his own kind, Jake's only friends are the scientists in the avatar project and one helicopter pilot (Michelle Rodriguez in her now-familiar role as the beautiful-but-tough woman-warrior).

Forced to find a way to get through to the Na'Vi, Jake links tendrils with the mightiest flying critter on the planet; one which hasn't been tamed since his blue girlfriend's grandfather's grandfather did it. Arriving on the flying critter, Jake is named mac daddy of the clan and they agree to follow him into battle against the humans. The battle follows the same plan laid out in The Phantom Menace, where the natives have early success against the humans, including having arrows which previously bounced harmlessly off of aircraft windshields suddenly piercing the windshields and the pilots within. But soon the human's technological advantage asserts itself and the natives are pushed back. The Na'Vi and their avatar allies are losing on all fronts with defeat and death imminent.

Then the planet comes to the rescue. Yes, you read that right. I'll admit that this was telegraphed when, before the battle, Jake linked with the Ancestor Tree and asked for help in the coming battle. Apparently, the planet had trouble making up its mind until everything was almost lost. Suddenly, the tide turns and the battle goes the way of the natives because the planet sends all of its critters to join in the fight. But, living up to his bad ass look and reputation, the colonel refuses to go down with the rest of his forces. Jumping in an "amp" suit -- sort of like a big, mechanical avatar, actually -- the colonel fights one-on-one against Jake while his girlfriend, trapped beneath a dead critter, can only watch. Just as it appears the colonel will get Jake, the girlfriend pulls herself out from under the critter and kills the colonel.

The Na'Vi send the humans home -- except for those who were their allies, of course -- and, using the Ancestor Tree, Jake manages to move into his avatar permanently, leaving his human body to die as he truly becomes one of the People.

Roll credits. End spoilers.

So, what did I think of the movie? As I said at the start, the movie was fast-paced and exciting, giving the viewer little time to dwell on the considerable short-comings of the script or the story. Perhaps because I was prepared for it, I was not as distracted by the pacing and the visuals.

The dialogue was worthy of more than a few winces, though the majority of it is just simplistic and predictable. The dialogue of the Na'Vi was what I consider fake-noble speech. For example, the Na'Vi greeting is "I see you," which has a deep meaning beyond the obvious. The greeting's deep meaning is "I see you, your soul, your life force, your primal Gaia-goodness" yada yada yada.

Meanwhile, the humans fall entirely into two camps; those who want to crush the natives for the unobtainium that is buried under their Home Tree and those who want to defend the natives from the evil, rampaging humans. All of the humans who drive avatars or work with the avatar drivers join the "treehugger" side of things. All the rest of the humans are quite happy to blast the natives out of existence. No one changes sides. No one doubts themselves.

The same can be said of the Na'Vi, not a one of whom is even remotely enticed by the technology the humans have brought with them. They aren't interested in medicine, education, improved weapons, nothing. They all remain completely and irrevocably true to their "noble savage" background.

I also wonder about the entire setup of the mining outpost. Where are the government or UN observers whose job it is to make sure the natives are treated properly? What is it that makes unobtainiun so valuable that a six year transit time back to earth is worth while? Why is the corporate guy so determined to get the unobtainium deposits beneath the Home Tree when it is only the largest within a couple of hundred kilometers, not the largest or only one remaining? Surely it's less expensive to mine an element from land not occupied by natives who don't want to move? And why, if the corporation is prepared to wipe out the natives, do they even have the incredibly expensive, slow-developing Avatar Project? Lots of questions, none of which are answered.

Then there's the movie's message. All I'm going to say about that is Avatar is the perfect movie for people who felt Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest played the treehugger message with too much subtlety.

In the end, whether or not to see Avatar comes down to what you're looking for from the movie. If you want a visually stunning, fast-paced, action-packed movie, give Avatar a look. If you want a movie whose script makes George Lucas's scripts look really good, give Avatar a look. If you want a movie that doesn't shove a message down your throat, avoid Avatar like the plague.

As for me, I don't regret having seen the movie. But unlike 1977 when I saw Star Wars, I didn't leave the movie energized and excited by what I had seen. When it's all said and done, the Boy's one word review sums it up as well as anything I've written.

"Meh."

Here's my rating on a five star scale:

Style: Five stars
Substance: Two stars
Average: Three and a half stars
Minus one star for "unobtainium", final rating: Two and a half stars