Note: This is probably going to read like a bunch of disjointed thoughts, mainly because it is. It’s been awhile since I watched Avatar, so, just indulge me.
When I walked out of the theatre after watching Avatar, the first thought I had was “I bet this is exactly how people felt in August of 1939.” See, that’s the month The Wizard of Oz opened, and I can only imagine that when Dorothy opened her front door to see the land of Oz that there was many a jaw that needed to be picked up off the floor. I’m pretty sure seeing Avatar in 3D is as close to that experience as I’ve ever been.
Well, maybe seeing the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park is up there, as well as a few other films (Star Wars immediately comes to mind of course), but films like that don’t come along too often is my point. And, I think Wizard of Oz is a great film to hold Avatar up to.
There’s been a lot of ragging on Cameron for his very lackluster script, and maybe deservedly so. The dialogue is atrocious and there are so many plot devices and elements borrowed from other films that I honestly laughed when it got nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category at the Golden Globes. The movie is full of plot holes and cinematic cliches. So much so that at one point, when I had to excuse my self to the facilities mid movie, I came back and asked my brother what I’d missed and predicted almost the next ten or twenty minutes of the film. But, to be fair, I could have told you how it was going to end the minute we’re introduced to all the main characters. Original it is not.
But, neither was The Wizard of Oz. Yeah, it was adapted from a series of books, but the 1939 film wasn’t the first adaption, and it wasn’t the last. Everyone complains these days about remakes and sequels, and there’s always talk of “watering down the franchise.” If there’s any film in history that proves such a thing impossible, it’s The Wizard of Oz.
Now, that doesn’t have a thing to do with Avatar, except to say that, so what if the man isn’t original? Originality doesn’t matter if you can stand out in the crowd, and Avatar can definitely do that. Visually at least.
The phrase “theatre experience” was invented for movies like Avatar. I’d bet cold hard cash that when the DVd & BluRay drop in a few months it won’t be anywhere near as amazing as seeing it on that giant screen in a packed theatre in glorious 3D. Which is really a shame.
The term “game changer” also gets bandied about by loads of people talking about Avatar, and while I agree, I’m not sure we’re all on the same page. To me, the most interesting aspects of Avatar are HOW it was made. I can only imagine George Lucas was shaking his head in disappoiintment after his first viewing. The man spent ten years trying to prove he could create realistic characters rendered in CGI. And, while he didn’t exactly fail, no one can argue that most of his creations came off too hokey. Not here.
I had some trouble getting used to Jake’s avatar at first, when we see him standing aside the humans, but once he heads into Pandora I totally buy it. In fact, I buy the Pandora-centric stuff infinitely more than any of the human related characters or situations. Especially Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri. After Empire Strike Back, George Lucas spent a ton of dough lobbying to get Frank Oz nominated for Best Supporting Actor; I would have loved to see the fans mount a similar campaign to get her nominated for her performance here. She is the single most believable thing in the film and her entire performance is motion captured CGI.
Yes, I liked Avatar quite a bit, it was fun, and I’ll gladly plop down my cash to see the sequels or prequels or whatever Cameron unleashes on us next, but I can’t help but feel like the nominations and awards being heaped upon it are some kind of fan service. I’m one of the few people I know who would have groaned at The Dark Knight being nominated for Best Picture last year. I know there was uproar about its exclusion, but, honestly, I don’t think it belonged there, and I’m glad it got overlooked. So, this year they expand the nominees to ten and we get films like District 9, The Blind Side and Avatar showing up. It’s the Academy saying “Look, we like the same kind of movies you like!” and it reeks of desperation.
The Wizard of Oz went on to be nominated for six Oscars, winning two, in what is widely considered to be the single greatest year in film history. Sixty years later we’re still talking about that movie, still introducing it to new generations. It’s a cultural right of passage. I’m not so sure that sixty years from now people will have the same reverence for James Cameron’s film.
