Well I finally got round to seeing Avatar, on DVD as I never did make it to the cinema. It was exactly as I expected: visually stunning, generally entertaining but with a vacuous plot, heaps of cinematic cliches and mono-dimensional characters.
It could and should have been so much better if they'd bothered to put as much attention to detail into the plot and character development as they did the visuals. Even just one or two unexpected plot twists and characters that weren't wooden Hollywood steroetypes would have helped enormously. But it just progressed down the same old boy meets girl, girl falls for boy against the odds, boy and girl save the world routine. Even the action sequences, as impressively animated as they were, adhered strictly to Hollywood fight sequence cliches.
The plot was on such obvious rails that you couldn't even say the story "unfolded". There were no "I didn't see that coming" moments, no surprises to make you jump in your seat and very little emotional attachment to any of the characters (no need to discreetly blink away the tears in this movie). Any plot elements not stolen from Dances With Wolves and several other films were probably written on the back of a beer mat, although the sad fact is that even such a vapid script probably had many many hours of work put into it.
Thematically it plunders without remorse from all manner of other films, video games, art, literature and human cultures. The wildlife and environments of Pandora are beautifully realised, if a little too earth-like (although that can be forgiven, viewers need points of reference).
All this said, I *did* enjoy it and will probably watch it again. But only because it is such a huge visual feast, I don't expect to spot any plot developments or dialogue I missed the first time around
