http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVdO-cx-McA&feature=PlayList&p=37FB28663C8DF2B0&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

Avatar - AB

by Daniel Tran – Bishop McNally High School, Calgary AB Jan 18, 2010

4 stars

Rating: PG
Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver

What’s the story?
In the year 2154, Jake Sully (Worthington), a former marine who is a parapalegic, is taken to a moon called Pandora, where humans have settled in order to mine its valuable natural resources. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Lang), the head of security at the human settlement, assigns Jake the mission of infiltrating and gathering information on the Na’vi, Pandora’s natives, in order to move the Na’vi off their homeland so that they can mine Pandora’s natural materials. In the process, Jake begins to grow close to the Na’vi and identify with their resolve against the humans. But Quaritch’s impatience sets him on a mission to subdue the Na’vi through violence, which ultimately tests Jake’s loyalties and pressures him to pick a side in an epic fight for the fate of the Na’vi... and of all Pandora.

Why see it?
Director James Cameron tells a gripping tale of action, love, treachery and suspense that is enough to make some people cry. The cast isn’t well known, but their performances give all the right insight into their personalities (from one being a trustworthy jerk to another being a likeable enemy). Pandora’s strange but striking flora and fauna adorn practically every scene of the film, which serve as great eye-candy alongside exciting battles, touching romance, and heartbreaking betrayals that only Cameron can deliver.

Who should skip it?
Put Pocahontas in the Na’vi’s shoes and there’s the movie. Come on! We need some originality here! At times, the plot is also difficult to follow and if you hate seeing animals get killed, don’t watch this since quite a few (extraterrestrial) animals get shot or shot at.

All in all:
Visually stunning, but the plot lacks originality.

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The World of Pandora

Submitted by esther (not verified) on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 22:16.

by Anthony Albania - John Oliver Secondary School, Vancouver BC

Welcome to your wildest imaginations in the world of Pandora, home of the Na'vi.

"Avatar" is the latest film by Canadian Academy Award winning screenwriter, producer, and director: James Cameron. "Avatar" tells an epic tale of former marine, Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington from "Terminator: Salvation") who travels with scientists to the alien moon of Pandora, which is a beautiful world filled with extraordinary creatures.

Led by the passionate and fierce scientist, Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver from the "Alien" series), Jake begins to learn about Pandora and the Na-vi through his avatar. Things begin to get complicated though, when his growing friendship and love for Na-vi Neytiri comes into conflict with the humans' goal of taking all of Pandora's valuable natural resources.

It took around 10 years for James Cameron to write the screenplay all while directing his blockbuster film, "Titanic," which made billions of dollars.

There are many impressive things about Cameron's work on "Avatar." Pandora is an amazingly unique place filled with creative creatures, and Cameron even created a special language just for the Na'vi in the movie.

The cinematographic shots show off the mesmerizing landscape of the imagined moon. The artistic details are realistic and powerful. Every image we see is unforgettable.

I also liked the theme of environmental issues in the movie. The film pointed out that humans are the monsters who are threatening their own forests. Humans need to take action to save their home planet Earth from environmental harm. I think this is an important message and I myself felt absolutely disgusted to see the parallel of how we've been treating our home planet just like the humans treat Pandora in the movie.

However, the story itself was totally weak. I felt very disappointed throughout the film with the cheesy and cliched dialogue. And since the script was flawed, to make up for his script, Cameron seemed to include almost too many visual effects. Every scene was packed full - sometimes a little to full in my opinion - with aliens, war and violence.

Usually, directors who like to pack that many visual effects into their movies are directors of cheesy action-flicks like Roland Emmerich's "2012" or Michael Bay's "Transformers" series.

As well, not all of the acting made the cut. In particular, Sam Worthington's portrayal of Jake was quite shallow and didn't allow for much character development.

However, Zoe Saldana did a great job in her role as Neytiri, even though her character was a lot like Pocahontas.

While Sigourney Weaver's cheesy lines didn't impress me, she did display a fierce kind of persona with enough faith inside her heart to care for the Na'vi.

Although there were problems with James Cameron's movie "Avatar" (namely, his script writing), it is still impressive that he was able to turn a sci-fi movie into a successful box office phenomenon.

In the end, "Avatar" is one fun and entertaining ride. It is a movie that could possibly forever change our lives.

Avatar

Submitted by Karefree on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 02:08.

I have not seen it yet, but I want to. My dad said, one of his co workers saw the movie 4 times.

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