“Avatar” the review
Went to see the James Cameron film “Avatar” with Marley last night. We opted to see it in 3-D and we were glad we did. The visuals were stunning by themselves. In 3-D… well you owe it to yourself to see this film in 3-D.
I really enjoyed this film. It held up to the hype we’ve been reading about for the last month. But all the time I was watching, I couldn’t help but think “this story is SO familiar… where have I seen/read this before?”
At the conclusion of the film, Marley nailed it. She said “That had a lot of ‘Dances with Wolves’ in it!” BINGO! Immediately the parallels of the two films started flooding in…
military man sent to a remote outpost because he had nothing to live for… CHECK
has seemingly inexplicable spiritual connection to local indigenous wildlife… CHECK
makes friends with the primitive, native tribe… CHECK
learns their ways… CHECK
falls in love with fiercely independant daughter of tribal leader… CHECK
after proving himself, is accepted into their tribe as one of their own… CHECK
faces onslaught from the military he was serving, but deserted… CHECK
hero collects firearms and distributes them to natives to fight… CHECK
chooses to fight along side native tribe against white man invaders trying to take natural resources … CHECK
This list could probably go on and on and on… I’m not saying that Cameron ripped off Kevin Costner. Well… on 2′nd thought, maybe he did? The parallels between the two stories are glaringly obvious, and yet they are entirely different stories. But yet they are the same. Or in the words of my author girlfriend… ”It is the same f-ing movie!”
But in the end, are there really any truly original stories left to be told? Not really. Everything borrows “inspiration” from stories before. ”Lather, rinse, repeat”.
With that said, I think you will enjoy Avatar. But go out and rent “Dances With Wolves” as well – another great film. Then compare them together.
Nice Catch.
Man, I’m brilliant. = )
I totally thought the same thing about Dances with Wolves when I saw it too.
Just left after my second 3D viewing and left amazed a second time. Took my wife this time and she liked it too.
I loved it too! But yes, it did have familiar story themes. My sister has heard it referred to as “Pochantas in Space” and (my favorite) “Dances With Smurfs”
)
I’ve not seen either film.
My daughter and I compared Avatar to Pocahontas. The Marine was very much the John Smith character from Pocahontas and the girl even kind of looked like Pocahontas.
Okay, I’ll try this again. My daughter and I felt Avatar compared favorably to the Disney film Pocahontas. The lead characters we thought and the story line was very similar.