I’d Dance with That Smurf

The James Cameron film Avatar is getting some very mixed press right now.  Some critics – from what I can tell, the best-known critics – have christened it just short of a masterpiece.  Others have dubbed it the sci-fi equivalent of Dances with Wolves, aka, Dances with Smurfs.  I’ve seen other variations, but that’s the idea.  So which is it, a fantastic new world of CGI and brilliant storytelling or a tired old plot regifted in technicolor wrapping paper?

It’s both, but it’s mostly the former.

Face it, there is no new plot under the sun.  Humans siding with aliens, especially in ways that bring attention to some political hot topic, has been a science fiction staple in literature for a while.  It can be as small-scale an alien presence as ET or as large-scale as an interplanetary war (specific works escape me).  People have gone so far as to accuse Cameron of plagiarizing Poul Anderson’s novel, Call Me Joe.  I’ve not read the latter, but come on, how many people have thought up stories they thought were brilliantly original just to find out they are cliche.  A vampire private detective?  The aliens are really humans?  Anything with a dwarf in it?  plagiarism has to go deeper than a synopsis.

So what was good about Avatar?  Of course the effects were outstanding, Lord of the Rings – calibur CGI.  The environment was beautiful even if it did look a tough like Batman Forever in the jungle.  The 3d was quite good but still distractingly like a pop-up book; I’d rather watch it flat.  The aliens’ tribal culture was convincing.  Yes, it reeked of Native American influence; every alien culture has to come from somewhere. The plot was solid if unoriginal.

Bottom line, it is the execution that makes the film brilliant, not its originality.  It is feverishly predictable throughout, mostly through its own heavy-handed foreshadowing.  So what?  The pacing was great, not always the case in a 2 hour 4o minute movie.

I’m going out on a limb and calling Avatar the best sci-fi movie since The Matrix.  I may have forgotten one or two contenders, but I’m pretty confident in my statement.  It is possible to recycle things to make something better, especially when combined with something cutting edge.  Avatar is a must see.