Avatar Screening
August. 22. 2009.
Friggin' sweetness...
I was fortunate enough to see both screenings of the 15 minute Avatar sneak peek. It's pretty damn badass. I will say, however, its not as amazingly profound as some have been saying it is. And on the flip side, its not as cartoony as some people have been complaining about. The trailer released this week doesn't really do the movie justice. Seeing it in IMAX and 3D really immerses you. Once you start watching full scenes, you start paying attention like you do with any other movie and your brain forgets that you're watching computer generated characters and environments. I was only able to achieve this during the second screening. The first time I was too busy looking everywhere at everything, trying to soak as much in and pay attention to all the little details. The second time, I allowed myself to sit back, relax, and watch the acting and listen to the dialog.
I saw a video on YouTube after someone saw the footage at SDCC and he said it best describing it as an EVOLUTIONARY step or two, not a REVOLUTIONARY step. You can still tell its CG characters, but is it because they're not realistic, or because they're 10 foot tall blue giant cat-like African-dressed Native Americans? The performance capture used is amazing though. Seeing Sigourney Weaver's Na'vi avatar, you can totally tell its her acting, down to the way her mouth moves, eyes look around... its awesome. Not like Anthony Hopkins' walking corpse in Beowulf.
Overall, I think the movie will be very entertaining and will surely pull you in. The only problems I foresee are with Sam Worthington's character. He's like a 5 year old in an adults body that doesn't friggin' listen to anyone, literally. One of the scenes I saw at the screening was from the trailer, where he first enters his Avatar and he's in that little room behind the glass. He wakes up and tries to stand up ignoring the 20 times everyone around him asks him to sit back down. I can only assume its to convey that he's super excited to have working legs again, but definitely uncalled for. I see it being annoying on the level of Edward Furlong in T2, with his screeching voice-cracking screams and shouts the entire time. That's the only part that really worries me. Oh, that and people not taking the movie seriously because its a bunch of blue, mostly naked computer generated natives running around. It's definitely an "adult" themed film... I just can't wait for people to get it through their skulls that computer animation does not equal children... nor does animation in general equal children.
But I will definitely see it more than once in the theater, and I'll certainly be purchasing the DVD, as well.
~Lawnz
