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Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

The student news site of Wayland High School

Wayland Student Press

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Avatar’s special effects well worth the wait

Stunning visual effects in the new film Avatar make it well worth the extra time this film took getting into theaters. (Credit: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)

Sorry folks. Avatar isn’t the film version of that Nickelodeon show where a bald kid kicks the stuffing out of an empire. This movie, released last Friday, is instead more Star Trek meets Dances with Wolves. From the graphics, to the culture, the flora, the fauna, and the machinery, the film was a masterpiece of the human creative capacity. Director James Cameron shows how far our imaginations can take us. This single movie was well worth its$300 million budget and its ten years in development, during which James Cameron waited for technology to catch up with his ideas. We could be looking at a new sci-fi franchise here.

The plot begins in a future where humans have gone beyond our solar system and discovered an earth-like world called Pandora. Pandora is a lush rainforest planet, and it contains vast quantities of the valuable substance “Unobtainium” (one of the two jokes in this movie).  So naturally, the humans want to strip mine the planet and harvest it. The only thing blocking them is the Na’Vi, an indigenous alien population with a culture that is strikingly similar to American Indians, and a hostile environment for humans. In order to mollify the Na’Vi while negotiating with them, the human corporations destroying their planet have created the Avatar program. The program allows humans to use “avatars”– bodies created in the image of the Na’Vi, to interact with the Na’Vi themselves.

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The movie is gorgeous. It spends much of its time completely immersed in layers of godly graphics; the real actors themselves seem to play a minor role in this film. I didn’t notice the special effects all that often — the movie simply blended the 3-D into the total vision, making it look natural and real, unlike other 3-D films that overdo these effects. In addition to the visual effects of the film, the creators do an excellent job creating both the Na’Vi and their culture, and the human’s military industrial complex.

The one major failing of this film is that the the plot is not as stellar as the film’s graphics. You can see the ending a mile away. If a sequel is made, as Cameron has suggested it might be, I hope that the next film’s storyline would be a little bit more unpredictable; otherwise even the great graphics will get boring fast.

As an overall experience, this is one movie I’d go to again, especially in 3-D. This one movie could be the point film historians look back on when they say, “And this marked the beginning of the 3D film era.”  Its beauty far outweighs any  faults in its storyline.

View Comments (8)
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Comments (8)

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  • C

    ConstanceFeb 1, 2010 at 6:10 PM

    The 3 D experience was awesome!
    Corporations and corrupt governments are still destroying the planet.
    Excellent review !

    Reply
  • B

    BritneyJan 13, 2010 at 7:22 PM

    we love you nick!

    Reply
  • T

    theothernobodyJan 5, 2010 at 6:34 PM

    i agree, it was great. even in poor old 2d. though i thought it was more like 400m to make…

    Reply
    • N

      Nick Jan 15, 2010 at 12:12 AM

      If you google Avatar Budget or wiki it it'll say $300mil for the film. Though some will argue that the advertisements cost upwards of $500mil.

      Reply
  • B

    bram strokerJan 5, 2010 at 6:05 PM

    anyone who thinks this is about native americans, has not had proper education.
    this true belief of the movie is against the drug addicts, and the normals. the normals are the blue guys, while the buff fat man are all high on steroids, and are pissed off about the blue people having "BIGGER" things down there, because the steriods made their pee=pee smaller.. and them being jealous.
    this vicious cycle is what was the true meaning of the movie. jealousy and pee-pees.

    Reply
  • N

    nobodyJan 5, 2010 at 12:23 AM

    The "film version of that Nickelodeon show where a bald kid kicks the stuffing out of an empire" is coming out this summer as "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

    Reply
    • T

      theothernobodyJan 5, 2010 at 6:23 PM

      im so sorry…. No.

      Reply
  • V

    ViewerJan 4, 2010 at 7:50 PM

    The plot was not just "not as stellar" as the graphics, it was terrible. It was a rehash a rehash – a not-so-subtle stab at Native American relocation. The topic has been beaten to death.

    Reply
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Avatar’s special effects well worth the wait