A Brief Review of Avatar - In Defense of the Story

Many technologists I respect have reviewed Avatar - admiring the advances in digital movie making, but calling the story cliche, thin, and simply another Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, etc, etc.

As a technologist, I wouldn't write a review of Avatar if I had read a review that represented my perspective. Goes without saying; movie reviews are easy to find in abundance.

Basically, I believe there are some stories that must be told over and over again until we get it right. More on this after the following disclaimer.

To the critics, I agree with the following general observations about Avatar:

• Some technologies are inconsistently both incredibly advanced and from 2009.
• The blue aliens have alarmingly good teeth.
• References to Iraq, Vietnam etc are obvious (but entertainingly so)
• Great effects, but don't _need_ a major fraction of a billion dollars to tell this story. (Although it is more fun)

Avatar is not the first ground-breaking effects movie.
But for me, Avatar a better story than, say, Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park didn't tackle so many ethical issues, it simply excelled at entertaining. Good for Jurassic park.

Intelligent people rightly take offense to moralizing movies. They already have opinions and education which serves them well enough.

But Avatar is story telling, not education. Another story about Earth, really, and our struggle to act on our comprehension of the obvious:

• The web of life is a real thing that we are part of.
• We are the bad guy. (often with good intentions, but more often because we live in ignorance)
• Diversity in life and culture saves our lives, often.

Discovering new life, new cultures, new places - that story will never get old.

Update:

Cameron's original script for Avatar was called Project 880. The plot and characters are deeper - a lot more context is provided in the script by describing a desperate earth.