AVATAR: Afterthoughts and Comparisons
I finally went and saw the movie, Avatar. I was told by various people: "YOU HAVE TO SEE IT IN 3D!!" and that it was AWESOME! Okay, so I did. Not only did I see it in 3D, and I saw it on the big IMAX (or the so-called VMAX version by the Events Cinemas) screens. And yes, I thought it was AWESOME. Another point for James Cameron, who came up with the idea and did the direction.
I'm not going to say too much about the storyline, you can just about find it EVERYWHERE online these days - aliens try to overtake land, alien man meets native woman, alien man immerses into native community, aliens attack and alien man helps the natives defend their land from his own people...Pocahontas, anyone? But as cliche as the plot sounds, and I don't want to be just another person who has been seduced by the visual effects used throughout the movie (and of course, I am, no doubt about that), the entire story was presented so well that many times, throughout the movie, I found myself totally absorbed into the story and only an occasional niggling voice in my head tells me, "It's just a movie!" My being drawn to the movie was also demonstrated by the fact that I forgot I needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the movie. Power of distraction can overcome bodily urges. See?
But, all throughout the movie, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between Avatar and some other movies which I have come across before. Some of these movies you might probably have never heard of before, but they are some of my favourite movies. And here they are.
As I said previously, swap the character of John Smith and Pocohontas from Pocohontas, to the character of Sully and Neytiri in Avatar respectively, with the Native Americans swapped for the Na'vi, and the foreigners swapped for the Earth humans, the basic story structure of the two movies are the same. Both stress the importance of respecting the natural order by the natives, while the intruders sees the land as something they can take.
This one should be pretty easy to spot too. The way the Na'vi people moved amongst the trees reminded me greatly of the gorillas in the Disney movie, Tarzan, just as their sliding on the interconnecting tree branches and swinging from vine to vine remind me of how Tarzan moves in the movie.
Now, venturing into more unfamiliar ground for most of you Westerners, is this animated film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This is an animated film made by Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animation maestro famous for bringing us the animated films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.
In Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the main character, a girl named Nausicaä, is accomplished in windriding, or flying on a Möwe. The way the Na'vi ride their ikran reminds me of the way Nausicaä flies on her Möwe.
Also, when the Tree of Souls was healing Grace, it brought to mind how, when Nausicaä was near-death, the giant isopods Ohmu helped to heal her by reaching their shimmery tentacles to Nausicaä's body.
The first time the floating Hallelujah mountains in Avatar first appeared in front of my eyes, my mind immediately clicked to another one of Hayao Miyazaki's animated films, Laputa: Castle in the Sky. This film is centred around a mythical castle which is floating in the sky.
And the robots that the human marined used to move around in the toxic air on Pandora remind me of the robot guard on Laputa.
As much as I was doing these comparisons involuntarily throughout the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. And I would definitely recommend it to everyone to see, if they haven't already seen it!
Popcorn cups:
(out of 10)
I'm not going to say too much about the storyline, you can just about find it EVERYWHERE online these days - aliens try to overtake land, alien man meets native woman, alien man immerses into native community, aliens attack and alien man helps the natives defend their land from his own people...Pocahontas, anyone? But as cliche as the plot sounds, and I don't want to be just another person who has been seduced by the visual effects used throughout the movie (and of course, I am, no doubt about that), the entire story was presented so well that many times, throughout the movie, I found myself totally absorbed into the story and only an occasional niggling voice in my head tells me, "It's just a movie!" My being drawn to the movie was also demonstrated by the fact that I forgot I needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the movie. Power of distraction can overcome bodily urges. See?
But, all throughout the movie, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between Avatar and some other movies which I have come across before. Some of these movies you might probably have never heard of before, but they are some of my favourite movies. And here they are.
- Avatar vs Pocohontas: The storyline
As I said previously, swap the character of John Smith and Pocohontas from Pocohontas, to the character of Sully and Neytiri in Avatar respectively, with the Native Americans swapped for the Na'vi, and the foreigners swapped for the Earth humans, the basic story structure of the two movies are the same. Both stress the importance of respecting the natural order by the natives, while the intruders sees the land as something they can take.
- Avatar vs Tarzan: The movements of the Na'vi
This one should be pretty easy to spot too. The way the Na'vi people moved amongst the trees reminded me greatly of the gorillas in the Disney movie, Tarzan, just as their sliding on the interconnecting tree branches and swinging from vine to vine remind me of how Tarzan moves in the movie.
- Avatar vs Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Flying and the healing process
Now, venturing into more unfamiliar ground for most of you Westerners, is this animated film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This is an animated film made by Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese animation maestro famous for bringing us the animated films Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.
In Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the main character, a girl named Nausicaä, is accomplished in windriding, or flying on a Möwe. The way the Na'vi ride their ikran reminds me of the way Nausicaä flies on her Möwe.
Also, when the Tree of Souls was healing Grace, it brought to mind how, when Nausicaä was near-death, the giant isopods Ohmu helped to heal her by reaching their shimmery tentacles to Nausicaä's body.
- Avatar vs Laputa: Castle in the Sky: The floating mountains and the robots
The first time the floating Hallelujah mountains in Avatar first appeared in front of my eyes, my mind immediately clicked to another one of Hayao Miyazaki's animated films, Laputa: Castle in the Sky. This film is centred around a mythical castle which is floating in the sky.
And the robots that the human marined used to move around in the toxic air on Pandora remind me of the robot guard on Laputa.
As much as I was doing these comparisons involuntarily throughout the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. And I would definitely recommend it to everyone to see, if they haven't already seen it!
Popcorn cups:
(out of 10)