Does anyone feel that the story was a bit too obvious?

[Sothis]

I think I experienced Avatar for the first time in the best way possible, in that I walked into the theater with zero expectations for how the movie would turn out. I hadn't read any of the hype or counter-hype; I hadn't seen any sneak previews, I hadn't even seen the trailer (yup, I'm very talented at living under a rock when it comes to pop culture). The only reason I knew it existed and went to see it was because a friend e-mailed me raving about how good it was, with no plot details and very little elaboration on *why* it was good (except for: "you want to reach out and touch the plants").

As a result, there was actually a lot that I didn't see coming until just a few minutes or seconds before it happened. (That, and I tend to stay "in the moment" when I'm watching something, unless I'm really bored.)

Of course, some general things were really easy to predict. When we see Neytiri for the first time, I did break immersion for a second to think "Oh, look, the first native Jake meets is a chick... how long until they bang?"

On the other hand, after the destruction of hometree, with jake's voiceover about always having to wake up, and the music winding down, and the screen fading to black... I was genuinely terrified for a split second that the movie might end on a downer note, so I was very relieved when it cut to the breakout scene, indicating that the movie wasn't over. (If I'd seen the trailer, I would've known that the movie couldn't be over yet, but I hadn't.)

Jake becoming Toruk Makto was something that I did predict, but only moments before it happened... I distinctly remember thinking something like "OHH WAIT... is he about to go ride the giant dragon-thing? Is he? IS HE?? ...he IS! F*ck yes, that's awesome!" There were several similar instances where I predicted something just in time to get really excited/ hopeful about it, but not sooner.

However, I was in total suspense after the fight with Quaritch when Jake was trying to get to an Exopack and failing. Especially with the way the music goes all quiet... I was genuinely afraid for a moment that the movie was about to pull a Titanic and have him die. Even now, I still feel like that scene could've gone either way and still made narrative sense.

So overall, I found the "predictability" of the plot to be just right, though I realize it would've been a LOT more predictable if I'd seen the trailer and such.

[X.,.Pandora.,.X]

all movies are obvious.....good guy wins, bad guy looses, but it dosn't matter tbh, just cause you know the ending dosnt make the other 200+ minutes worse

[Human No More]

I didn't predict it. Most people who claim to have done so decided that after the fact, and usually conveniently forget that a ridiculously convoluted plot NEVER works in a film because there isn't enough time.

[Tsmuke_Becca]

You know its interesting.. when i went to see Avatar for the first time in the cinema with a friend, they came out saying it was pretty amazing, and kept going on about how original they thought it was. However, about a week later, Avatar came up in a conversation at school, and most people were saying how 'rubbish' the storyline was.

The friend who had once called Avatar original always spoke negatively of the film from then on.

I guess what i'm trying to say is that if people believe the widespread opinion to be 'Avatar is unoriginal', then some would side with that opinion just because they believe it to be what everyone else thinks. I'm not saying this is the only reason people have this opinion, but i think it could be part of the reason why there is such (undeserved imo) harsh critisism of the storyline.

[Human No More]

Of course. Far too many people are just easily manipulated and spineless. They seek acceptance, which means repeating what they are told in order to be 'accepted', which created the situation where everyone is lying to agree with everyone else (who are ALSO lying in order to be accepted...). Look at how many people (primarily religious people or people with dodgy politics) dislike it without having even seen it...

[Woodsprite]

Originally Posted by Human No More

Look at how many people (primarily religious people or people with dodgy politics) dislike it without having even seen it...

My mother.

...Well, she did eventually see it, but her preconceived notion led her to be biased against it from the beginning.


On "the situation where everyone is lying to agree with everyone else", it's surprising to note how no one I've ever met IRL has ever disliked Avatar (except mom ). This "mass hatred" for Avatar exists primarily on the internet. In reality, most people adore this movie. Just another reason to never completely trust the internet.

[Sothis]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

On "the situation where everyone is lying to agree with everyone else", it's surprising to note how no one I've ever met IRL has ever disliked Avatar (except mom ).

My boyfriend hates Avatar. :-p It's one of those things we just don't talk about as a couple, for the sake of domestic tranquility.

Well, I guess it's better than having irreconcilable political differences, for example. :-p And he's been good enough to read my fanfiction. :-)

But yes, I agree that a lot of people feel a need to look down upon the story, because they have to look down upon *something* with a movie this successful. Especially because the demographic that is most inclined to love Avatar is also the demographic most inclined to scorn "mainstream" just on principle. So you get some very interesting dynamics.

[Empty Glass]

Originally Posted by Sothis

But yes, I agree that a lot of people feel a need to look down upon the story, because they have to look down upon *something* with a movie this successful. Especially because the demographic that is most inclined to love Avatar is also the demographic most inclined to scorn "mainstream" just on principle. So you get some very interesting dynamics.

Indeed. There was a time when I would have cared about openly not liking the "mainstream" (how do you even define that in this case). Now, I couldn't care less if liking Avatar gives me -50 hipster points.

[Woodsprite]

Originally Posted by Empty Glass

Indeed. There was a time when I would have cared about openly not liking the "mainstream" (how do you even define that in this case). Now, I couldn't care less if liking Avatar gives me -50 hipster points.

lol I believe there was a massive fanbase of people who loved Lord of the Rings when the films were released, and back then, saying you were a "Lord of the Rings fan" or a "Ringer" was cool. I've literally never met anyone before or since, both in real life and on the internet (as impossible as it sounds), that has disliked LotR.

With Avatar, I've seen internet haters, but no one who I've actually met and seen with my eyes. You mention "Avatar" and it's cool. Avatar is cool, and haters HATE that.

[Banefull]

Here is my family breakdown:

grandmother: thinks it is a very good movie
grandfather: has not seen it
Parents (both): its an ok movie (basically whatever)
sister: thinks it is a good movie

I am basically the only one who absolutely loves the film but at least I am not alone in thinking that its a good movie. Amongst my friends, things were mixed ranging from haters to those who liked the movie.

[Sothis]

Originally Posted by Woodsprite

lol I believe there was a massive fanbase of people who loved Lord of the Rings when the films were released, and back then, saying you were a "Lord of the Rings fan" or a "Ringer" was cool. I've literally never met anyone before or since, both in real life and on the internet (as impossible as it sounds), that has disliked LotR.

Hehe, for all the hoopla surrounding LOTR, it was still very firmly a FANTASY movie that GEEKS like, so it was OKAY to love it and teach yourself to speak Quenya; that made you SOPHISTICATED.

Interesting how nobody accused LOTR of being too black-and-white... of having villains that are too villainy, and good guys who are too pretty. Nobody pontificated about how the plot was too linear. Nobody waxed academic about UNFORTUNATE IMPLICATIONS about the fantasy racism. All of these "flaws" are much more glaring in LOTR, and I say this as a huge Ringer myself.

(Okay, SOME people criticized LOTR on these points, but we're talking in relative terms here.)

Avatar is a movie seemingly tailor-made to stimulate all our geeky happy buttons simultaneously. What other movie lets you have elves and dragons and marines and power armor and earth motes and spaceships and Matrix-y psionic stuff all in the same story, in a setting straight out of fantasy role-playing?

But take one of the most geektastic movies of all time and make it simultaneously the highest-grossing movie of all time, and you get to sit back and watch the internet have a hilarious identity crisis.

I stumbled across a thread on a completely unrelated forum where the OP wrote something like "so I know the blue smurf hippie thundercats aren't very popular on this forum... but can anyone recommend any Avatar fanfiction that doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes out?" It's hard not to take pity on this guy... you want to love this movie, dude! You'll be much happier if you just give in.

Yesssss, join usssssss.

[Aaron]

(Yay! First post here. Although I've been haunting avatar-forums.com for about a year.)

My own experience was much like Sothis'. In fact, I actually didn't see Avatar until mid-January 2010! The family was out of town and I was uncommonly bored. So I saw it. After all, the trailer looked ok. It could have been a total bust, though, and I wouldn't have cared. That was the kind of mood I was in. It wasn't until the next day, when I found myself inexplicably still thinking about Avatar, that I said to myself, "Wow, that was really quite awesome!"

The story did not come off as especially obvious to me. Not in bad way, anyway. I did definitely predict two moments in the movie: The first was that Jake would become Turok Makto. When Neytiri introduced the concept of Toruk Makto, I immediately thought, "There you go. That'll be Jake." Secondly, when Mo'at tried (and failed) to move Grace's consciousness into her Avatar, I immediately thought, "Well, it'll work with Jake."

So, there you go.

I then read the script and thought, "Wow, Toruk Makto would have been wayyyyyy more obviously if JC had stuck with the script and included the Dream Hunt sequence!" That sequence, IMO, is pretty redundant.

As for general criticisms of the story's being obvious, recycled, etc., I say: I don't think Avatar would have worked if not for a healthy measure of familiarity. If the story had been a real brain-twister, the world of Pandora would have taken a back seat, and I'm pretty sure JC wanted exactly the opposite to be true. He's a visual artist by nature (e.g., a painter), so what else for Avatar to be but a visual work of art.

[Human No More]

Well said

Films with a ridiculously convoluted plot almost never work, it's the number one reason books do not translate well into films - LOTR is the ONLY exception out of every single 'film of the book' I've ever both seen the film and read the book of.

[Woodsprite]

LotR possessed a lot of what we'd call "cliche" today, but no one could give a stink about Jackson's film series because it was based on novels written half a century beforehand. If the movie is based on a book, and you interpret the book well on screen, no one can say you were being "cliche". That's the difference between Avatar and LotR.

[iron_jones]

The premise of the movie itself may be simple and obvious but there are much deeper meanings.