Avatar

I finally watched Avatar with my family. Yeah, I'm a little slow. My thoughts on it are as follows:

Jake (the main character) says something to the effect of "Let's show the sky people that they can't have whatever they want." By the end of the movie, Jake has everything he wants. Contradiction anyone?

What the message should be is "You can't have whatever you want simply by wanting it." Jake worked hard for what he wanted, and he ended up wanting the right things for the right reasons. Some of the "Sky People" (the "bad guys") wanted money, and they wanted it quickly, so they used brute force to get it without considering other people and their needs, or even attempting to understand the way of life they were destroying by invasion. They "worked hard" for their goals, but their goals were not the "right things," nor did they have the "right reasons" for wanting them. The movie doesn't even try to address what the "right things" are or who decides what is right (okay, hinted at with the "Eywa" goddess of the Pandorians).

The graphics and computer animation was very well done. The world seemed real enough, and the scenes with humans and Pandorians were smoothly pieced together. The music was so-so, cliche, as were the battle scenes. Just when it seems that the natives don't have a chance, more help arrives, the tide turns, and you know everything will turn out okay.

The length (162 minutes!!!) was evident by the end. I was ready for it to be over an hour before it ended. The predictability of the plot contributed to this. I guess people like predictable movies, because Avatar brought in a lot of money. I don't quite understand how a movie that's just like all the other movies can break box office records. Explanation please? What am I missing?

I heard (not sure if this is right) that the movie took 15 years to make. In 15 years, you would hope that someone would take the time to think about the plot and its potential flaws. I got the sense from this movie that all they thought about was making their computer-simulated creatures detailed and realistic-looking.

Well, those are my thoughts. Don't hate me for them.