About that AVATAR trailer… by COOP

I haven’t seen this much hype over something since Halley’s Comet back in ‘86.  James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi epic Avatar is so highly anticipated (or at least wants to be) that today Cameron has released 15 mins of free footage to be show in participating IMAX theaters all over the world.  That’s right, people all over the world are going to a movie theater just to see a 15 minute trailer.  Now, I’m a huge sci-fi fan but I’m no sucker.  I don’t want to see a 15 minute trailer for ANYTHING.  I want either a 4 minute trailer, maximum or the whole thing.  Needless to say I won’t be attending today’s event that people are calling “Avatar Day.”  I refuse.

On the other hand, I have seen the short Avatarteaser trailer.  Cameron has claimed that the computer generated effects, including the aliens, will look “photo-real.”  They don’t.  They look like something out of a really slick video game, but they don’t look real by any measure. 

Also, in my humble opinion, the aliens look ridiculous.  Tall, blue cat-people?  Who’s brilliant idea was that?  Some fanboys are calling them “ThunderSmurfs”  (Thundercats + Smurfs, get it?).  While I think that’s hilarious, the fact remains I’m disappointed in their design.  They look like something out of a silly Japanese Anime movie.  No sir, I don’t like ‘em.

As for the rest of it, the movie looks spectacular.  All of the human weapons and the alien landscape looks like a live-action Halo movie.  I can’t help but notice the plot similarities between this and Battle for Terra which came out earlier this year and even last week’s District 9.  A human aggressor siding with the aliens he was meant to subjugate/destroy.  I just can’t get excited about it when those aliens are ThunderSmurfs.  At this point, I’m only hoping that the CG effects and the action will blow me away. 

Judge for yourself.  Here’s the teaser trailer for Avatar…

-C

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