[…] the images of this book, and ultimately the movie, so remarkable.” Having seen both (review here), ScriptPhD.com wholeheartedly […]

i personally thought the film was really good, although i feel that it could have ended a little earlier then james cameron could have made more money. there are a couple of flaws in avatar such as arms moving from one place to another without phisically having time to do so. overall the film was great even though i had a numb bum by the end of it!

I have to disagree with you a bit on the dialog on script development, ScriptPhD.

The dialog’s not necessarily bad, in my opinion. At least not overall. There’s about five lines that i didn’t care for, but it’s not like some films were it didn’t make any sense for a character to say that particular horrible line (actually, I take that last part back. “Shut your pie hole” was a bit jarring).

But all in all, it’s pulpy. And it was written in a nice, pulpy manner. It made me think of the best works of Burroughs, Howard, or Kipling, though unlike Burroughs or Howard, Cameron actually gave the characters their own unique voices. While at times a bit derivative, I liked what the characters said to each other and the chemistry they had. It’s certainly more competent than a lot of writing that’s been done for big-budgeted Hollywood films. What the characters said was never a throwaway line. And accept for maybe one or two places where Cameron may have hammered the message a bit too much, it never got on the nose. What gets said is very blunt, but it’s never on the nose.

As for character development, I thought there was enough in the film. Jake had an interesting arc, and it was cool to see Neytiri’s perceptions about (one) human change from their first introduction to that last moment where she saves Jake’s human body. And the relationship between Grace and Jake I thought worked as a nice, convincing maternal one. I’m still thinking about the moment where she helps him into his cot after he’s fallen asleep doing a video log. That’s something I think a lot of people can relate to because their mom’s either did the same thing for them, or because they are moms who’ve done that for their children.

As for the other characters, they are developed ot a lesser degree, but you never lose sight of their motivation. Also, I think of lot of the character development that was present was maybe too well integrated into the story (Joel David Moore’s character comes to mind). I would have preferred to see more obvious character moments. And I would have liked it if Wes Studi’s character had a bit more to do. But, overall, it didn’t distract me from the film.

Sure, the character sre archetypes, but they’re nicely developed archetypal characters. That’s what Cameron has always done best.

All in all, tough, I’m just glad an earnest, simple fantasy film was made. It’s been a long time since the LotR ended, and I don’t think I’ve loved a fantasy film as much since that excellent trilogy concluded.

Thank you so much for this most thoughtful and insightful comment, spacedmuch! Always appreciate knowledgeable movie fans letting us know how they feel.

Can’t agree with you more. Tough to expect perfection out of a movie, but Cameron came close.

I get sick of the constant problem with tall poppy syndrome on the internet. Because Cameron has made such a fantastic achievement, everyone needs to drag it through the ringer. I completely agree with you on this one – the cinematic achievements and technological advances made with Avatar far outweigh some clunky dialogue. It was a great film which could be enjoyed by all audiences, and the effects..well they just speak for themselves. I was blown away, and the dialogue certainly didn’t protract from my enjoyment of the film one bit.

Hey Anamita, the review itself is based on the movie, but all the technical, science and design information was derived from the Pandorapedia, which will be released this winter, and “The Art of Avatar” (Abrams Books) by Lisa Fitzpatrick, James Cameron and Peter Jackson. Highly, highly recommended read.

Thanks so much for the comment!

As there is a lot more information in your review than is given in the movie, I’m assuming you’ve read the book. Could you tell me what it’s called and who wrote it?

I think I’m more or less in your camp, Bryy, even though my review was slightly forgiving. I did mention that the screenplay has problems. It has ALWAYS been Cameron’s glaring weakness. The thing is, the movie is such a comprehensive achievement and so sets a new pinnacle for 3D and technical mastery that I was willing to overlook that flaw. But yes, character development was not the priority of Avatar.

I loved it, but I definitely saw that it had a few major flaws. The first being that Cameron did better character development with more characters in less time in Aliens. The second was that, while it was filled with writing risks that didn’t exactly fail, the pacing was off in act one.