Avatar 观后感

Had rather high expectations for this movie, cause it seemed like everyone was talking about it or recommended it. Haven't seen a 3D movie for quite a while so I was pretty excited... (:

Haha I guess don't read on if you haven't watched the movie yet, in case I give spoilers :P

I'd say overall it's a really good movie, probably 8.5 or 9/10 for me. A bit long... 161 mins? O_O

I liked the overall plot, though the "chosen one" and the fight at the end are definitely cliche... Watching this movie in 3D is great cause the scenes of the forests are simply breathtaking! Beautiful nature indeed. Of course, the romance between Jake and Neytiri is a must, they're really sweet...

Not a big fan of the fighting scenes. Bombs and fire and human cruelty... sigh. It's interesting how the movie progressed in such a way that I was completely against the human side, haha, is that considered betrayal? Hm.

I guess that's one of the messages of the movie. Humans use violence too much. Fight too many wars. Destroy too many families and homes... Also, I think they mentioned in the movie that there were no plants left on Earth, how terrible... ):

I really admire the spiritual lifestyle of the Na'vi people. Carefree, spiritual connection, strong. Each hunter has his/her own animal to ride on/fly on. How awesome is that... The connection between the people, to the animals and to the Tree of Souls Eyra is just incredible.

One of the meanings of the word "avatar" is deity, which I suppose is what the movie title is referring to... Jake and Grace were in "avatar" bodies and tried to save the Omaticaya people, but they couldn't have done it if Eyra did not answer Jake's prayer, so the Tree of Souls is a true deity.

It's a little difficult to describe how I felt after watching the movie... Part of me wishes that I can live like the Omaticaya people, free and connected and spiritually fulfilled. People try so hard to find a purpose in life, wouldn't it be nice when we don't have to search so hard? But another part of me knows that it's hard to leave all the material things and luxuries in modern civilization behind. I mean... I love good food and nice clothes and shoes and jewelry right? It's not that our civilization is better, we're just used to it, and we're good at justifying what we do.

"I see you."

It's not just seeing, it's about seeing through. You know, you feel, you see.

不只是看见，而是看透。透彻地了解。

Haven't blogged for a long time, very disorganized...

Some interesting FYIs:

1. The Na'vi language was created entirely from scratch by linguist Paul Frommer, who was hired by James Cameron to construct a language that was easily pronounceable by the actors, but lacking any resemblance or influence from any single human language. Around 500 words were created.

2. James Cameron originally attempted to get this film made in 1999 as his immediate follow-up to "Titantic" (1997). However, at the time, the special effects he wanted for the movie ran the proposed budget up to $400 million. No studio would fund the film, and it was subsequently shelved for almost ten years.

3. As of December 2009, with an alleged budget of US $280,000,000 (estimated), this is one of the most expensive movies ever made.

4. The movie is 40% live action and 60% photo-realistic CGI. A lot of motion capture technology was used for the CGI scenes.