Today I was out with my friends, and we decided to watch Avatar in 3D. The initial vote was for Sherlock Holmes, but there was opposition, so we went for Avatar even though I’ve seen it before. I didn’t mind, I figured I could lose myself in the visuals and story analysis since I didn’t have to pay attention to the movie plot.

First up: a side-by-side comparison of Avatar and Pocahontas. Most movie reviewers likened the plot to that of Dances with Wolves, but I think Pocahontas is a better comparative base.

John Smith (JS) and Jake Sully (JS) are both paid to go to this new world. Pocahontas (Neytiri) is the clan leader’s daughter, betrothed to the great warrior Kocoum (Tsu’tey). There’s an important tree, Grandmother Willow (the Tree of Souls). And instead of a raccoon and a hummingbird for sidekicks, you have the direhorse and the ikran (banshee), which I think are much cooler anyway. In Pocahontas, the settlers from the Virginia Company are seeking gold, while Avatar‘s RDA is seeking unobtanium. And of course, our hero has to fall in love with the clan princess, angering her betrothed. Standard “dude stole my woman” fare. And there’s a big ol’ fight, and our hero gets wounded. Only, in Pocahontas there’s not really a happy ending because John Smith has to go back to England, whereas Jake Sully does the opposite and leaves his human life behind.

I also noticed that James Cameron used a little bit of bullet-time in the fighting sequences, such as when Tsu’tey, Neytiri and Jakesully (as I refer to the avatar to differentiate him from the human Jake Sully) are preparing to deliver a blow or release an arrow. And I laughed at the sight of Norm’s avatar holding a machine gun, though Jakesully is perhaps more preposterous with his weapons belt and machine gun because he’s not wearing human clothes. Truth be told, I find Jakesully pretty sexy when he’s throwing grenades. Very strong and manly. It wouldn’t be the first time fictional characters have me swooning with their fighting skills – I fould Legolas super-mega-sexy in The Two Towers during the battle of Helm’s Deep, when he was dual-wielding swords while sliding down the stairs. Also, the sex scene that I saw in full in Singapore was censored in Malaysia. Not that there’s much to see anyway, as Na’vi don’t wear much clothing to start with.

After looking through the IMDb listing for Avatar, I found that the main Na’vi characters are played by black actors, with the exception of Eytucan, the clan leader, who is played by a Native American. I don’t think it’s racism or discrimination or anything – maybe the facial features of black actors fit the Na’vi face better, mostly because of the wider, flatter feline nose. Oh, and who caught the fact that Jakesully got to be clan leader? Unless I’m very wrong, he was wearing the fancy necklace that Eytucan and then Tsu’tey wore. So the clan leader and the Tsa’hik (that’ll be Neytiri when her mother passes on) get to be a mated pair after all, how convenient.

On second watching, you pick up little details that explain the world of Pandora more. The colonel refers to the lower gravity on Pandora, and Pandorapedia confirms that Pandoran atmosphere has higher density. Just like, you know, the undersea world that’s a very obvious inspiration for the flora and fauna in the movie.  That explains how the sacred seeds are able to push off. And the scene where they alight on Jakesully is really reminiscent of a scene from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, when little birdies stand on Beast after he feeds them seeds.

At a family dinner after the movie, a fly alighted on the tablecloth right in front of my sister, and while it was licking its chops, I threw a paper napkin over it and smacked it down. My sister didn’t believe it was dead, and squished the paper napkin some more with a glass. I pointed out that the fly “doesn’t have a carbon fibre skeleton”, so I’m pretty sure it’s dead. She called me an Avatar geek. I’m so happy *grin*. Don’t you know, geeking out is a matter of pride for me. I don’t want to be a Na’vi though. I have a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming a 3-meter tall blue alien. I’d rather be a Jedi, there’s at least a very, very tiny chance that I can develop telekinetic powers. And the whole Eywa concept is so “the Force”. Just minus the midichlorians.