The house at the Mini Max house in the AMC Altamonte 18 was only 1/3 to 1/2 full for the 6 p.m. preview of James Cameron's long-awaited motion-capture actioner Avatar Friday night.
Fox had added showings, doubling the number of times it would reel out this 16 minute digital 3D IMAX (or mini-MAX) preview, but the rain beat down the turnout, at least for the first show (people sometimes blow off free tickets, too).
The King of the World introduced this long sampling (plus the trailer) of a recruitment scene (humans, Marines, including a disabled one, Jake) readying for a mission to Pandora (Pendora?), a planet full of beasties, exotic flora and tall rail-thin warrior-primitives called Nebu whom the Marines were out to defeat.
To do that, they'd have to have volunteers with avatars, alternate alien bodies, created. Jake (Sam Worthington, again) goes through a transformation scene (carried out by Sigourney Weaver) that goes a little off the reservation.
Then we're treated to a chase with beasts on the planet, a meet up with an alien supermodel with bow and arrow (and fight).
And a wrestling match to ride a ptero-dragon kind of thing.
Cameron didn't really cast all black people and Native Americans for the aliens, did he?
The skin tones and textures stood up to IMAX closeups. The towering, ponytailed (and tailed) aliens were pretty convincing "characters," like Gollum 4.0. VERY big jump in the look of motion capture animated creatures.
The dialog and tough-Marine talk was straight out of Aliens – Jake trash-talking a hammerhead shark-triceratops beast. "B—-! At's what I'm talking'bout!" Marine talk hasn't evolved in the eons since our time, apparently.
The animal chase scenes are very Jurassic Park and work well enough.
But that feeling of deja vu, maybe that humans, by invading this "Eden," were opening "Pandora's Box?"
That's from the animated lecture/parable Battle for Terra that came out in May. This really does have a taste of that about it, at least in story and creatures, if not Smurfs-with-Guns dialog. If you REALLY want to shake your head at the nature o the story, consider how much of it seems borrowed from that godawful kiddie animation Delgo. But that would just be mean. It's a LOT closer to Terra.
Loud applause from the faithful who braved the rain.
But as the Pixar boys like to say as their mantra, over and over again, "It's not about technology. It's about story and character." So great look aside, we will have to see if Cameron has spent the decade since Titanic learning to write better dialog.
"You can be blase about many things Rose, but not about Titanic!"
Avatar opens Dec. 17 at midnight. Tickets go on sale tonight.
