It looks a little less dumb than I thought it would be. Still nothing incredible.

Some scenes, the humans are clearly CG to me, and others they're clearly live-action. As for the story, I'm starting to care, but in a "same old cliches combined a little differently... come up with something new!" kind of way. I'll probably pay $2 to see it at the cheap show, though.

The actors aren't CG actually, just the Nav'i and giant robots and what-not. I think if Cameron had actually managed to make photo-realistic humans we would've heard Robert Zemeckis's sobs drifting over the hills

You are mostly correct. CG should be used only to the extent it is needed. If the real thing is impossible, would look worse than the CG result, or would cost more than doing it with CG, then CG is justified. But making life-like CG humans that avoid the uncanny valley is normally a lot of work, which means a lot of money, especially compared to using real people. And, no, making a CG model of a celebrity won't be cheaper than hiring them; because they'll still charge you for their likeness and the VO they do.

Yeah...the first time you posted pictures I thought the alien looked like an Andalite but I wasn't going to say anything. Honestly, I thought a CGI Andalite would be awesome since the Animorph TV shows puppet thing was just pathetic. But oh well.

Was anyone else upset that the trailer didn't include, "Greetings. I am an Avatar. I live Pandora"?

Well, this trailer has me more excited than the nigh-impossible-to-see version posted before. I'll definitely be seeing this in the theaters.

As to the CGI argument. My problem with creating CGI humans, outside of the nigh-impossible-to-escape Uncanny Valley issue, is that if you're going to do it, why make them look exactly like the actor playing them? In my opinion, that's been Zemeckis' biggest problem. He makes these all CGI movies in these never-before-seen, very imaginative worlds, and makes his characters look like Tom Hanks or John Malkovich. The character design for Beowulf was good, especially since he looked nothing like Ray Winston, but every other character looked just like the actors and that's gorram distracting. And pointless.

In regards other CG work, I generally prefer practical effects, but obviously sometimes you can't do that. Still, I hate it when CGI takes over a movie (LotR:RotK and King Kong come readily to mind) as opposed to amplifying the visuals that are already there (The Dark Knight and Iron Man, for instance). Based on this trailer, Cameron is walking that line... and crossing it in every other scene.

At first, I was confused by this movie and The Last Airbender announcing at the same time. Then I was aggravated by the ridiculous hype machine. Now I have a better understanding of what this film is and is about, and it is suffering from the worst thing that a movie, or book, or game, or any form of entertainment can experience. It is.. boring. And I don't think I will spend any more time on it.

for some reason i really really want this movie to tank big time. i have a feeling it will and its not just schadenfreude. i truely believe the public will not buy into this.

So this is basically Pochahontas meets Full Metal Jacket? Another score for Cameron!

Interesting cast, incidently. I see that nerdy weirdo from Dodgeball and Phoebe's brother from Friends who seems to pop up in everything, which isn't really a bad thing.

Well, he ripped off Harlon Ellison for Terminator, so why not rip off Poul Anderson?

I think Cameron is way over-rated.

Michelle Rodriguez is in this? God-Fucking-Damnit...

This looks really dull and overwrought. Which seems about right for a Cameron film.

Zoe Saldana once again plays "standoffish bitch who becomes love interest". Nice typecasting she's set for herself already.

Eh, as much as I ragged on it, I'll still end up seeing it. Good CG job on clothing though. That seems to be something that's escaped these artists for a while in movies.

I'll watch this on cimena, not impresive but looks fun. Inernet today is full of trolls.

Didn't this movie get done before? I seem to remember a fighter pilot going native on an alien planet...?

Better than the previous trailer. I think the action scenes are going to the be reason to watch this movie. The story seems so obvious though. The fact that one of the first lines in the trailer is "You're not in Kansas any more" made me groan. And pretty much everything Giovanni Rabisi (sp?) said was ridiculously on the nose.

Just to pick nits: this is not James Cameron's "tech." We're seeing the work of WETA and ILM up on the screen. He's the director and screenwriter, but he didn't develop or invent anything we're seeing. Give the NZ and SF nerds their due credit!

I'm getting a little weary of all the bitching about this film, do I think it will revolutionize cinema, no, not really. Still the whole "Important people are saying great things about this, so I'm going to take it down a couple notches" non conformist bullshit that has been running rampant across the web(no, I'm not a troll) is pissing me off. CGI being used within a live action film is a whole different matter, but I dont understand the opposition to a full CGI film, seeing how everyone gets wet when Pixar releases movie every year or so. Like traditional animation, there doesn't have to be one universal style. I have no qualms with a realistic CGI film. Sure Beats the hell out of another Madagascar sequel.

Isn't it the 3d aspect of the movie that's suppposed to be revolutionary rather than the cgi? Besides, I'm totally willing to love a great looking sci fi movie with a shitty plot (see Blade Runner).
I think a lot of the hate for this comes from the fact Cameron comes across as a smug prick most of the time.

Dances with Wolves
The Last Samurai (which I always call Dances with Samurai)

And I'm sure that there are many others, but the "Civilized Guy Joins the Noble Savages and defeats the Evil Empire" story is played out, no matter how good the special effects are. I am so not interested in this movie because I'VE ALREADY SEEN IT!

Doesn't anyone have an original idea?

Heh, unless someone else posted it too, pretty sure it was me that posted that exact pic of the andalite cover (I used to own the 3-pat chronicles!)

It does look less worse. Definately real people, but just one thing this suffers from, I find: Still shots look good, but moving looks not so great... Maybe if you played it on blu ray with an LED with motion filter, though...

I thought you hated sobriety more than anything, Rob.

Avatar seems like a very expensive old bait & switch to me.

The word "revolution" itself is being passing by for years by Cameron and his lackeys without a hint of irony or humility. They had been deliriously saying over and over again that Avatar IS going to revolutionize cinema. Is not a delirious "bitching" from "trolls" over the Internet, Cameron himself has over-hyped Avatar as the second coming.

And the trailers/posters/vidcaps/photos had been underwhelming, to say at least. Nothing new under Pandora sun and novelty has been the main hook. And so far that is Avatar main problem: The hype doesn't seem to deliver, and people wide eyed interest in Cameron's new opus has turn into a cynical "schadenfreude for the future flop". But can you blame them? Who over sell it through the years?

Dances with Wolves
The Last Samurai (which I always call Dances with Samurai)

dances with alien furries?????

"but I dont understand the opposition to a full CGI film, seeing how everyone gets wet when Pixar releases movie every year or so."

Well, that's like comparing a superhero cartoon to something from the burnett / Timm / Dini team; sure, they're theoretically the same, but there's a level of quality expected and delivered with one that isn't common with the other. The number of good all-CGI movies can probably be counted on one hand... and, fuck, that's including the fact that I'm one of three people on the planet that liked Final Fantasy.

The subtitles are in Thai (as in Thailand - not Taiwan)

a. Who would abbreviate Taiwan as Thai?

b. Doesn't everyone know they speak Manda... oh, right, not everyone's dating a girl from Taiwan and has heard the Cantonese vs Mandarin argument dozens of times. Carry on.

this movie looks like it could have been done on the budget that Sanctuary gets for a year =\

This looks pretty good. and I mean that in the most literal sense, it LOOKS good. The problem is that (much like everything Cameron does) it looks pretty but the plot seems to be thinner than a wet tissue.
I've seen this movie or some variation of it a dozen times.

Over here are the good guys, over here are the bad guys in the middle is our protagonist who is from the good guys but finds himself mixed in with the bad guys.
When the good guys show up and are really a bunch of dickheads the bad guys find out they were betrayed. Protagonist tried to claim his innocence "I tried to tell you." or "listen to me" or "you got it all wrong" or some such shit.
Spunky love interest looks hurt, gives puppy dog eyes and although although feeling understandably betrayed goes on a rescue mission to save protagonist from the dickhead good guys and everyone learns a valuable lesson about friendship.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's country fried kickass served on awesome with a side of blowjobs. But I have a sinking feeling it aint.

It looks... mostly shit. Seriously, most of the visuals are awful although some of the pulled back battle shots looked nice.
It sounds... mostly shit. Seriously, if the actors can't even sound convinced in the goddamn trailer how terrible is the whole film going to be?
The plot seems... dull. Unlike the Poul Anderson story which sounds pretty interesting. Sad considering it's the same bloody concept. Does make me want to watch Fern Gulley again though.

Every single thing I see or hear about this movie makes me even more disappointed in it, and I was ambivalent to begin with.
But, y'know, bad films are made. It's okay, I can accept this. What I hate is knowing that this will come out and I will be forced to listen to otherwise intelligent people blather about how incredible the film is. Listening to that and knowing that the money spent on this could have been spent on... a district 9 sequel, a film of basically any William Gibson story, a cgi movie of Dinosaucers or a thousand other worthy projects.
Sad. So sad.

Avatar is too gay for me.
Maybe the Transformers 2 crowd or 10 year old girls will like James(beating my wife)Cameron's Avaturd.

Looks like it's being made for maximum 3D impact which is fun and all but does that mean it won't be worth watching in a normal cinema? Or on DVD?

Geoff said:
a. Who would abbreviate Taiwan as Thai?

Hardly anyone I assume. But I thought to clarify a little more just in case. I actually still run into people every now and then that think Thai people are from Taiwan. It happens.

I want to like it.

But my God, the CG for the Na'vi looks atrocious. I mean, it just looks so...obvious. So obviously CG. And this is from my tiny computer screen. On a theater screen? I just can't take it seriously, at least not in a James Cameron serious. Maybe a Pixar serious.

Man, WHY do they do this with trailers?

Do they really feel we need a point by point synopsis about how the evil humans are going to screw over the aliens for minerals? Talk about wrecking the mystique of the movie by doing such a heavy handed trailer.

We were fucking right? It's just about humans being evil and the Blue furries are the good guys?

MOTHER FUCKER

I am going to to see Avatar no matter what... even though there will most likely be at least a few bad one-liners