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Visual blockbuster needs a story, characters, dialogue

By Jennifer Hudson

With a clear anti-war and environmentally “green” approach to his technological extravaganza, writer/director James Cameron is enjoying the enormous success of “Avatar,” which is now second only to his “Titanic” as the highest-grossing film in history. It shouldn’t be too long before the once self-described “king of the world” elevates to “king of the galaxies.”

With the promise of the ultimate CGI experience (especially for those lucky enough to view it in IMAX/3-D, Cameron presents an elaborately staged allegorical fantasy that, while visually impressive, would be a lot more interesting if the story line was not such a hodgepodge of themes and ideas already explored in better pictures with better scripts.

Cameron’s original script is a mixed bag of tricks that resembles a diluted compilation of “Dances With Wolves,” “Somewhere In Time” and “Pocahontas.”

In 2154, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) takes the place of his slain brother in order to complete a mission on the dangerous planet of Pandora.

Working with a team of scientists led by Grace (Sigourney Weaver), the untrained Jake is regarded with immediate speculation and distrust.

The mission allows the wheelchair-bound Jake to inhabit a man-made body (which the research group calls an avatar) that replicates that of the indigenous Pandoran species, known as the Na’vi. With a body looking more than just a little like a blue Jar-Jar Binx from “Star Wars,” Jake begins his infiltration into the Na’vi tribe, supposedly to learn about their culture and unusual connections with plant life and animals.

Of course the military and corporate operatives ensconced on Pandora have different ideas about Jake’s purpose and convince him to help them move the Na’vi from their home so the interlopers can mine a lucrative ore from beneath the forest floor there.

With the promise of repairing his legs so he can walk again, Jake begins his “bonding” process with the Na’vi based on less than honorable intentions. But before long, he falls in love with the beautiful Naytiri, who teaches him to embrace his destiny and eventually defend his new-found role as a leader of the tribe.

Despite the goofy dialogue and the boomeranging back and forth between voice-over work and live action, Weaver and Worthington do their best while saddled with predominately one-dimensional and thinly developed characters.

The very tricky terrain of fantasy films so often results in failure because the parameters of the genre are so easily ignored in favor of spectacular special effects.

Most moviegoers have no problem accepting the logic of a make-believe world as long as the “rules” of that world are consistently presented. Devoting great care and detail to the technical aspect of “Avatar” — but denying the same devotion to the story line, original character development and freshly conceived dialogue — won’t keep Cameron from being nominated for a directing and best picture Oscar, but it will likely prevent him from winning in either category.

Instead look for Cameron’s ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglorious Basterds”) to vie for top honors during the up-coming awards season.

‘Avatar’

4 out of 5 stars