Number 1 was a retelling of Ferngully the Last Rainforest. spotlightonfilm.com/…/avatar-vs-ferngully-the-las…
Comment on Cultural impact
cattywampas@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The pacing of releases was whack.
Too long between 1 and 2, not long enough between 2 and 3.
I also heard that 2 and 3 were basically the same movie, and that they weren’t even that good.
DrBob@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 1 day ago
As someone who hasn’t watched FernGully (but should), I’m increasingly skeptical of these types of “plagiarism” comparisons between movies. Lindsay Ellis recently broke down the “Aladdin was stolen” narrative and compellingly showed “it’s complicated”, and more obviously, YMS five years ago fucking eviscerated the then-popular argument that The Lion King was a ripoff of Kimba the White Lion.
okwhateverdude@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I saw both. Avatar is a marvel of VFX, but the story is definitely ferngully.
Tonava@sopuli.xyz 10 hours ago
I haven’t seen ferngully so I can’t comment on that, but at it’s basic level the plot of Avatar is so generic and bland you can take any story where a character representing the viewers culture interacts with some native, a more natural setting inhabiting people, and find multiple similarities
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
As someone who had FernGully on VHS, there are marked similarities, though it’s not exactly 1-to-1. The main conflict is resource extraction, although instead of a gung-ho colonel we get Tim Curry as literal pollution. The protagonist gets transformed to fit in with the locals, but it’s an accident by one of the locals instead of deliberate choice. Instead of a cranky Sigourney Weaver, we get a spastic Robin Williams as a bat.
Overall, Avatar is closer to FernGully than to a lot of other going-native movies. Environmental conservation is the driving theme of both films.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Was Kimba also based on Hamlet or something? As far as I’m concerned that plotline is in the public domain. Or is it just using lions to tell the story that was supposedly stolen?
Also, how could Aladdin be “stolen” when it obviously takes direct inspiration from several stories in 1001 Arabian Nights? Are people claiming that it was stolen from some other story that was inspired by the same book?
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 1 day ago
- The accusation for Aladdin is complicated and is based on *The Thief and the Cobbler.
- On the other hand, your instincts are entirely right about The Lion King, and when I say “YMS eviscerated it”, I mean that it’s the most comically ridiculous accusation of plagiarism you could possibly come up with. This is genuinely worth 147 minutes of your time, and it’s one of the funniest videos I’ve ever watched.
petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
The Aladdin bit is that there was another project in the Disney pipeline by a famed director that also had a lot of Arabian aesthetics, and I think a lot of the people upset are bitter that the other one just didn’t turn out very well.
You should watch the Lindsay Ellis video, it’s pretty good.
ol_capt_joe@piefed.ee 1 day ago
Or dances with wolves
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Interesting.
I’d bet it’s an example of coincidental convergence. Take the median/average of the tropes for that premise, and I can see writers coming up with a similar story.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The end action sequence was just the end action sequences from the first 2 films stacked on top of each other.
The thing is, it was still visually gorgeous, and I loved watching it in the theatre. Avatar is eye candy, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Oh - and I do think the idea of trees with shared root systems forming a planet-wide distributed consciousness is actually pretty awesome sci-fi.
foodandart@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Oh - and I do think the idea of trees with shared root systems forming a planet-wide distributed consciousness is actually pretty awesome sci-fi.
Spot-on.
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Pretty sure the Exodites from Warhammer 40k have something similar going on, problem is Exodite lore is fucken barren. GW give me space murder elves, Athel Loren in space with dinosaurs is all I want, let me feed Abadon to the trees GW.
cattywampas@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is what frustrates me. The Avatar universe has the bones to have some amazing lore and world building, but really missed on execution.
Carrot@lemmy.today 1 day ago
I didn’t even know there was a 3rd one, I thought everyone was talking about the second one this whole time.
HelluvaKick@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
3 is honestly closer to 1, but I love all of them and love ole Jimmy Cammy and am along for whatever ride he decides to take me on
Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
They are stellar if you like worldbuilding and pretty worlds. They are ok to good story-wise. In terms of worldbuilding, for me, they stand on the same level as the LotR movies (not the books mind you).
ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
2 and 3 are the same movie. I came for the bombastic spectacle, I watched it in 4D with moving seats, steam machines and a wind tunnel and I had a good time. I knew the story would be forgettable trash and with the right expectations I had a good time.
FatTony@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
not long enough between 2 and 3.
You’re wrong about that. It’s exactly enough (maybe even too long) given they’re the same exact movie.
ol_capt_joe@piefed.ee 1 day ago
Amazing VFX though 🤌💋
THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Oh yeahhh, they made a third one too. I forgot about that.
HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It was basically 2 part 2
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 1 day ago
My understanding is that it was an unexpected success and it was used as a technology demonstration for Alita. However Alita was much less successful.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Alita was super fun.
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
The eyes freaked me out. Like I get that the anime/manga has them, but everyone did. In the movie, only she had them and that was weird.
ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I made it through maybe 10 minutes of the second one before turning it off because the plot was just that fucking dumb.
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 1 day ago
3 was a waste of money and I’m saying this as someone who liked 2
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I mean, 1 didn’t make me crave sequels, even if they were immediately available.
It was a fun action movie, but nothing that made me feel invested.
AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I felt like it was a world where a loooot of effort was put into certain aspects and then other parts of the world were neglected. Seemed like a waste of potential. For example some of the visual effects are kinda good even today, not just cause of the fidelity but also cause it seems like one cohesive piece. Talking about cohesion, the first and second halfs of this movie are two different movies, both with the storytelling and the visual effects and i like the first half muuuch more. Feels like if the movie focused on the Na’vi more it wouldve been better. An actually interesting story about slowly fitting more and more into a different culture got turned into some generic about natives fighting back, which you can do but then use one of the thousand examples irl, dont waste such a good oppurtunity to make something special. This is why i think so few fancy, high-budget movies tell good stories, without visual effects and huge sets you actually have to tell a story worth hearing to make your movie special. This of course doesnt mean visually captivating movies cant be narratively engaging, im just saying its rare.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That’s overcomplicating it.
Maybe that’s the issue.
The characters just… weren’t charismatic/engaging. I can’t name a single one. The world was intricate, and exotic, and… kind of superficial?
I think the other Avatar is a perfect contrast.
Iroh. Zuko. Toph. Azula. Korra, Tenzin, Zaheer. To me, these character are instantly memorable because they were so distinct in purpose and culture, even extending to minor characters.
And take bending. It’s a concept as simple as a rock, but they embed it in everything, from mundane chores to personalities and cycles to martial arts scenes.
Hence it’s be cool if the James Cameron Avatar characters where sharp, so distinct you could cut yourself on them. If their nature synergy, dependence on unobtanium or whatever was really woven into mundane life and such. There’s nothing wrong with a “natives fighting back” story, but I didn’t feel anything pull me into the struggle.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, I think movies could really be used to great effect in sci fi and fantasy where setting is a major character, but it’s rarely done. I understand why, it’s a more artsy thing to do, but one that demands large budgets. However I do think it’s something Avatar should have leaned more into and it’s something I really liked in the Dune movies.