Worldwide Avatar Day

[BlackWatch]

In some quasi-Aliens related news, the common denominator being James Cameron, staffer Jay West attended a special screening of 15 minutes of footage from Cameron's upcoming film, Avatar, at an IMAX in Los Angeles. Jay has reported back with his thoughts and a few images. Here's an excerpt:

Yet, when I watched the IMAX 3-D preview, oddly enough -- I had a bit of a different reaction. Though given the ideal viewing experience of having the eight stories tall, immense canvas of the IMAX screen surrounded by 12000 watts of pure digital surround sound -- I found myself strangely "removed" in watching the scenes chosen for this exclusive preview. Indeed, it was a bit of an "uncanny valley" type of experience -- truly, I would not classify this as a live-action film whatsoever -- but rather, it is definitely more so an animated feature. Given the abundance of CGI animation -- it seems odd that Cameron then just didn't go ahead and make this a fully animated feature -- as Robert Zemeckis has been doing with movies such as THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004), BEOWULF (2007), and the upcoming A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

After hearing all the hype about Avatar having the most photo-realistic CGI ever I'm really disappointed that the quality seems to be nothing more than a Dreamworks animated film! We'll see how the final product shapes up.

There's a lot more to Jay's report, including several images, so make sure to visit the Features section for his full article.

[beckmen]

The movie itself had better be able to stand on it's own two feet, or Cameron will be lynched.

[LargeLeader]

I've already got me pitchfork ready.

[Tryfan915]

I took my kids to the cinema on Monday and the wanted to see G-Force in 3D. I know it's not the same, but the 3D effect for most part was pretty lousy. The still images looked OK, but in the action sequences it looked terrible.

Also the glasses irritated me (wearing them on top of my own) and they noticeable darkened the image. Well before the end of the film I was wishing I was watching 2D.

[beckmen]

This is at first funny, but then just sad:

http://img.denihilation.com/delgovatar.html

(not sure if I can hotlink, so just clickit)

[Hudson]

12 years since Titanic. He didn't sell out to the Oscar at all. No way, not in the least. 

[Thedus]

Gotta say that after seeing the trailer I'm not impressed. 

[J-Syxx]

12 years since Titanic. He didn't sell out to the Oscar at all. No way, not in the least. 

Explain to me how making a CGI movie for adults is selling out?  I mean was Final Fantasy: the Spirit with in really a huge success or am I imagining things? lol

And well even if this does look a bit more cartoon that described I'll probably enjoy it.  I do watch anime and all that trash.

[Thedus]

I mean was Final Fantasy: the Spirit with in really a hug success or am I imagining things?

Nope, you're not imagining things.  I felt pretty warm and fuzzy after watching it too.

[ondemand]

watch the movie trailer it looked promiseing! never heard of it until recently!

[ADC]

Nice report as usual, Jay. Valid points made, for sure.

I must say though, guys, that my experience was somewhat the flip-side of Jays.
My reaction to the online trailer was one of huge disappointment. I was surprised by the poor CG and to be honest the teaser left me cold. And I was unimpressed by the creature design of the Na'vi aliens.

So I went to Imax the next day with low expectations. But what I saw really impressed me. As Jay said I think it's improperly hyped as 'photo realistic', but it certainly was the best animation I've ever seen - light years ahead of anything I can compare it to - and I found the 3D so involving that all of my previous concerns just fell away.

To Camerons credit, on ocassion it really did look real. Some bits will get you and you'll just think, "Wow, they really did nail it there." They're getting closer all the time and I do believe they've taken (a brave) step forward to that goal [of realism]. I say brave because he's not trying the old safe method of hiding creatures in the dark or colouring them brown, etc.

I also think it's a fantasy more than a sci-fi, and a love story to boot. They need to get the marketing right because it's certainly aimed at a larger, mainstream audience. It may even be a family film. Think of the blue Na'vi less as aliens but rather a very physical, humanoid tribal culture. Like the Masai and native American indians and you'll be on the right track. The word 'aliens' needn't apply to this film and that's what's misled a lot of people (myself included), because we expect certain things from our aliens - any aliens - and that conditioning isn't pertinent to Avatar -- think dinosaurs and tribal warriors and you're there.

I saw the preview twice and if you're too close to the screen the camera pans and tilts can be jarring (more so in 3D) and sit too far left or right and the 3D effect suffers a little. So on release I'll be sat slap bang centre to the screen with my eye line horizontal to the mid point of the screen. This is the optimum place to view and it did make a big difference to the viewing experience.

Best tactic? Don't buy in to the hype as Jay said, forget about CG worries and you'll probably have a blast.
Story wise? It's the hero's journey we've seen in a zillion movies before but hopefully Cameron's spin will be fresh enough for us to enjoy this latest take on that eternal theme.
My money's still on Jim!

[Hudson]

Honestly, I'm not even going to watch the trailer. Cameron has been one of my favorite directors, but I'm not really sure if I care what he does anymore.

[ondemand]

thought it was a video game when i watched the trailer then realized it was a movie!

[iamrogue]

This is at first funny, but then just sad:

http://img.denihilation.com/delgovatar.html

(not sure if I can hotlink, so just clickit)

what the hell is delgo?  There are a lot of similarities there

[beckmen]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361500/faq#.2.1.6