Trailer: Avatar
I have yet to get the Avatar trailer at Apple to work, so if TrailerAddict doesn’t work well for you you can view it at a French language MSN site a wily commenter at Awards Daily found a link to. The best part is you don’t have to hear James Cameron’s wretched dialogue.
I have to say my expectations were extremely low and I’m still totally unimpressed. It looks like a pretty unremarkable cartoon and that’s not good for a movie whose drawing card was supposed to be the visuals and special effects. Worse still, this simply doesn’t look like a movie I want to see. Maybe it’s the fault of whoever edited the teaser, but there isn’t a single “holy shit I’ve got to see that” moment in the thing. I got a bigger charge out of Wes Anderson’s lo-fi Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Filed under: Trailers
I agree 100% with you Craig. It looks like a cartoon or video game. Maybe the effects will be perfected by December, but if this is what is supposed to advertise the film until a longer trailer roles around, I expect a lot of backlash. I personally expected more, but I feel that the way Cameron has hyped this thing, people will be disappointed if it does not cure cancer and bring world peace.
Thanks for stopping by Rainer.
I’ve been pretty hard on Avatar from the start. I’m leery of too much hype, but I was hoping for something in this that would change my mind.
Frankly, the prawns in District 9 were much more convincing at less than 20% of the budget.
I’m also troubled that this movie seems to exist to show off the technology. Even if the technology delivered (it doesn’t so far, at least on a small screen), I need more than that.
NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
It looks just like those F$%KING Star Wars prequels ALL. OVER. AGAIN.
I liked the first part, that didn’t look video game cut scenes. You know, the part with live action. Maybe the complete movie will be better.
(sigh)
Random comment from the AVClub post:
“I agree as well – the first half of the trailer looks pretty awesome; the second half looks like fucking Delgo.”
HAHAHAHA!
Cameron should go back to exploring shipwrecks and doing underwater documentaries. The three he did between Titanic and this were pretty good for what they were. It seems like that kind of adventure lifestyle would be more fulfilling than spending hundreds of millions of dollars making mediocre blockbusters.
The film could be much better than the trailer indicates. Some of the visuals are beautiful (the Miyazaki-like islands in the sky), but there doesn’t seem to be anything groundbreaking here. And that jungle sequence reminds me of the kind of CGI overload (LOTR, Star Wars prequels) that always takes me out of a movie.
That’s funny Joel. Delgo is right on.
WJ. You’re absolutely right that the film could be much more than the trailer gives us a taste of…but I’m still a bit disappointed in the trailer itself.
Without all the hype and expectations and Cameron’s name, the teaser just kind of lays there. It doesn’t stimulte the appetite.
I was expecting the promised eyeball f*cking. Instead I got the short end of the CGI stick. Of course, when this is projected in 10D Titano-vision in December, I’m sure my eyeballs will feel like Ron Jeremy after a double-shift on the set in 1983.
They better, or Cameron owes me an apology.
I have a feeling mo-cap animation will never work for me. I don’t see how this looks superior to Gollum or anything in LOTR or Star Wars. Feels more Zemeckis “Beowulf” to me actually.
After watching that trailer, it is hard not to appreciate someone like Guillermo Del Toro. Especially while watching how utterly artificial those blue guys look.
“Maybe the effects will be perfected by December.”
I’m guessing here that with less than 4 months to go before this is released what we’re seeing here are 95% final effects and shots. There may be some atmospheric rendering or adjustment, but this is all from the movie.
At the very least, the animation and motion capture are long since done. Now huge render farms are going through the task of finalizing the shots and an editor is working on the cut of the film. A composer is working on the score. The studio is finalizing their marketing bonanza for this. For better or worse, what you see in this trailer is the general quality of the final animated CGI footage.
My low expectations have been completely, utterly underwhelmed. And yeah, I thought Delgo, Beowulf, and the Star Wars prequels. I don’t like the look of it at all. I predict the visual effects are going to emotionally distance a lot of people even further, rather than draw them into Cameron’s world.
That said, it does look markedly better in HD than in low def. Visually, that is. High def’s not going to do shit for the story problems it’s bound to have.
I thought the special effects looked pretty good in some sequences – not groundbreaking or game changingly amazing but possibly a slight iteration over anything done before. And although I’m nervous about Cameron’s ability to tell a story the trailer leaves me more intrigued about the film. I kind of like and disliked the stylization of the aliens – it gave a more artful look but then again it unappealingly brought to mind artwork for fairy stories aimed at young girls.
See attached ->
http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://jksalescompany.com/images/flower_fairy_com.jpg&imgrefurl=http://jksalescompany.com/dw/fairies.html&h=650&w=437&sz=92&tbnid=HlTI_T0Q9n8cxM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=92&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfairy&usg=__dedy_u7DGj8KZQPH1bov-wI7KUk=&ei=5viNSpaOKYrU6gPj5-HFCg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image
Craig – Thanks! I am an avid reader of LiC, but never commented before. I have yet to see District 9 (poor college student here), but even from the trailer I can tell that the “Prawns” look nearly photo-real. It helps to have Peter Jackson, who is incredibly adept with digital effects, produce your film. But that also proves that when it comes to great film, money is far from everything. I will catch D9 very soon, but I spent my “movie-money” on Ponyo already.
I think that when a movie is as hyped as Avatar it is healthy to lay on the skepticism pretty thick. This trailer proves that any skepticism on your, and all our parts, was in the right place. I just watched The Wolfman Trailer, and that got my pulse pounding far more than Cameron’s extravaganza.
Joel – You’re probably right. These special effects are most likely more than 90% completed. It’s a shame, as much as I prefer quieter, less special effects driven films, I was hoping for some sort of revolution with Avatar.
Aw, that’s exactly what I did, Rainer. Kept coming back and quietly reading LiC until one day I commented on a No Country for Old Men post, got into a great discussion and then I was suddenly hooked. Hope that’s what happens to you. I like having fresh voices in the comments. And see? We’re friendly. Especially to poor college students! God, I remember what that was like.
Anyway, I showed the Avatar trailer to my husband, and he thought it looked tremendous. I have no idea who I married now.
Sartre, you’re right on with that little girls fairies comparison. Stick a uncicorn with tiny purple hearts on its haunches in that trailer, and it probably wouldn’t stick out .
JB, I will give your husband a break and say I really liked everything about the trailer but the effects shots in the second half, especially the Delgo people. But the editing and music of the trailer are both top notch and remind me that even if the effects are underwhelming, Cameron might still deliver something fairly watchable and fun.
But since the outset, Cameron and the internet have been hyping these effects and sadly, that was the only thing on my mind when I saw this trailer. It’s a shame, actually.
In all fairness, I saw the trailer on the big screen last night and it plays much much better visually. It remains to be seen if there’s a story or characters we can sink our teeth into, but at least it will be something to look at and I imagine even more impressive in 3D.
Ari, I’m pretty much with you on mo-cap. It seemed groundbreaking (though still flawed) with Gollum, but it hasn’t improved much as far as I can tell.
AV, I’m so glad you brought up Hellboy2. There were moments in that movie that were awe inspiring. The battle with the giant tree in New York instantly springs to mind, but there was so much more. Like the effects in D9, they felt tactile.
Sartre, are you telling fairy stories to young girls again???
Your point about Avatar being an iteration is a great one. I think part of what I’m struggling against is King of the World’s assertions that Avatar is a “game changer.” A lot of my attitude is push back against that probably ridiculous claim. I have 4 months to manage my expectations I suppose.
Rainer. Happy to have you as a reader whether you choose to chime in or not…though I ought to remind you it’s completely free for poor college students. As I just said above, I pretty much agree Cameron deserves a healthy level of skepticism, but I think it’s also important to be realistic as Sartre has done.
JB, is it possible your significant other has remained outside of the hype bubble and thereby had less cause for disappointment and is just seeing the movie as is?
Joel, I think even the Delgo/Ferngully people looked much better on the big screen. Maybe in 3D they’ll be even more impressive, though I have to say if the film needs the 3D to work, it’s a failure. I’m just putting that out there.