function hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); bubble.style.display = "none"; } function hide_user_promo_bubble() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 0 } }, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100); } function handle_promo_username(params) { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image"); var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link"); if (params.has_photo == "true") { img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png"; } else { img.style.display = "none"; Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide"); } anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name; anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name; bubble.style.display = "block"; var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 1 } }, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); } if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) { YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i; if (parts.length < 2) return; for (i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) { if (parts[i].indexOf("sb=") !== -1) { shared_by = parts[i]; } if (parts[i].indexOf("b=") !== -1) { badge = parts[i]; } } if (shared_by == "" || badge == "") return; var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); if (!bubble) return; var entry_id = HuffPoUtil.GetEntryID(); if (!entry_id) return; var user_id = parseInt(shared_by.substr(shared_by.indexOf("sb=") + 3)); if (!user_id) return; var badge_type = badge.substr(badge.indexOf("b=") + 2); if (!badge_type) return; script = document.createElement("script"); script.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); bubble.appendChild(script); script.setAttribute("src", "/include/share_track.php?a=view&eid=" + entry_id + "&uid=" + user_id + "&b=" + badge_type + "&cb=handle_promo_username"); }); } 'Avatar' = 'Pocahontas' In Space (PICTURE)

James Cameron worked on "Avatar" for over a decade. That makes sense. It takes a long time to create the technology needed and to completely RIP OFF Disney's "Pocahontas." Sure moves borrow from movies all the time, but c'mon James, "Avatar" might as well be "Pocahontas In Space."

Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[sandy5]

My problem with this movie is that it didn't show what really happens when a peaceful, innocent, tuned-in-to-nature culture has to defend itself from a technologically advanced enemy. Either they get wiped off the face of the planet, or they become just as "evil" as the invaders are.

I can think of at least one episode of the original Star Trek series that addressed this issue far more realistically. The movie would have been much more interesting if it had considered the loss of innocence that should have occurred in the process of fighting for one's planet.

At least in the case of Pocahontas the adults watching knew the true outcome of that story.

[john2hansen]

PLEASE DON'T READ THIS COMMENT IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE.
In the second-last scene, something very strange is happening. None of the Earthlings are wearing or need to wear masks. At first, my wife and I thought this was a mistake. Then we decided it was on purpose. So here's the question: Why don't the earthlings need masks?

[stylembe]

That was hilarious. There is more Avatar humor here...

http://stylembe.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/8½-altered-subtitles/

[Daniel Gray]

Roger Dean did poster art during the 1970's and 80's for the rock group "YES" and for other groups and projects ...

Has anyone noticed conceptual artwork for this movie looks as if it were created by Roger Dean ?

After reviewing some of Roger Dean's artwork on the internet, the similarity is obvious .

http://io9.com/5426120/did-prog-rocks-greatest-artist-inspire-avatar-all-signs-point-to-yes/gallery/

[NunyaBizness]

Most of the stories are the same ... a bully government/military taking minerals from people, calling them terrorists when they are innocent. Wait a minute, that's our reality ...

I SEE YOU

[Durango]

Haven't seen the movie, don't know if i will but . .. I just heard the plot is the story of crested Butte Colorado.

With the Butte the town(?) in the movie, the Red Lady Mountain and molybdenum mine (proposed) the threat.

And the hero was Crested Butte's paraplegic Mayor Mitchell. Who gets much credit for saving the Butte.

The kicker was that James Cameron owns a second home in Crested Butte.

[NinjaWolfHybrid]

"the town(?) in the movie,"

LOLZ, dude, see the movie first, huh?

[VapeGirl]

Nobody just watches a movie to enjoy it any more. Some people just have to dissect it the way biologist dissects a frog.

[NinjaWolfHybrid]

For class credit? Not sure why else biologists would waste time dissecting frogs.

[RealityBaseCamp]

At some point, one has to learn the secrets of the frog . . .

[Daniel Brooks]

It would seem some stories need to be retold again and again until the point is finally gotten . . . especially by those of us who seek nothing more than novel entertainment.

[ruffmama]

LOL! I had the same thought as I was in the theater watching the movie....but I still enjoyed it anyway.

It also reminded me of "Dances with Wolves".

[omobob]

Its a 500 million dollar cartoon drive in remake of "dances with wolves". Director Camerons belief that his endevour will "change the way we look at movies" is graniose self aggrandizement of Titanic proportions.

[tc2598]

The problem with giant projects is there is typically a giant ego behind them.

Folks like George Lucas and James Cameron are so justifiably proud of their technical achievements, and surround themselves so completely with those who idolize them, that they tend to forget the limitations of their own brilliance.

Both visionairies, both geniuses, no doubt. Neither one can write. It would be awesome if they could see their own toes beneath their bulging ego bellies, but they cannot, and no one involved in their unbelievably, small-country GNP projects could get them to listen to that simple truth - YOU NEED TO HIRE A WRITER.

A budget of what, a half a billion dollars? You couldn't throw on an extra ten million and get Christopher Nolan, or J.J. Abrams' guys, or a team of typing monkeys, or SOMETHING?

But they were also correct about that not being necessary. I saw the movie, was painfully aware of how badly written it was, and I'll probably see it again, cause it's just like they say, visually stunning, a grand achievement.

As for the white guy messiah thing, yeah, I'd worry about that if I were in grad school. This thing is billion dollar cartoon. I'd be happy if they just explained why the ground force was necesary - just bomb the giant tree from orbit and dig the mineral out of the ruins. Save a few trillion dollars in equipment and dudes.

[susanava]

George Lucas is not genius--the crap he excreted in the form of the Star Wars Prequals is ample evidence to explode his mythology. And remember, he neither wrote nor directed Empire Strikes Back, the best of the original series.

[Jeffrey Penn May]

Avatar! Too bad the stunning visual artistry had no matching literary art. I went into Avatar knowing that the plot and dialogue would be as it was. I wanted to focus on 3D blue aliens, and enjoy, but the cardboard characterizations got in the way. I didn’t have time to eat a good meal and drink a lot beforehand, so maybe that affected me. If you're going, I recommend getting drunk or something first.

I don't mean to imply it isn't worth seeing, just that a few drinks would have helped me digest the dialogue and story. If you've seen Dances With Wolves or Little Big Man or various other movies sympathetic to the plight of Native Americans, you've seen essentially the same move (with a little bit of Jurassic Park).

The visual artistry, however, as I've already said, is stunning. My son and daughter loved the movie, and since they are the best looking and most intelligent humans on this planet, I defer to their knowledge and movie acumen.

[tc2598]

To be fair, I did get pretty drunk first.

[lala23]

yeaaaaaah avatar = pocahontas first thing i thought after seeing this movie. Sureee the CGI is great and all of that but the story sucksss. I really don't understand the hype and all the good reviews it's getting from so called expert.

[JustAThought56]

The thing that all of these stories have in common is the plot. The plot is about invading white males after something of value (gold, silver and unobtanium are used to represent a host of valuable resources). One of them is sent into enemy territory on some mission on behalf of the invaders. That individual then changes his perspective, goes native, triumphs over the native competition (indigenous male leader), gets the girl, then rescues the natives (for a brief interval, anyway) from the ostensibly superior forces of the white male invaders.

This is a plot that emerged from the reality of Western European expansion and colonialism, which ran rampant over indigenous populations all over the globe, from Australia and New Zealand to Africa and the Americas, and parts of China and Indochina. You don't see it in stories that predate that expansion.

It illustrates and attempts to reconcile the contradictions that we live with even today. We ruthlessly exploit the earth's resources and militarily weaker civilizations, portraying them as either evil or subhuman or both, so we can expand and grow. Our leaders all the while preach respect for human life and faith in a higher power who rewards good behavior.

The story line expresses that split as part paranoid fear, part wishful fantasy. This movie introduces a recent twist, our emerging concern that nature itself will rise against us and shake us off like a bad cold.

[davemartin7777]

That's from Big Hollywood, a right-wing website bashing the movie.

Conservatives just loathe "Avatar."

Google this... 'Avatar': Why do conservatives hate the most popular movie in years?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2010/01/avatar-why-do-conservatives-hate-the-most-popular-movie-in-years.html

[susanava]

Even the Devil speaks the truth from time to time. You can't argue with his point. That Pocahontas summary IS the basic plot of Avatar. Period.