Line #17 YMMV/Avatar


1	----
2	!!The franchise as a whole
3	* {{Anvilicious}}: This seems to be a common criticism among most if not all of the franchise entries, which universally center around very obvious environmental and anti-colonial themes. In addition, the Na'vi are almost always portrayed as [[NobleSavage noble savages]] who are [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality always in the right]] and [[LuddWasRight have no need for science and technology]] while the majority of humans are depicted as [[HumansAreBastards irredeemably evil]] or incredibly [[MoneyDearBoy greedy]] or [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt]] while all of the heroic humans are the ones that [[DefectorFromDecadence side with the Na'vi]].
4	* ObscurePopularity: While film critics have given both movies positive reviews and the films have both achieved tremendous success at the box office, the franchise as a whole does not really have much of a dedicated fandom or general discussion online. That's not to say they ''don't'' exist, but most of the discussion that ''is'' online is about their box office or declaring them SoOkayItsAverage beyond the SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome and expressing confusion about this very topic, rather than any discussion of the contents of the films themselves. Promotional materials for ''The Way of Water'' rarely trended that high on Twitter and views for the trailers on [=YouTube=] were nothing particularly special compared to other big films like the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' or ''Franchise/StarWars''. The crux of it is that the films seem to be more popular among general, casual audiences than dedicated film or sci-fi geeks, the types of people who are merely there to watch a movie and then leave the theater not thinking much about it until another one comes along. It's just that those people happen to be a ''very'' silent majority when it comes to these films in particular. To add on, the MCU and ''Star Wars'' are franchises that have been around for longer and have had way more supplementary material whether it be video games, tv shows, or comics. Besides some video games, comics, and popular attractions, ''Avatar'' does not have nearly as many films, tie-ins, or spinoff material compared to the two aforementioned franchises. [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pMTazviRabg&pp=ygUUZmlsbSB0aGVvcnkgYXZhdGFyIDI%3D This video by]] [[WebVideo/GameTheory The Film Theorists]] takes a look at the films' online presence and examines why that is in more detail.
5	* PopularWithFurries: This franchise has many elements for this. It features humans who can uplink to Na'vi Avatars, the Na'vi in general have cat-like ears, noses and tails and Jake Sully not only gets to become a Na'vi but also gains a BondCreature to become a defacto DragonRider and [[InterspeciesRomance romances Ney'tiri]] in his Na'vi form; outside the film, there have been elaborate Na'vi cosplays. ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' expanded upon this with sentient whales who form bonds with the Tulkan and are noted as being even smarter than humans and able to uplink with Na'vi as well.
6	!!The first movie
7	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Eywa, the NatureSpirit ruling Pandora's biosphere. The lack of a clear communication with it through the film beyond its ambiguous actions, its sheer inhumanity and otherworldliness, and the multiplicity of interpretations of the story all raise questions about how benevolent Eywa is in reality and how it views both Na'vi and humans. For starters, is it a spirit of balance that persecutes offences against nature? A tribal deity that simply favors its own world's lifeforms? A truly unknowable entity that operates on BlueAndOrangeMorality? Perhaps even a caretaker AI left by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens whose people no longer understand its nature?
8	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Like with ''Film/{{Titanic\|1997}}'', the movie had a number of skeptics before its release due to its enormous budget and a seemingly-difficult premise to sell tickets, with the 3-D angle being seen as little more than a gimmick. Afterward, it became the highest-grossing film of all time -- ''[[Film/AvengersEndgame twice]]'' -- and led to the popular adage to never, ever doubt Creator/JamesCameron.
9	* {{Anvilicious}}: The film's way of expressing its ecologist, indigenist and anti-war message is usually perceived as too on-the-nose in negative reviews.
10	* AwardSnub: Many consider that ''Film/TheHurtLocker'' winning out over ''Avatar'' in the 2010 Platform/{{Academy Award}}s and the Platform/{{BAFTA}}s was in a magnitude comparable to ''Film/AnnieHall'' winning out over ''Film/ANewHope'' back in 1977. There was a running joke among both fans and haters that voters supported ''The Hurt Locker'' and Creator/KathrynBigelow as an explicit means of snubbing Creator/JamesCameron. Talk about a TakeThat.
11	* BrokenBase:
12	** The film's general reception could be summarized as a ClicheStorm with SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome. Some believe that precisely because the strong points of the movie are its WorldBuilding and visual effects, and neither fails one bit, a rather unoriginal plot is forgivable. Many others however, both among fans and detractors, would have liked to see a more creative and less predictable story.
13	** Another point of contention is about Jake Sully's defection to the Na'vi and his efforts to fight the RDA. Some see Jake as justified given that the anti-colonial aspects of the movie, while others decry it as Jake betraying humanity and becoming TheQuisling to the Na'vi, while dooming humanity to a slow death as Earth runs out of resources.
14	** One of the biggest Broken Bases that runs throughout discussions on the film is whether or not the actions of the RDA are justified or if the Na'vi are completely in the right for defending their home.
15	* ClicheStorm: Reviewers were (and still are) prone to point out that the film plays many colonial-themed tropes in varied degrees of straightness, with the main conclusion being that it could be basically synthesized as "''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' JustForFun/InSpace" (with ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' being another popular comparison). Now, whether Administrivia/TropesAreTools or this is too much to stomach is usually up to the viewer.
16	* CommonKnowledge:
17	** Many people claim that the film has an anti-technology message, and that it strongly implies that humans should learn from [[NobleSavage the Na'vi]] and return to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. In truth, while it has a strong ''pro-conservation'' message, it also has very strong ScienceIsGood themes: the scientist Grace Augustine is one of the most sympathetic characters in the movie, and Jake Sully is only able to save the Na'vi because of the Avatar Project--which utilizes advanced genetic engineering. This [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]] make this even more evident, making it clear that Earth is suffering from a massive environmental collapse that can ''only'' be fixed with science and technology.
18	** The Na’vi do not actually have ponytail sex. Their queues allow them to mentally link with other Na’vi, animals, or even plant life, but they are not sexual organs. The Na’vi still have genitalia and reproduce similarly to humans. That being said, two Na’vi getting sexually intimate can connect their queues together to enhance their sexual pleasure. This is even shown in an extended version of the movie where Jake and Neytiri [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything connect their queues and have some interesting reactions to having physically intimate contact with each other for the first time.]]
19	* CriticalBacklash: [[Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Even]] [[Administrivia/EditWar in]] Website/ThisVeryWiki. When ''Avatar'' [[ItsPopularNowItSucks got extremely popular]], the HypeBacklash was so bad, many critics began to dissect it and complain about even the slightest of its flaws, to the point where even that backlash and all its criticisms were considered overblown.
20	* DancingBear: The whole fuss about the technological achievements necessary to pull this movie off: 3D digital film cameras, motion capture refinements, etc. Arguably the never-fully-disclosed but definitely astronomical budget and the marketing-induced hype contributed to this.
21	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Sure, trying to destroy what is arguably a giant, sentient tree is normally considered a bad thing. But when the RDA breaks out a veritable army of space marines, mech suits, and a fleet of gunships to do the deed? They just make the whole thing look awesome.
22	* DracoInLeatherPants: Colonel Quaritch has a veritable legion of apologists and defenders who play up his pre-existing BenevolentBoss traits and exaggerate him into a hero to humanity attacking the "savage" Na'vi. Quaritch isn't bereft of admirable traits, but he's an unforgivably militant and racist warmonger who is more proactive than anyone else in the film about slaughtering the Na'vi--whom he provokes in the first place.
23	** The RDA as a whole falls into this category. Many a people talking about ''Avatar'' on the wider internet often state that they root for the RDA as a whole, as they are trying to save humanity (although it has been stated time and time again that while Earth is dying, the RDA and unobtanium is ''not'' Earth's last hope).
24	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
25	** Grace, the compassionate doctor who taught the Na'vi English, played by Creator/SigourneyWeaver. Probably the movie's most genuinely sympathetic and noble character. Her avatar has got to be the single most incredible achievement in CGI technology ever. [[spoiler:Sadly, she's also [[SacrificialLion the designated casualty meant to pull at our heartstrings]]. But at least she [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence becomes one with Eywa]], a truly worthy final fate for her.]]
26	** Trudy has a lot of fans for being a decent ActionGirl, the TokenGoodTeammate of the RDA military forces and some good interactions with Jake and Norm. [[spoiler:[[SacrificialLion She dies too]].]]
27	** Tsu'tey has quite a following, with many fanfics dedicated to him, despite, no ''because'' he's simply TheRival to Jake, giving fans a lot of room to give him a backstory and HiddenDepths [[spoiler:that he actually has, leading to his HeelFaceTurn and HeroicSacrifice]].
28	** Toruk the Great Leonopteryx has enough of a fanbase that the quasi-dragon even got a Franchise/{{Lego}} set for the ''Avatar'' series. They are set free and don't factor into the ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' which might have disappointed some fans hoping to see Toruk return to help the heroes.
29	* EsotericHappyEnding: [[spoiler:The ending of the film sees all but a few humans expelled from Pandora. The reason they were sent there was to both help expand humanity into space to escape the dying Earth and to get enough {{Unobtanium}} to put an end to the ongoing energy crisis. Without either of those, Jake and friends have guaranteed humanity is doomed to a slow, painful extinction if they don't find another habitable planet. Which they probably can't without said Unobtanium. Even worse, the threat of human extinction means there's incentive for humanity to return with even more forces who are far better equipped and have zero interest in diplomacy this time to seize Pandora, and the Na'vi [[BolivianArmyEnding barely won against Quaritch's small security force]]. [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality But hey, Jake is permanently part of his Avatar now, so it's all good.]] That said, the extended version has Selfridge promise to Jake "This isn't over". And then [[Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater the sequel]] sort of fixes that by having the humans return within the first twenty minutes.]]
30	* EvilIsCool: Quaritch, who has a large fandom who admire him for being such an ultimate ColonelBadass. He is, in fact, a villain. ''The'' villain.
31	* FanNickname
32	** For Quaritch: Colonel Bastard, Colonel Monster, [[ColonelBadAss Colonel Awesome]], Colonel [[ColonelKilgore Coffee]], Colonel [[Literature/HarryPotter Quidditch]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Lt. Surge]], the Q-Man, [[VideoGame/DukeNukem Duke Nukem]] (due to his noteworthy resemblance).
33	** For the Na'vi hair-braid that links to everything: "Bio USB", "Ponytalia"
34	** The planet Pandora orbits is sometimes referred to as "Bluepiter," since it looks like... well, a blue Jupiter (made kind of obvious by its Great Blue Spot).
35	* FandomEnragingMisconception:
36	** [[IAmNotShazam Calling anyone in the film "Avatar", or calling the Na'vi "Avatars".]]
37	** Trying to make cases about the RDA wiping out all the Na'vi or asking as to why the RDA can't just [[ColonyDrop nuke the Na'vi from orbit]] is bound to spark outrage and a huge argument.
38	* FandomRivalry:
39	** A rather one-sided one existed with ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fans at the time of the film's release, with many blaming it for "stealing" the Avatar title and causing the rename of its [[Film/TheLastAirbender live-action film]] to drop the word. Nowadays, the only remnant of it is poking fun at the title confusion, which became an AscendedMeme when it was referenced by ''Series/{{Moon Knight\|2022}}'' (owned by the same [[Creator/{{Disney}} parent company]] as ''Avatar'').
40	** A one-sided one also sprang up when ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' came out, with many rooting for that film to overtake this one in the box office, which it did for a period of time. It got worse when this film got its title back through rereleases. However, some who aren't in this rivalry were quick to note that, since the film was bought out by parent company Creator/{{Disney}}, whichever film got the number one spot, Disney wins.
41	* FanPreferredCutContent: There's dozens of {{Deleted Scene}}s that were cut from the film in order to get the movie to be under a 3 hour runtime. Many of which people feel should have been in the theatrical release, such as Jake's scene on Earth that shows a glimpse of just how bad things are for humanity, or the people of the Avatar Program helping out the Na'vi in the FinalBattle by attacking the RDA base's control center with their Avatars. In addition, Norm and Selfridge had a lot of scenes that didn't make it, which a lot of people wish they did as they feel that the cut scenes added a lot to their characters. Some of these scenes were finished and added back in to the extended cuts.
42	* HesJustHiding:
43	** [[spoiler:Grace Augustine's returning in her Avatar.]] While she is stated to have became one with Eywa, her Avatar was still intact and there is the possibility of being allowed to return and live on through this body. ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' reveals a Na'vi was born mysteriously from [[spoiler:Grace's Avatar, she was named Kiri and Creator/SigourneyWeaver voices the character. This is no coincidence because Grace Augustine's presence or likeness is safe and sound within Eywa.]]
44	** Plenty of fans continue to speculate that [[spoiler:Trudy]] survived [[spoiler:her]] apparent death in the final battle, even after the casting announcements for the sequels did not mention [[spoiler:her]].
45	** [[spoiler:Quaritch]], even though [[spoiler:he was stabbed by two highly toxic arrows]], in this case, it's outright ''confirmed'' that the character will return. The question is... ''[[NoOneCouldSurviveThat How?]]'' ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' finally gave us an answer, with a "recombiant" Avatar based on [[spoiler: Quaritch]] being deployed.
46	* HilariousInHindsight:
47	** One of Creator/StephenLang's (Quaritch) earlier roles was in ''Film/TallTale'', where he played a farmer standing-up to a mining company from developing a fertile valley.
48	** Before the MemeticBadass Quaritch became Lang's most notable role, his previous famous role was [[Film/{{Tombstone}} Ike Clanton]], who is the flipside of Quaritch as a completely cowardly villain.
49	** The prolemuris bear a notable resemblance to Spidermonkey from ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce''.
50	** The resemblances the Na'vi bare to the Draags from ''Animation/FantasticPlanet'', and their [[HumansThroughAlienEyes role-reversal]].
51	** In the final battle, Trudy's gunship uses the call signal "Film/RogueOne", [[spoiler:and she also dies in the end.]]
52	** During the advertisement tour for this film, Creator/SamWorthington made a joke about how by ''Avatar 2'' Jake would get a beer gut. Jake did develop a "dad bod" in ''The Way of Water''.
53	* ItsPopularNowItSucks: Once this movie became the highest grossing film of all time (not counting re-releases or adjusting for inflation), it pretty much became the definitive example of this trope on the internet.
54	* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Colonel Quaritch has the benefit of being a charismatic manly badass as our main antagonist, and Parker Selfridge is an enjoyable DeadpanSnarker in spite of being a HateSink. Many viewers apply RonTheDeathEater to the Na'vi for not being nice to Jake at first, even though he's part of an invading army that's routinely blowing up their home for resources and was even sent to gain their trust to make the process easier.
55	* MemeticMutation:
56	** "It's just ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' but in reverse!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]Sigourney Weaver plays Dr. Grace Augustine, who is trying to study a race of benevolent aliens while her superiors seek to destroy them. This has had fans contrasting her older role as Ripley from ''Aliens'', who is trying to ''destroy'' a race of ''hostile'' aliens while her superiors seek to ''study'' them. Also, both Aliens and Avatar are directed by James Cameron.[[/labelnote]]
57	** With Zoe Saldana portraying both Neytiri and Gamora from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', it's gotten fans to joke about her tendency to portray multicolored aliens, or call Neytiri and Gamora as "Blue Gamora" or "Green Neytiri", respectively. HilariousInHindsight when ''Avatar'' finally lost its ten-year highest-grossing film title to ''Film/AvengersEndgame''...which also stars Zoe Saldana as Gamora. Also in both films, [[spoiler: her father dies]], and her love interest is an Earthling.
58	** "How to make a top-grossing movie of all time: Step 1.) Make Zoe Saldana a weird color"
59	** And with her role in Star Trek, as Uhura, a captain in a red attire, fans have joked that she now completes a Red-Green-Blue theme in all her roles set in space.
60	** Jake seemingly ditching his Ikran for the mighty Toruk, even after it returns to him after both the Na'vi and the humans have forsaken him, has led fans to jokingly portray the Ikran as a jilted girlfriend.
61	** Quaritch’s “How does it feel to betray your own race?” is usually used in situations when a member of a fandom also likes something from a rival fandom.
62	** The similarity of the Na'vi to Native Americans has led to many jokes about how ''Avatar'' is just ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' but JustForFun/RecycledInSpace.
63	** Being nature-oriented blue people who live in the forest and are hunted by power-hungry humans, the Na'vi are often compared to Smurfs.
64	** Sam Worthington also portraying Perseus in ''Clash of the Titans'' drew some jokes of him really selling out on big-budget 3D movies, or fans musing that Perseus became crippled.
65	** "A horse with six legs, how creative."[[labelnote:Explanation]]Quite a number of fans have criticized the creature designs, complaining that they don't look "alien" enough and are too easily recognizable as familiar Earth animals. In particular are the buffalo-like sturmbeest hunted by the Na'vi on horseback, which some fans think only serves to make the Native American analogy all the more blatant.[[/labelnote]]
66	** Many love to joke about the SequelGap between the first movie and the next.
67	** Calling it the Blue Avatar movie to avoid confusion with [[WesternAnimation/AvatartheLastAirbender another Avatar]].
68	** "Isn't it funny how this movie made so much money and yet left no cultural impact?"[[labelnote:Explanation]]A recurring question around the internet, often on Twitter, referencing that Avatar was the highest grossing movie in the world for years but, unlike other similarly big films, had no franchise, particularly significant merchandise, or real fandom presence in pop culture.[[/labelnote]]
69	** "Jake Soo-Lee"[[labelnote:Explanation]]The Na'vi's, particularly Neytiri's prononunciation of Jake's name has become so iconic among fans that they just flat out pronounce and even spell his name like that.[[/labelnote]]
70	** “Yo whaddup? It’s me Doug/John Avatar”[[labelnote: Explanation]]Some of the films detractors, hell even some fans, don’t remember the main character’s name, Jake Sully. So many joke that his name is just the title of the film.[[/labelnote]]
71	** Blue Guy Falling[[labelnote: Explanation]] [[spoiler: Tsu’tey’s death]] shows him falling out of an aircraft after getting shot. The slow motion and wailing vocals of the soundtrack accompanying his fall has made this scene gain some attention by being compared to any joke related to falling. [[/labelnote]]
72	* MisaimedFandom: Quaritch is understandably subject to this, being an example of both EvilIsCool and ColonelBadass. It is when people try to defend destroying the Na'vi home and killing several Na'vi in the process that the extent of said fandom gets disturbing.
73	* {{Narm}}: [[Narm/{{Avatar}} Has its own page.]]
74	* OlderThanTheyThink:
75	** People would accuse ''Avatar'' of being a ripoff of something fairly recent when Creator/JamesCameron had publicly stated that he had been inspired by something far older. Oddly enough, no one would have said ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars.'' Though it does not contain the environmentalism aspects Avatar has. (Cameron also reportedly said the film was sort of a sci-fi ''Theatre/KingLear''.) The script also predates many of the stories that people complain are too similar.
76	** "Literature/InTheWallsOfEryx" (1939) is a story by Creator/HPLovecraft and Kenneth J. Stirling where greedy humans invade the planet Venus in search of a powerful source of energy in the form of crystals, and come into conflict with the planet's native race.
77	** Creator/StrugatskyBrothers' ''Noon Universe'' (a saga debuted in 1961) had a similar planet, complete with wildlife and the native tribes. The planet's name was... '''[[http://www.google.com/url?url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_planets_of_Noon_Universe%23Pandora&rct=j&q=noon+universe+pandora&usg=AFQjCNFB5ih7dJTqtWCz1M6M53cqDHTsGg&sa=X&ei=Ii8jTbfTDceK4gaJir2QCQ&ved=0CB0QygQ Pandora]]'''! Russian readers have drawn much attention to this, and Boris eventually commented: "The Americans borrowed our idea. That's quite unpleasant, but we wouldn't sue them for that, now would we?"
78	** ''[[Literature/{{Hainish}} The Word for World Is Forest]]'' (1972), by Ursula K. Le Guin, has a plot very similar to that of ''Avatar'', only without elements of MightyWhitey.
79	** ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'' is a 1992 animated movie that a lot of people cited as an obvious inspiration.
80	** A human team sent to an exotic, savage world filled with dangerous creatures, whose inhabitants harbor spiritual wisdom and many things that glow. The main lead is one of the few who can communicate culturally with them and strikes a bond with TheChiefsDaughter, who teaches them about their culture, while his superior is a seemingly reasonable older figure who turns out to be a GeneralRipper and becomes the main villain by trying to destroy the world's source of power. At the end, the team sides with the hero and the villain is trounced in an battle with a lot of flying things, after which the hero decides to stay. In the team there are also a SpicyLatina and a cynical old lady. Are we talking about ''Avatar'' or ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''? (Note the curiosity that ''Atlantis'' itself was almost sued for plagiarism, in this case from the makers of ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'', although the similarities in question doesn't extend to ''Avatar''.)
81	** Several aspects of the plot and setting are weirdly similar to Creator/AlanDeanFoster's 1975 novel ''[[Literature/HumanxCommonwealth Midworld]]''; it takes place on an alien world where everything wants to kill you, yet the natives live InHarmonyWithNature (in this case, they're indicated to be the descendants of human colonists rather than an alien species), all people there have a {{bond creature}}s, they live in a giant tree called Home Tree, they have a way of communicating with plants and believe their dead are absorbed into a planet-wide network between the trees, and upon discovering that the human explorers are planning on exploiting their world's natural resource for profit they wage war upon them with help from the forest.
82	** A blue-skinned, vaguely feline humanoid race of [[NobleSavage noble savages]] living InHarmonyWithNature, fighting against a militaristic and technologically advanced empire, intent on expanding into the forest to exploit its resources? An alien world including HorseOfADifferentColor and FantasticFlora? A soldier of the aforementioned militaristic empire falling in love with the TheChiefsDaughter thus having a HeelFaceTurn? This is actually ''Aida of the Trees'', an Italian fantasy animated movie made in 2001, ''very'' loosely based on the opera ''[[Theatre/AidaVerdi Aida]]'' by Music/GiuseppeVerdi. Aside from plot elements, even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_iEJQggu_g the aesthetic similarities]] are pretty much undeniable. This didn't go unnoticed among Italian viewers, some of which saw this as an interesting curiosity, while others thought it further proof that Cameron's work was [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks unoriginal and derivative]], and others outright accused Cameron of consciously plagiarizing ''Aida of the Trees'' knowing that he would get away with it due to the work's relative obscurity. Whatever the truth is, Cameron got word about this, though, and the matter was peacefully solved between Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios and the animation studio Lanterna Magica: Cameron agreed to mention ''Aida of the Trees'' in the credits of ''Avatar'' and to ''include'' the animated movie itself in some DVD and Blu-ray releases.
83	* PopularityPolynomial: It became the highest-grossing movie ever upon release, with glowing reviews and passionate fans. But as the years went on, between the promised sequels being frequently delayed, Sam Worthington not becoming a star, the 3D craze dying down, and the backlash against the derivative story and ham-fisted environmental message, the film ended up mostly forgotten, leading to frequent thinkpieces on how such a smash hit wound up instead not creating much of a cultural footprint. Still, the [[Ride/PandoraTheWorldOfAvatar Disney World area]], people revisiting ''Avatar'' by the end of TheNewTens, and the follow-ups finally getting into production seem to have led to a resurgence.
84	* RetroactiveRecognition: Not easy to spot, but fans of martial arts cinema might be surprised that the Avatar playing basketball Jake runs into is played by Illram Choi, the popular BruceLeeClone of ''Film/UndisputedIIIRedemption''.
85	* RootingForTheEmpire: Being that the villains are humanity, a number of viewers found themselves rooting for the RDA. These rooters state that the RDA's goal is benevolent, saving a dying Earth that has been stricken by resource shortages and disasters, and that Jake is a traitor for betraying them.
86	* ShipMates: For canonically possible ships, there's [[OfficialCouple Jake/Neytiri]], Norm/Trudy and Grace/Max. After [[spoiler:the deaths of Grace and Trudy]], there's [[HoYay Norm/Max]] to consider.
87	* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: [[LesYay Grace/Trudy]] exists, despite them having very little interaction.
88	* SoOkayItsAverage: Even though this film managed to be the highest grossing in history for a full decade, the general consensus seems to be that, while it's not a ''bad'' film, it's not a particularly memorable one aside from the SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome and impressive usage of 3D -- the latter of which is mostly lost on modern audiences, due to the 3D fad it helped popularize dying out by the late 2010s. This is exemplified in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxp1IBK1OPI this video]] by WebVideo/{{Jacksfilms}} where random people were asked if they could name any character from ''Avatar''. Of the 17 people asked, only ''one'' managed to do it, and even he only knew one character's name.
89	* SpecialEffectFailure:
90	** While the effects were revolutionary at the time, and still look fairly good when its just the Na'vi on screen, putting the Na'vi in the same shot as actual human actors is very [[UnintentionalUncannyValley uncanny.]]
91	** Some people have also criticized the look of the Thanator for coming across as poorly rendered compared to the other creatures on Pandora.
92	* TaintedByThePreview: The anticipation, to date, went something like this: "A new movie by Creator/JamesCameron? The guy who directed ''Aliens''? All very hush-hush? [[NoodleIncident It could be anyth]]--oh the teaser trailer's out? It's {{Space Marine}}s vs. [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Native American alien]] [[CatGirl cat people]]? That's ''it''? Screw you, James Cameron, screw you." When some people saw the ads on Creator/CartoonNetwork, they were convinced that it'd be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids too kiddish for them]]. Then the movie came out, and the preview turned out to be a fairly complete ''[[TrailersAlwaysSpoil plot summary]]''.
93	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The movie could've explored the fact that Jake and Neytiri found themselves in roles they didn't expect to have and weren't prepared for in more depth, which could've added more depth to their relationship as it gives them something more in common, especially with the angle of them both having to fill the shoes of a dead sibling. The Extended Edition restores deleted scenes revealing Neytiri's older sister was supposed to be the future tsahik of the Omaticaya, only for her to be killed and the role passing to Neytiri (even though she appears more comfortable as a hunter/warrior), while Jake was forced to retire as a Marine due to his injury and then took his brother's place in the Avatar Program after he was killed (despite the mission revolving around science and diplomacy, which he has little experience in). However, they never bring this up.
94	* UnintentionallySympathetic: While Quaritch himself is pretty devoid of sympathy (though not completely, having shades of BenevolentBoss and other qualities a viewer might come to appreciate), the majority of faceless troops working for RDA Security Operations can evoke a sense of pity akin to real life war veterans, even despite being presumably voluntary mercenaries and solely on the basis of the situations they routinely face in Pandora. Stationed on a veritable DeathWorld where everything wants certainly to kill them, working for the sake of corporations that hardly care about anything more than their own benefits, and confronted by the certainty that there's not enough payment to compensate the very likely probability that they will never return to Earth, the point of view of a single RDA soldier might be enough to make an entire film more in the vein of ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' or ''Film/LettersFromIwoJima''.
95	* UnintentionalUncannyValley: While the Na'vi are considered an aversion of this, some people still felt that something was just ''off'' about them. This is especially true when they are in the same shot as human actors. (See SpecialEffectFailure)
96	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome:
97	** Say what you will about the film. But one thing no one can deny is that Avatar depicts one of the coolest and most realistic spaceships in fiction. The ISV ''Venture Star'' is so realistic, it even has ''radiators''. Just the sheer level of physics put in place to not only the ''Venture Star'', but the Valkyrie and hell, even the angle of the ''rotorblades'' of a Scorpion is laid out in extreme mathematical detail. Hell, just anything from the RDA, even the AMP suits are within the realm of possibility. The Hard Sci-Fi elements is just pure nerdgasm.
98	** There had been lots of [[SerkisFolk motion-capture]] characters in film, but the Na'vi are probably the first ones that approximate human form and emotions with such intricate detail.
99	** The holographic maps Parker uses and all the other screens in the base.
100	** And the forest, particularly at night in a world full of {{Bioluminescence\|IsCool}}, and the flying machines and creatures, and Sam Worthington's convincingly atrophied legs.
101	** One of the most impressive things about the effects was the way the CG characters interacted with the live action ones. In particular the sequence between Jake and Neytiri when she sees Jake's human body for the first time. Jake touches Neytiri's Face and Neytiri holds Jake's hand, and it looks perfectly seamless.
102	** The [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie 3D]] was simply revolutionary. This was the first 3D movie with a truly progressive depth of field to fully exploit the effect as opposed to a succession of fairly flat layers with [[PaddleballShot a few gimmicky objects being waved in the audience's face]]. Easily the biggest leap forward in Visual Effects (and, arguably, film-making in general) since [[{{Film/ANewHope}} 1977]], if not [[{{Film/TheWizardOfOz}} 1939]].
103	** An often-overlooked visual effect are the exopack masks. All of them are digitally created because real ones would have shown cameras and microphones in their reflections. The natural-looking glare on the plastic, and the extraordinarily detailed reflections in the masks are amazing, and is likely part of the reason many people don't know that particular fact about this movie.
104	* VocalMinority: While perhaps few people really loved the movie, both critical and audience responses were favorable overall. Despite this, a few very loud internet reviewers absolutely hate the movie and give the impression that everyone hates the movie too.
105	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The film is PG-13 rated and by no means for kids, but due to the [=McDonald's=] Happy Meal promotion and other toys being made, parents still took their kids to go see it... because the Na'vi look like [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch a little blue alien from a certain Disney film]]. In response, James Cameron made a censored audio track for the DVD releases.

Context YMMV / Avatar