vatican slams 'avatar'

“Avatar” is wooing audiences worldwide with visually dazzling landscapes and nature-loving blue creatures. But the Vatican is no easy crowd to please.

The Vatican newspaper and radio station are criticizing James Cameron’s 3-D blockbuster for flirting with the idea that worship of nature can replace religion – a notion the pope has warned against. They call the movie a simplistic and sappy tale, despite its awe-inspiring special effects.

“Not much behind the images” was how the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, summed it up in a headline.

As the second highest-grossing movie ever, “Avatar” is challenging the record set by Cameron’s previous movie “Titanic.”

Generally it has been critically acclaimed and is touted as a leading Oscar contender.

Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, has praised “Avatar” for what he calls its message of saving the environment from exploitation. But the movie also has drawn a number of critical voices. Some American conservative bloggers have decried its anti-militaristic message; a small group of people have said the movie contains racist themes.

To Vatican critics, the alien extravaganza is just “bland.”

Cameron “tells the story without going deep into it, and ends up falling into sappiness,” said L’Osservatore Romano. Vatican Radio called it “rather harmless” but said it was no heir to sci-fi masterpieces of the past.

Vatican Slams ‘Avatar’.

Avatar

It seems as if we’ve been hearing about James Cameron’s “Avatar” ever since he stopped work on “Titanic.” No, it hasn’t been that long, but the long-awaited film, featuring an exotic new world and colorful characters created by stunning digital effects, now must prove itself. Sam Worthington plays Jack Sully, a wheelchair-bound soldier who is stationed on the planet Pandora, which is like nothing we’ve ever seen before onscreen. And this time, no icebergs. (Opens Dec. 18.)

Full Story:

Best bets: ‘Avatar’ finally hits theaters – Entertainment- msnbc.com.

But aside from all the specifics, I had a few (spoiler-free) initial thoughts about something larger that I believe Avatar represents.

As a hard-core film geek, I’ve seen plenty of sci-fi posers. Films that lose their soul to special effects or mythology run amok. I'm talking about you, Phantom Menace, or you, Transformers 2. You look so good, you feel so flashy, but there's just nothing beneath the surface. No sense of wonder, no hint of discovery.

Avatar is selling itself as the future of cinema, and in one key way – after it rakes in hundreds of millions at the box office – I think it will prove to be just that. This is a movie that puts the focus not on wowing us with the same old effects sequences or star power, but with a whole new array of sensory experiences. We used to talk about computer effects being used in the service of a story; I think we will now start talking about computers being used towards creating the Immersive Moment. There were a few times in Avatar when I was on Pandora, in that jungle, at harmony with these new species that don't actually exist. Kinda creepy, actually, if you think about it. (More from Techland: Exclusive interview with actor Joel Moore, about Pandora, the Na'vi and getting drunk with James Cameron).

via Avatar, First Look: Why This Geek Hopes Pandora is the Future of Movies – Techland – TIME.com.