Does one need to be stupid to enjoy movies?

I won't watch Avatar. It's not because I think I am smarter than everyone.

It's because of false advertising. I was told this would be a creative movie with a unique story. Instead, it's a tech demo. Yes, Avatar is a tech demo.

I say this because there is nothing in that movie that wasn't already done better in a different movie. Parallels to Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves are on the surface painful, but when you look at them having been based loosely on actual events...Avatar comes across as a remake of a story based loosely on history while trying to be something else.

I will give full props for graphics, but for me graphics are moot. As I (essentially) stated in a facebook comment, CGI is the font or paper that a book uses. It is essential to a certain extent, but the fanciest paper and most intricate font don't make the story.

I could go into some of the nit-pick details of the story and how certain events in the plot are this or that, but I'm not supposed to have seen the movie. Sad part is that I don't have to go that far.

For a movie in the future, it's a step backwards and forwards technology wise. Paraplegia is a problem, don't get me wrong, but we already have the technology to create mechanical prosthesis. We even have successful trials of wiring nerves to patches of skin, which can control a prosthetic arm. Is the system perfect? No...but most of this stuff has been developed over the past 5~10 years...and somehow I am supposed to believe that in 100 more years we can't do any better?

To add further insult to injury, there exists technology to clone aliens and implant human DNA, and then remote control them over immense distances regardless of topography. Please, please explain to me how I am supposed to buy that. They can construct giant mechanical suits, but not a prosthesis.

Even a mechanical prosthesis will, at some point, be able to provide feedback...which when wired up to our nerves will provide a synthetic analog to feeling. This isn't even Science Fiction...this is the stuff that people are writing grant approvals to work on now.

So, without even having gone very far into the trailer, I have already made the entire plight of the main male character moot. I have identified a major inconsistency with the science in the science fiction of the movie, and I haven't seen anything but the trailer. That's not encouraging.

Many persons on a multitude of forums have, in response to arguments like the above, said that it is just a movie and that you can't over-analyze too much. That it's just entertainment. That you can't think about stuff like that.

But why can't I? I am going to go home and watch the movie District 9 which I rented. I will be purchasing Jack in the Box to eat while I watch. From what I have heard, it is a great movie. I have heard it compared to Avatar, but depending on the source, with either getting the upper hand.

I will try to post another entry after District 9. I will watch it, and will apply the same level of scrutiny to it as I have the trailer of Avatar, and will see if it stands up. Talk to you on the flipside!