Avatar: The Way of the Water... what did you think? (No spoilers)

[DfromATX]

So who has seen the new movie? We went last night. I'll be honest - I didn't like it. I liked the first one a lot, but this one... eh. It was action packed AND VIOLENT from the very beginning. In my opinion, it's clearly geared towards 12/13 year old American boys chock full of fighting, shooting, and killing (and we wonder why...). Also, I thought the Navi people were much more humanized - meaning the way they acted and even spoke. Many of the main characters were pre-teen/teen aged and acted very much like human teenagers, which I thought was weird since they weren't humans. They said "" a lot and even the "f" word. If there's a third, I won't be seeing it. I guess it's PG-13, but if I had a younger child, I would not let them see it - even though the theater was packed with kids and even babies... I was disappointed. I thought it was going to be more of a story about their life in the water, but it was just a big war movie.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I'm not seeing it. The first one was visually awesome but boring. I also don't remember much about it so it must not have been that great for me personally. I would expect this one to leave the same impact.

The land at AK? Amazing. 10 out of 10.

 

[DfromATX]

I'm not seeing it. The first one was visually awesome but boring. I also don't remember much about it so it must not have been that great for me personally. I would expect this one to leave the same impact.

The land at AK? Amazing. 10 out of 10.

I give it 2.5 stars, but in all fairness, I'm just an old mom so I guess I'm not their target audience. With that said, I love the land and FOP is probably my all-time favorite ride.

 

[DfromATX]

I will add that we saw the previews for the Little Mermaid and I nearly cried. It made me feel that "Disney emotion" if that makes sense. It looks like it's going to be pretty good! I guess that's more my speed lol.

 

[Ghost93]

I thought it was great. I also thought it was much more family-friendly and Disney-esque than the first one. There's more focus on family and there wasn't any sex scenes like there was with the first one. And the entire second hour of the movie was literally about chilling in the water and making friends with whales. I think it's totally appropriate for kids 8 and up.

 

[DfromATX]

I thought it was great. I also thought it was much more family-friendly and Disney-esque than the first one. There's more focus on family and there wasn't any sex scenes like there was with the first one. And the entire second hour of the movie was literally about chilling in the water and making friends with whales. I think it's totally appropriate for kids 8 and up.

I noticed the lack of 'sexy scenes', which to be honest, I'm surprised they didn't throw that in there too, but it was too violent. I enjoyed the "chilling in the water" parts, but I wish there was more of that instead of all the war stuff. I say appropriate for 12 and up, plus with it being so long, I knew the younger kids would get restless and that they did lol.

 

[Ghost93]

I noticed the lack of 'sexy scenes', which to be honest, I'm surprised they didn't throw that in there too, but it was too violent. I enjoyed the "chilling in the water" parts, but I wish there was more of that instead of all the war stuff. I say appropriate for 12 and up, plus with it being so long, I knew the younger kids would get restless and that they did lol.

Maybe it depends on the child and what the child is sensitive to. For example, I think some of the kills in this movie are violent, but I didn't find the overall tone to be particularly dark. There was still a lot of wonder and awe and strong themes of family.

I think the majority of the Harry Potter films, for example, are much "scarier" and more likely to traumatize a young child than anything in Avatar: The Way of Water as those movies have a generally darker/moodier tone (especially the later ones). But who knows. If your child is particularly upset by animal cruelty, there is one scene in The Way of Water involving whaling that might be very hard to watch.

 

[DfromATX]

Maybe it depends on the child and what the child is sensitive to. For example, I think some of the kills in this movie are violent, but I didn't find the overall tone to be particularly dark. There was still a lot of wonder and awe and strong themes of family.

I think the majority of the Harry Potter films, for example, are much "scarier" and more likely to traumatize a young child than anything in Avatar: The Way of Water as those movies have a generally darker/moodier tone (especially the later ones). But who knows. If your child is particularly upset by animal cruelty, there is one scene in The Way of Water involving whaling that might be very hard to watch.

Oh yeah, the whaling... don't even get me started on that. (I'm sensitive to animal cruelty myself.)

I guess I just feel like why do our children have to see all that at all? I know violence, war, and even whaling exists, but why do our kids need to see it? Since this was geared towards children, I wish they could have toned down the violence. And believe it or not, I do like an occasional war movie, but I go into it knowing it's a war movie and children aren't usually watching it. This was basically a war movie for kids made by Disney. It wasn't ALL bad. I enjoyed Sigourney Weaver's daughter "finding her way" in the water. Those scenes were really good and visually appealing. (But I couldn't remember what happened to Sigourney Weaver's character in the first movie and how did she have a half Navi child?)
P.S. - I could never get into Harry Potter - I tried - but both my sons loved it. They read the books and saw the movies.

 

[Ghost93]

Oh yeah, the whaling... don't even get me started on that. (I'm sensitive to animal cruelty myself.)

I guess I just feel like why do our children have to see all that at all? I know violence, war, and even whaling exists, but why do our kids need to see it? Since this was geared towards children, I wish they could have toned down the violence. And believe it or not, I do like an occasional war movie, but I go into it knowing it's a war movie and children aren't usually watching it. This was basically a war movie for kids made by Disney. It wasn't ALL bad. I enjoyed Sigourney Weaver's daughter "finding her way" in the water. Those scenes were really good and visually appealing. (But I couldn't remember what happened to Sigourney Weaver's character in the first movie and how did she have a half Navi child?)
P.S. - I could never get into Harry Potter - I tried - but both my sons loved it. They read the books and saw the movies.

I don't think the movie was necessarily geared specifically towards children. James Cameron filmed the movie in 2017, before Disney bought Avatar. But the abundance of kid characters means children may relate to it more than the first film, which only had adult characters.

I think you may have simply forgotten how violent the first movie is. That's understandable. If you are a mom now, you may not have had kids at the time the first movie came out. Or if you did, they may have been too young to go to the cinema. So it's possible when you saw the first film you were just enjoying it more on its merits, where with the sequel you paid more attention to what is and isn't appropriate for kids. My parents were the same way when I was a kid. They showed me a lot of movies they saw as young adults in the 70s and 80s and would often apologetically be like "wow, I don't remember this being so violent!" or "wow, I don't remember this having so much language!"


Back to the movie, I hope they add some type of underwater attraction at Animal Kingdom where you could see Pandora sea creatures. With the whales being such a big part of "The Way of Water" I think it would be a missed opportunity for them to not have some type of presence at Animal Kingdom.

 

[DfromATX]

I don't think the movie was necessarily geared specifically towards children. James Cameron filmed the movie in 2017, before Disney bought Avatar. But the abundance of kid characters means children may relate to it more than the first film, which only had adult characters.

I think you may have simply forgotten how violent the first movie is. That's understandable. If you are a mom now, you may not have had kids at the time the first movie came out. Or if you did, they may have been to young to go to the cinema. So it's possible when you saw the first film you were just enjoying it more on its merits, where with the sequel you paid more attention to what is and isn't appropriate for kids. My parents were the same way when I was a kid. They showed me a lot of movies they saw as young adults in the 70s and 80s and would often apologetically be like "wow, I don't remember this being so violent!" or "wow, I don't remember this having so much language!"


Back to the movie, I hope they add some type of underwater attraction at Animal Kingdom where you could see Pandora sea creatures. With the whales being such a big part of "The Way of Water" I think it would be a missed opportunity for them to not have some type of presence at Animal Kingdom.

I'd say that's accurate in how I feel. My kids now are in their 20's. I think we saw the first one in the theater, but I don't remember. It could have been just my husband and me. And yes, I remember it being violent, but that's exactly it - it wasn't promoted by Disney then. That's what bothers me now.

And I like your idea for AK!

 

[networkpro]

I know violence, war, and even whaling exists, but why do our kids need to see it?

Perhaps no matter much you want to disbelieve, human nature and history are replete with it. No many how many drum circles or "mind-expanding" drugs one participates in or consumes, reality has a way of interjecting itself.

 

[James J]

I thought it was great. I also thought it was much more family-friendly and Disney-esque than the first one. There's more focus on family and there wasn't any sex scenes like there was with the first one. And the entire second hour of the movie was literally about chilling in the water and making friends with whales. I think it's totally appropriate for kids 8 and up.

Agreed. I saw it in IMAX this morning and thought it was fantastic. I liked the first movie but this one was a step up in quality, particularly in the storytelling and emotional impact.

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

It's a TIME thing... for us? Too long between movies, and we have just lost interest. So not bothering.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

It was a long film and it felt long. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the greatest film either.

Incidentally, over here in the UK, it was rated 12A, meaning that under 12s must be accompanied by an adult. Also, I believe 12A grants you one free F-bomb.

 

[Ghost93]

It was a long film and it felt long. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the greatest film either.

Incidentally, over here in the UK, it was rated 12A, meaning that under 12s must be accompanied by an adult. Also, I believe 12A grants you one free F-bomb.

PG-13 movies allow one F-bomb.

Cameron's own Titanic really pushed the limit of the PG-13 rating back in the 90s with an F-bomb, nudity and grisly deaths. I think Titanic would have had a harder time getting a PG-13 rating today.

 

[DfromATX]

It was a long film and it felt long. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the greatest film either.

Incidentally, over here in the UK, it was rated 12A, meaning that under 12s must be accompanied by an adult. Also, I believe 12A grants you one free F-bomb.

Just curious, did you (as a non-American) feel it was too violent for kids?

I feel it was ok (I guess) for 12 and up, but I still didn't like the violence. It was also weird to me to see the Navi people riding around on their banshees shooting machine guns. I know they had to defend themselves, but still...

 

[Zipadeelady]

Oh yeah, the whaling... don't even get me started on that. (I'm sensitive to animal cruelty myself.)

I guess I just feel like why do our children have to see all that at all? I know violence, war, and even whaling exists, but why do our kids need to see it? Since this was geared towards children, I wish they could have toned down the violence. And believe it or not, I do like an occasional war movie, but I go into it knowing it's a war movie and children aren't usually watching it. This was basically a war movie for kids made by Disney. It wasn't ALL bad. I enjoyed Sigourney Weaver's daughter "finding her way" in the water. Those scenes were really good and visually appealing. (But I couldn't remember what happened to Sigourney Weaver's character in the first movie and how did she have a half Navi child?)
P.S. - I could never get into Harry Potter - I tried - but both my sons loved it. They read the books and saw the movies.

I enjoyed the movie and the visual effects. I didn't even mind the length. But... I could only take so much of the Whaling/Tulkun scene, I had to actually walk out of the theater for about 5-10 minutes before going back in. Due to that I may never watch it again. I don't see the necessity to have the length of the killings of the Tulkun or have that much detail in it.

 

[The Mighty Tim]

Just curious, did you (as a non-American) feel it was too violent for kids?

I feel it was ok (I guess) for 12 and up, but I still didn't like the violence. It was also weird to me to see the Navi people riding around on their banshees shooting machine guns. I know they had to defend themselves, but still...

I didn't think it was any more or less violent than the previous film (which was also a 12A). Certainly no worse than some of the MCU films and most of those are 12A as well.

I do think that the whaling scenes might be intense for the younger viewers.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

It's a TIME thing... for us? Too long between movies, and we have just lost interest. So not bothering.

It's a time thing for me too. 3 hours and fifteen minutes is just too long of a movie.

That being said, I'll still go see it sometime within the next 10 days. But I don't have any real excitement building to do so.

 

[BuddyThomas]

So who has seen the new movie? We went last night. I'll be honest - I didn't like it. I liked the first one a lot, but this one... eh. It was action packed AND VIOLENT from the very beginning. In my opinion, it's clearly geared towards 12/13 year old American boys chock full of fighting, shooting, and killing (and we wonder why...). Also, I thought the Navi people were much more humanized - meaning the way they acted and even spoke. Many of the main characters were pre-teen/teen aged and acted very much like human teenagers, which I thought was weird since they weren't humans. They said "" a lot and even the "f" word. If there's a third, I won't be seeing it. I guess it's PG-13, but if I had a younger child, I would not let them see it - even though the theater was packed with kids and even babies... I was disappointed. I thought it was going to be more of a story about their life in the water, but it was just a big war movie.

“IF” there’s a third?? There are at least three more films planned already. Hopefully they are not all over three hours long.