The movie “Avatar” has made quite a few waves. After their production and marketing costs, it was going to be a major “oops” if it did not please the crowds. Protestors from Palestine to China (especially the last 10 seconds of the China video) have taken up the cry of the Avatar natives as their own.

I naturally felt like I needed to understand this movie. And what do you know? After the first introductory story details, the main character is rescued by an animist (named Neytiri) in less than a bikini. She happens to be the daughter of a tribal chieftain and is ordered to train him in their ways, the ways of the Navi.

The opening words conveyed that this is the tale of a man who finds himself. The visuals are impressive even though the storyline seems to lack a lot of substance. Enough was retained to keep the visuals coming.

Somebody did a lot of work on the physics of this world that they have created. The helicopter-like machines seemed to have counter-rotating sets of blades (picture two sets of two propellors, one set on each side). I can only imagine the calculations that would be required to pull this off without a massive air vortex issue. Either way, it would be very susceptible to random objects (like arrows) being shot into them.

Breathable air is also an issue because of a supposedly decreased gravitational field (and presumed other-than-oxygen gas) on the planet. What are the helicopters flying through?

There is also an issue with the size of the Navi. One physics review site explains the problem much better than I can in my own words:

To its credit, the movie lets us know that gravity conditions are lower     on Pandora than on Earth. This helps make the 10 ft height of the blue guys     a little more feasible. Otherwise their ability to jump around would be     reduced. Their hearts and circulatory systems would also need to be much     more robust just to overcome the blood pressure differences between their     head and feet, a problem that might otherwise limit their life spans.    However, the effects of reduced gravity apparently don’t apply to humans. We     don’t see them gaining any increased mobility.

Basically, the physics applied to the Navi and those applied to the humans do not match up. Read the rest of the article if you are interested in more.

The relational aspect of the characters is also bizarre. The Navi have a special ability to connect their brains to other living creatures that originate on their planet. This allows the Navi to feel even the heartbeat of the creatures they link to. Before the end of the movie (you might have guessed), Jake and the less-than-a-bikini-girl decide to bond themselves to each other for life. A few minutes further into the plot, in a clan meeting, she cries out in anger that she had trusted him. Pardon my asking, but couldn’t she see his thoughts? Where is Spock when you need someone to explain mind melds?

For a touchy-feely type of movie, it wasn’t bad. If this is the type of logic that the world is to run on, I’m scared. Very scared.

So, Do You Want to Date My Avatar? (The song pre-dates the movie Avatar, but portrays the sentiments well enough.)