If you actually advocated the disestablishment of non-indie productions, then yes, it would be hypocritical of you, but I don't see you doing that. Big-budget and indie fulfill different niches - the glorious CGI that Avatar provided us is something that today's indie productions can't provide. Similarly, non-"safe" film elements like new sorts of plots or styles are elements that only very rarely emerge in blockbuster titles.

The same thing shows up again in video games. Indie games often bring us amazing, wonderful innovations (let alone personalities!), but it's not like the big boys don't give us anything. Worlds of Goo and Reckless Disregards for Gravity provide different boons compared to Half Lives and Starscraft.

Bens
 

Nah man, not hypocritical in the least. And actually pretty dead on. Saw it Saturday with the newly minted 14 year old. Found the story the same ol' same ol'. Dances with wolves meets any teen age I-messed-up-and-lied-but-now-i-am-sorry-cause-i-am-in-love-with-you story.

Sure, same tired story line, but damn it was awesome to watch.
 

Loved Avatar! I need to go see it a couple more times! I particularly like the Aliens-esque details in the film (as if Pandora was somehow in the same universe as LV-426).

Regarding the story... Yeah, it lacks depth and it's certainly been done before, but the emphasis of this film is clearly the world of Pandora, not the story! But at the same time, the story is definitely good enough to support the premise of the film. (And "...as much depth as a 1970s cartoon..."??? Avatar is definitely better than that!)

Anyway, not every film needs to be on par with Citizen Kane (or Dune, or whatever else one might deem as having a "deep story") to be an excellent film.

As for "heavy-handed preaching", I don't feel like there is a whole lot of preaching in Avatar, let alone "heavy-handed". Certainly nothing more than the usual "This is what happens when [insert evil entity of choice] wants its way, everything else bedamned." which is a plot mainstay in all media: films, books, games, etc. You're never going to get away from it...
 

"Princess Mononoke" and "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" and many other films and books told a similar story too, but with more depth.

I enjoyed Avatar alot, even tough it had some annoying elements. It seems like every american movie needs a hero who fights evil with weapons.

As for "preaching" You probably mean all that talk about how everything is connected, souls live on after bodies perish, and so on. Well, those things need to be told, they ARE the message of this film.

Like Xenovore I think the story is somewhat stereotypical, but good enough for a framework to tell the message. This is somewhat similar to what "The Celestine Prophecy" did. The story, and especially movie, was somewhat lame, but it was not the impotrant part. The message of it was.

I'm going to see Avatar again. To me it is not really shallow, and has some depth.

For example one of its messages is that we are all insane. We have a sort of compulsive disorder based on greed and fear. In fact even psychology confirms this, as at least half the population in Western society has some sort of neurosis.

A good way to see this is to consider how we see economy. Economists like to talk about growth. Well, perpetual growth within a closed system is simply not feasible (unless you belive in techno-fantasy scenario). At some point humanity will need economy and agriculture and energy sources that are sustainable, not based on plundering of oil fields.

Another message is that armed resistance is not always futile. If for example Americans come to plunder resources of your country, killing enough of them often makes them retreat. OH, I don't consider USA to be the greatest incarnation of evil of all times. It simply is an empire and does what empires always do: expliots what and who it can. History teaches us, that it will fall someday, only to give way to something new and perhabs worse, like China.