Warning: this review contains spoilers of Avatar 2: Way of the Water.
Avatar 2: Way of the Water, proved to fans why sequel movies are not always needed. Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time, making almost $3 billion dollars in revenue. The almost 3 hour long movie was a huge step for movies at the time of its release, being the first movie to be shown in 3D and have great CGI. While the plot of the movie wasn’t anything special, viewers were drawn in by the colorful, exciting new world that the creators managed to build. It acted as an escape from the real world for viewers. The CGI was what made this movie so amazing. So why didn’t Avatar 2: Way of the Water reach as much success as the first movie? The second installment of the franchise generated $1.9 billion dollars, just over half the first movie made. The CGI clearly became better in quality and it included some of the same characters the first movie had - so why did it lack an impact?
The issue is that the creators made the same movie. Avatar was a good movie with character development and a well rounded plot that didn’t leave viewers wanting much more. So, when trying to make a sequel, the writers were stuck. How do you make a new, exciting, successful plot for a sequel to a movie that doesn’t leave you with really any strings to tie up. Answer: you do what got you so much success in the first place again. The creators tried to bring viewers into a brand new world again. A world full of underwater wildlife and brand new creatures that most people could never imagine. Now sprinkle in a little romance, high intensity fights between the Na’vi and the humans and characters who have to adapt to a whole new environment and you get the perfect movie.
Except viewers have seen this all before. The second movie, which ended up being just over 3 hours, followed the exact same format. You spend the first half of the movie being introduced to the new world and exploring it alongside the characters, and then the humans come and mess everything up because they are greedy (for a slightly different reason this time) you have a long fight between the two sides where the Na’vi come out on top and then the movie ends. The creators reuse the same villain who died in the first movie and should’ve died in the second movie (I’m still annoyed by the decision to save him) because they can’t come up with a new one. Some scenes and plot points in the second movie seem almost exactly the same as the first. In the first movie the main character, Jake Sully, has to run from a giant beast and he hides in tree roots to escape it. In the second movie, his son Lo'ak, has to run from a giant fish monster and hides in some stone thing to get away. In the first movie Jake Sully bonds with the giant bird to come save the day during the fight. In the second movie Lo’ak bonds with the outcast whale creature that comes to save the day during the fight. The movie is long and by the time you get to the main conflict, viewers are bored and don’t care much about the movie anymore because they’ve seen it before. Especially if you're someone like me who rewatched the first movie before seeing the second to get caught up on the plot.
With the plan to create three more movies to the series, with one releasing every other December, I wonder what Disney is going to do plot wise. How do you move forward from here? Do you create a new environment the family has to move to and show off new CGI, or do you figure out a whole new plot to add to the world. But that causes issues because you can’t create a plot that messes up the two plot’s you’ve originally created. I think that the sequel, and the other movies in the franchise to come, were unnecessary and (given how much movie they cost to make) a bad investment by the creators and writers alike.
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