"Avatar": A blue-tinted rehash of "Pocahontas"?

20th Century Fox

ne of the many complaints about James Cameron's blockbuster film, "Avatar," is that its "derivative" plot ploddingly parallels that of 1995's Disney animated tale "Pocahontas." Though the similarities haven't dimmed "Avatar"'s box office — on track to beat Cameron's "Titanic," says BBC.com —  they’ve provoked grassroots critics to "mash up" footage and audio from the two films to expose what they consider a shameless ripoff. Consider exhibits 1 through 4:

1. "Avatar" meets Disney: This spoof marries audio from 1995's "Pocahontas" with "Avatar" clips to make the case that the respective heros and heroines are interchangeable. By the time Vanessa Williams starts singing about blue moons and the irrelevancy of skin color (in "Colors of the Wind," the "Pocahontas" theme song) at 00:45, the two films seem to blur into one.

2. "Pocahontas" meets James Cameron: This mashup uses the reverses strategy — ambitiously syncing the "Avatar" trailer's audio with "Pocahontas" footage. Savvy viewers may notice that, at 1:28, Pocahontas begins "spouting" Sigourney Weaver's cynical "Avatar" dialogue, giving the effect that the sensitive Indian Maiden considers her lover an empty-headed himbo.

3. The alternative "Colors of the Wind" music video: Here, Vanessa William's Disney theme song becomes a musical backdrop to an "Avatar" dream date. Two large-nosed blue beings flirt, swoon, and soar about on the backs of pterodactyl-like creatures until it becomes clear that, of all the windy colors with which one can paint, blue is the most romantic.

4. "Pocahontas" recut as an "Avatar" action film: Similar to number 2 (above) but with a faster-paced, "Terminator" edge. In this version, the relatively chipper Disney tale turns menacing with help from James Horner's pounding "Avatar" soundtrack and Sigourney Weaver's voice ("let your mind go blank...") emerges not from Pocahontas, but from a sinister, anthromophized tree.

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