Avatar and the curious case of Benjamin Button, directed by James Cameron and David Fincher, are two interesting films with very weird plots.  Although the movies are both criticized because of their ideas, they both amazed their respective audiences with their use of advanced technology and their technique used when filming.  Avatar follows the story line of an alien world called Pandora, which is the home of half human and half alien creatures called Na’vis. Due to its environment being so poisonous humans have to link their minds to human/hybrid Na’vis, called Avatars,  to allow free movement in Pandora. This alien world possesses lots of the mineral Unobtanium, which happens to be extremely valuable to the human race.  Humans have drained all the earth’s natural resources, leading them to a severe energy crisis.  Human efforts of colonizing the world Pandora, in order to mine the mineral Unobtanium , threatens the existence of the Na’vis.

Some critics claim that this Avatar is not what the fans of the filmmaker were expecting, but it is a great film due to its amazing level of immerse detail. According to Empire“It is not, in all probability, the film that you had in yours when you first heard that the man who directed Aliens and The Terminator was returning to sci-fi with a movie so ambitious that he had to build the technology to make it happen.”  (2016)  This article says that the CGI technology used on this film is so good, It make the 3D images look spectacular. It also says that this technology will give other filmmakers something to play with for a few years.

Other critics say that the reason why the movie wasn’t so great is because Avatar” is undeniably a film with a message – an earth-worshiping, evil-humans-are-destroying-the-planet message. According to Never Judge a Book  by its Movie or Vice Versa  “Avatar” is probably going to shatter a slew of records, just like “Titanic.” And in my mind, it’s worth watching just for the effects.” (2013)He also points that the success of the movie was due specifically to its special effects and not the movie itself.

On the other hand, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button follows the story of a man who is born old and ages in reverse. His mom died at the time of giving birth and his father decided to abandon him outside of a nursery home. Twelve years after his birth, he meets a girl named Daisy and although she seems to be in and out of his life, it is the relationship that she has with her and the hope that one day they will be right for each other, that keeps him moving forward.  Benjamin ends up having a daughter with Daisy, but due to his situation with reverse ageing he decides to take off somewhere and leave them behind.  Daisy agrees that this is the best decision Benjamin could have made and doesn’t hold a grudge against him. Benjamin dies in Daisy’s arms, physically and infant but chronologically 84 years of age.

Some critics of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button argue that it can’t get worse than this film. According to The Exiled “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button represents the end of an era, one of those turning-points when American movies just have to change because they can’t get any worse.”(2009) This explains that this film is very slow and that its plot is meaningless. it then goes and says that although it was a bad film, the movie was still able to be successful.

Other critics argues the opposite. According to the New York Times “Above all, though, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a triumph of technique…Mr. Fincher has added a dimension of delicacy and grace to digital film-making.” (2008) The author of this article claims that this film might not be the best film out there, but although it isn’t the best film the technique employed on it is great.

Art and independent films have garnered considerable public attention, earned lots of money, and won coveted awards like Oscars.  Avatar uses technology in such a strong way that the technology becomes an artistic element and helps the film be successful.  AVATAR also contains a fairly strong social critique of misguided military and environmental policies, although these are so much like a fairy tale that it’s hard to take them seriously as political statements. Although the budget of this movie was $237 million, which is a lot for an unconventional film, the film can easily  be identified as an unconventional film because it is socially and politically challenging.  The film’s ending doesn’t resolve the issues brought up by the movie and technology draws attention to itself as a kind of artifice. The film doesn’t have any stars that guarantee to draw an audience and it also rejects conventional storytelling in order to be more realistic and more artistic.

On the other hand, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button  does not have a great plot,  but its use of technology helps the film to be successful. The budget of this movie was $150 million and the strategy the filmmaker used to ensure a return on their investment was to use Brad Pit as a main star.  The movie qualifies as a conventional film because of it use of stars and because it also tells its story in a engaging and easy way to understand. The main character actively seeks a clear goal and the main problem is resolved by the end of the film.  The film is also socially and politically conservative because the need the largest possible audience.

Both films were successful with their integration of technology. The way they both used CGI to make their films come alive is spectacular. Although their stories are very rare, they catch their audiences attention because of how well their ideas and views are portrayed.  Technology is used in such artistic ways in both films, it definitely changed the game and made other filmmakers step their game up.