MTV contributor Terri Schwartz braved the crowds to see the 16 minute "Avatar" tease today in Massachusetts, speaking to some die-hard James Cameron fans in the process. Meanwhile, MTV News intern Jett Wells hiked over to New York City's AMC Empire 25 in Times Square to gather fan reactions from "Avatar" Day attendees there. Check out the fan response in Jett's video and Terri's write-up below!



"Avatar" Day has come and gone, and the world remains unchanged for most. With the exception of a minute-long montage of clips at the end of the footage shown, the 16-minute clips trailer was basically an extension of what debuted for the public at Comic-Con. Fans in San Diego saw 25 minutes of footage; today's clips were basically a spoiler-free version of the Comic-Con stuff, with the focus almost entirely on visual effects.

“I was more going for the 3-D, not so much the story, but now I’m actually more interested in the story... than I am in the 3-D,” said Josh Murray, 21, from Cape Cod. After following “Avatar”'s development for four years, Josh traveled an hour to the screening in Reading, Mass. “I don’t know. The 3-D I don’t think quite lived up to [expectations].”

His brother Dave, 18, and friend Zach Crosby, 18, both agreed. “I think I’m more for story too,” said Crosby, whose interest in “Avatar” was originally piqued four years ago when he found out that James Cameron was working on a project being shot digital 3-D.

Rafael Cevallos, a 28-year-old Boston resident, said that he has been following “Avatar” since he was 18. As a fan of Cameron, he was anticipating the director’s newest vision to be along the same scale as his favorite, “Terminator.”

Cevallos said he was listening to people as they walked out of the theater, and a common complaint was that the CGI didn’t look as realistic as it was built up to be. “Special effects in this decade so far have been grand, and people just aren’t very impressed, I don’t think,” he added.

The unrealistic CGI was a common sentiment, as well as the 3-D being hard to follow. In the end though, it's the story that needs to deliver.

As Cevallos said, “it was very visually cool, but you know, I don’t know anything about the story. If the story’s not going to hold up it’s probably not going to be that big of a deal."

Source : http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/08/21/avatar-day-leaves-fans-to-wonder-about-the-story/