As if the problems with Fox’s “Avatar Day” promotion weren’t enough, the marketing of James Cameron’s Avatar continued to hit snags today with the faulty debut of the film’s trailer. Despite there being a literal countdown until its premiere, at 10am EST this morning Twitter was abuzz with complaints that the thing not only didn’t work, but that it was a massive failure on the part of Fox, Apple and whoever else was responsible. Not helping matters was the fact that while we waited for the thing to be available on Apple’s site, we looked around the page and noticed the embarrassing copy that reads “FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE ‘TITANIC.’” Meanwhile, others found they could view the trailer on a French MSN site.

Then came the biggest fail of all: the trailer was a disappointment! Derivative visuals aside, the movie looks to be a letdown in terms of its responsibility to be a groundbreaking work of cinema. Of course, there could have been no other reaction coming off so much hype. And it is indeed possible that the backlash will turn back around once people see some of the film as its meant to be seen, in 3D. But that’s just the problem of this marketing blunder. While some are saying the trailer shouldn’t have hit the web before “Avatar Day,” I think this particular trailer shouldn’t have been made, let alone released, at all. As I wrote earlier this year in anticipation of Avatar’s marketing, “You really don’t need to show one second of footage. Because we’ll be there no matter what.” However, now that I’ve seen a disappointing mess of CGI and familiar-looking footage, maybe I won’t be there after all — unless I hear legitimate reason to bother (fortunately, I’m sure I will hear one).

Check out what the rest of the film blogosphere has to say about the trailer’s failure — or success — after the jump:

• In a discussion prompt, Erik Davis at Cinematical recaps the morning of the Avatar trailer debacle:
  

  If ever there was a trailer launch cluster-f*ck, it was this morning with the supposed release of the first Avatar trailer. The domestic trailer was scheduled to hit Apple at 10am EST, but that never happened and there was no immediate explanation as to why it wasn’t working. But god bless the French because they got their trailer up and running in time for most people to … um, kinda trash it. Granted, Avatar supporters will try to reason with you, offering up several different explanations: 1) You need to watch it in HD, or 2) You can’t watch it on your computer screen, or 3) You need to watch it in 3D, or 4) You need to watch it in 3D on an IMAX screen, or 5) You need to watch it on Pandora with a half-naked Na’vi chick lying in your lap feeding you glowing blue goo.

• Lane Brown at Vulture wrote up a post just to scorn Apple for its failure:
  

  We’d hoped to bring you a post on the new Avatar trailer this morning, but for the second time this week, James Cameron’s massively anticipated 3-D blue-alien movie has proven too game-changing for traditional Internet-based websites. Apple promised to post the teaser at 10 a.m., though all we’re getting are these sad question marks. The day is ruined.

• Dustin Rowles at Pajiba points out its failure in relation to the hype:
  

  And for all the stupid ridiculous hype that’s surrounded this movie, if the trailer is any indication, Avatar is disappointingly just a movie. It will not balance your checkbook. It will not make your head explode. And it will not go down on you, though with a reported budget in the $300 - $400 million dollar range, you’d kind of hoped for that.

• Mark at I Watch Stuff wants to know where the groundbreaking stuff is at:
  

  I mean, that definitely looks like some large-scale, intense action, and I’d love to watch the full film, but I’m still not seeing what game it’s changing. It’s only revolutionary if you were in the bathroom during all the over-sized, not-quite-real-looking battles from Star Wars I-III.

• Craig Kennedy at Living in Cinema is underwhelmed:
  

  I have to say my expectations were extremely low and I’m still totally unimpressed. It looks like a pretty unremarkable cartoon and that’s not good for a movie whose drawing card was supposed to be the visuals and special effects. Worse still, this simply doesn’t look like a movie I want to see.

• The Playlist is also very disappointed given the context:
  

  However, if you were expecting — like we were — realistic looking creatures in the vein of the tangible and frightening monsters in Cameron’s “Aliens,” forget it. These things — and the second half of the trailer — look like something out of a PS2 game and are not far off from that silly Elvin look in the Final Fantasy games. The second half basically turns into one of those mid-game sections of a video game and completely deflates us. This is supposed to be the game changer this year?

• Kurt Halfyard at Twitch hopes this looks better in the correct format:
  

  Honestly, I hope the 3D makes a big difference because while parts of this look amazing others look like a standard - albeit high quality - video game cut-scene and for all the talk and hype and buzz - not to mention the massive amount of money spent, I expect more than this.

• Patrick Schumacker at Screen Junkies sarcastically applauds the visuals:
  

  The digital-imaging effects really do look amazing. We haven’t seen character design this revolutionary since Small Soldiers or Jak and Daxter.

• In case our simple comparison between Avatar and Delgo didn’t prove the similarities, S.T. VanAirsdale at Movieline presents seven eerie parallels:
  

  …maybe Delgo’s creators were on to something when they undertook their story of two races battling it out for the soul of a planet, with some wicked fantasy adventure and a tender love story tossed in for good measure. After all, James Cameron seems to have been influenced by some oddly similar visuals and themes…

• Mac Bernardin at Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch has the feeling he’s seen these visuals before, and not just at the movies:
  

  I’m kind of underwhelmed. There’s a definite Attack of the Clones vibe to the creatures — which feel like beasts from the sketchbook of an insanely talented 12-year-old — and the world, while expertly realized, just doesn’t carry the charge of the New. I feel like I’ve seen the same landscape on the side of at least one stoner’s van back when I was in high school (the dude who listened to a whole lot of Rush and Yes and quoted Tolkien to score with theater chicks).

• Rob Bricken at Topless Radio seems to be okay with the trailer but has so many negative points to make about it:
  

  Looks neat. Really. I’m just not blown away. Honestly, I’m not trying to be a huge bitch here, but it’s not more astounding to me than Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was when I first saw that trailer…Actually, there is one real problem I see, and that’s the Na’vi aliens, who look… like they’re from Re:boot or something other CG cartoon from the ’90s. They look preposterously CG and goofy to me.

• Tyler Coates at Man About the Internet addresses the bad copywriting on the website:
  

  I hate it when I see people on Facebook who list “The Titanic” as their favorite movie, and not because it’s a stupid pick (even though it is), but because the title of the film is “Titanic,” not “The Titanic.”

  The copy above the title here blows my mind because it’s both factually and grammatically incorrect, but I think maybe it’s because it’s being marketed to fans of “The Titanic.”

• Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere also comments about the copy, viewed as a serious offense:
  

  The fine fellow who proofed the Apple website copy needs to taken outside, tied to a fence post and Marlon Brando bull-whipped (a la One-Eyed Jacks). As HE reader “maxfm” has pointed out, the top line reads “FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE ‘TITANIC’.” Mind-numbing, unbelievable.

• Michelle Collins at Best Week Ever can’t figure out what the movie is about, but thinks it has something to do with Japan and “f**kin’ dinosaurs” fucking shit up. But here’s the non-plot stuff she got:
  

  The trailer is basically a Jar Jar Binks barf of mish-mashed special effects with a side of Lord of the Rings deleted scenes and more than a pinch of Apocalypto. I’ve watched it three times and still have no idea what the hell this movie is about.

• Krystal Clark at ScreenCrave has posted a poll, and the results show most readers were underwhelmed. Meanwhile, Krystal complains about the logic of the film’s plot:
  

  Avatar takes place in a time where doctors can transport your mind into a false body, but they can’t revitalize the nerves of paraplegics? If Sam Worthington’s character wants to walk, they don’t have the technology to heal him, but they can create an entirely new alien body for him to use instead? But like I said, that’s the plot-picking nerd in me, its all in good fun.

• A similar plot criticism comes from a comment by “torpid bunny” at The Hot Blog:
  

  Also, just to be cranky: they can travel across the galaxy, remotely link a man’s brain to a living body, but they can’t get the guy to walk somehow? He’s confined to a wheelchair?!? Is this really a parable about the lack of affordable health care? (Actually, that movie might be interesting: Yes we can travel to other stars to fight the aliens there. No we can’t pay for you to walk again.)

• Gabe at Videogum is shrugging now but admits he and everyone else will still see the thing:
  

  Obviously, I will see this. You will see this. Your mom will see this. She will call you and say “your father and I are going to see the Aviator.” It will be six weeks after the movie came out when you get that call. But for now I remain non-plussed. NON-PLUSSED!

• Brian Moylan at Defamer hopes disappointment now leads to appreciation later:
  

  Well, we’re glad our expectations have been lowered, so that the 3-D version might still blow us away. Don’t let us down, Cameron. You probably won’t have a chance to make it up to us until your next movie in 2025.

• Katey Rich at Cinema Blend thinks the trailer sucks but assures us the actual movie will be worth it:
  

  the Quicktime format is so limiting, especially for a 3D movie, that the impact of all the CGI wizardry is muted anyway. Already people are complaining that Sam Worthington’s Avatar doesn’t look realistic, that the blue skin looks fake, because they haven’t had enough time to see it move like a human, hear it talk, or see it respond to its world. Having seen it in Hall H, I promise it works. It just needs time to settle in, and just by showing one complete scene at Comic Con, they sold the effect entirely. Cutting together all the random scenes in the trailer just makes you more disoriented.

• Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere also tries to calm his readers down with a similar defense:
  

  The difference between what you’re seeing here on your computer monitors and what Avatar looks like in 3-D is that the CG/animated parts aren’t really “animation” but a much higher and more visually precise synthesis. There’s truly something “extra” about it. The 3-D means a hell of a lot…it really does. You need to see it at one of the special 3D showings on Friday to get what I’m saying.

• Vadim Rizov at The Independent Eye actually thinks this is the way to sell Avatar:
  

  I’d call it a canny, good-looking piece of work; if you’re going to market a 3-D IMAX event movie with a 2-D trailer, this is the way to do it…but the notable thing about the trailer is how CGI-bound it is…when you randomly freeze-frame the HD trailer, everything looks pretty awesome, but there’s no doubt you’re looking at nicely textured CGI creatures.

• Neil Miller at Film School Rejects doesn’t think this is “the next step in the art of cinema,” but he’s in:
  

  …it is awesome. As Sam Worthington’s blue Avatar says in the trailer’s single line of dialog, “this is great.” Based on what we’re seeing in the trailer below, Avatar is a big, awesome and in many ways cartoony film. The scale is grand, the CGI looks pretty spectacular (even when it is a little Smurfy) and I have a feeling that fans will be pleased with what they are seeing, even if it’s in 2D.

• Alex Billington at First Showing is still very excited after seemingly staying up all night pumping his readers up for the thing:
  

  After years and years of waiting and hearing all about the groundbreaking technology that Cameron has been using, we finally get to see what the world on Pandora looks like, and it’s as awe-inspiring and amazing as I’d imagined. Although I’d seen some footage at Comic-Con, this trailer still blew me away, and I can’t wait to see more tomorrow at Avatar Day.