These guys are really paranoid, and they're always quick to play the victim. Check out that Simpsons 20th anniversary doc from last night. William Donohue is perhaps the most humorless prig in the world today. These people need to masturbate more, and I say that as a "recovering" Catholic.

The Vatican also says that if we allow "gay marriage" that everyone will get "gay married" and stop having children. So…yeah, the old men who dress in women's clothes and rape little boys and girls aren't that smart.

Funny thing: The Vatican is absolutely right about Avatar. It IS sentimental hokum, and bland. Spiritual criticism aside, this quote form the article is dead on: "there is plenty of stupefying, enchanting technology, but few genuine human emotions."

"These people need to masturbate more, and I say that as a "recovering" Catholic."

That only applies if you're the sheep not the shepards.

Catholic priests are the most sexed out people in the world, they marry a fictional fantasy man then fuck kids, men and prostistutes while getting fucked out of their heads on drink, and that's FACT.

Colonel:

Yep. Seeing Donohue talk on the Simpsons 20th anniversary doc was just embarrassing. He was acting like all that The Simpsons does is ridicule religion, when there's literally not a thing in culture that the show hasn't had some fun with. Then again, people that play the victimization card tend to be selective and blind. Donohue is just uptight and humorless, as if he exists to suck the fun out of anything that even remotely challenges his worldview.

It is ironic that the Vatican is calling Avatar too "sentimental", though.

You know, the Vatican, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of film, also went out of their way to praise Ordet, The Bicycle Thief, On the Waterfront, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Citizen Kane, 8 1/2, Grand Illusion, La Strada, Metropolis, Modern Times, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

They're pretty willing to recognize great film, even if it flies in the face of their values (Bergman was, of course, deeply critical of Christianity, and 8 1/2 pretty openly flies in the face of the Catholic Church).

http://www.usccb.org/movies/vaticanfilms.shtml

No, I'm afraid that AVATAR simply isn't a very good movie, and they're right in saying, "there is plenty of stupefying, enchanting technology, but few genuine human emotions." And this continued, near-violent screed AVATAR fans take against anyone who dares criticize it is beyond tired.

Though I would rather eat a shit sandwich than agree with the Vatican, I will say I agree with their claim that the movie is bland. None of the characters are memorable, and if it weren't for toys and 711 promotions, in ten years no one would be able to pick the hero or the villain out of a crowd.

There are now Na'vi Real Dolls. Really! I wonder if they are proportionally correct?

I love slow news days!

Sigh, slow news day my ass. This is marketing. I've noticed a trend in the past ten years or so where movie marketers go out of their way to find religious folks to disagree with them and then "lament" how horribly they're being treated and how bave their work is. This give the press has more to say about the movie and you draw in the anti-catholic/anti-religious folks that smugly think they're standing for something, when in reality all they're doing is falling for anything.

I remember hearing news reports about how masses of church folks were up in arms about Brokeback Mountain, protesting, boycotting, threatening, etc. Yet you never actually saw them find the protests. Closest I saw was an NPR report on how the religious school that one of the actresses attended didn't want to discuss with reporters how the actress attended the school. Ooooh! See? Scary extremists!

Then there was the reports about people protesting the supposed tomb of Jesus and his family. Coincidentally enough the reports came out just in time for viewers to set their tivos to catch the show. I remember Devin talking about scary religious folks were up in arms about this show coming out, and who knows where that could lead… I never remember seeing any reports on any actual protesters. I think some folks said that they didn't think it was THE Jesus and that the show was garbage… Ooooh! Scary.

And now Avatar that is coming to the end of its peak is suddenly being objected to by that damn pope guy.

Yeah, these silly gullible religious people, always unquestioningly falling for manipulation.

Best. Concept. Art. EVER.

How dumb do you have to be to think that the Vatican dislikes spirituality in nature? This a religion that thinks God CREATED nature. It's also the only state that has gone carbon neutral. But hey, no one ever accused those prejudiced against the Catholic Church of letting something like the "facts" get in the way of a good hate orgy. And if it's such a worthless story, why take the time to single it out and write your own story on it? Maybe because you're just as concerned about the Vatican as everyone else? (Although none of this changes the fact that yes, Bill Donohue is an idiot – but he's not "the Vatican.")

Why do people pick on the story so much? Is their guilty conscience bothering them and they must find fault and thereby not accept the revolutionary point of the whole movie? I loved braveheart as well as this movie, the classic David vs. Goliath story never gets old to me. Does anyone really know how much power the Vatican has over governments world-wide? I can only shudder to think…..guarantee the real reason they don't like this movie is because it hits too close to home.

the story is bland boring and done to death. Not original in any way, did nothing new with Pocahontas story BORING BLAND PREDICABLE WASTE DUMB TOO LONG EMPTY VAPID CHEESY

I don't ever remember seeing The Simpsons going after Scientology Matt (Comment #5) for obvious reasons …

The Vatican are critics now ???…Those of us that truly enjoyed the movie, confess that we find the Vatican a bore, sentimental hokum, and bland!

The movie is out less than a month and the Vatican has a negative comment already…where were the quick responses on such world issues as The Holocaust, Slavery, Apartheid, Genocide in Sudan, etc. I wouldn't listen to a goddam thing those robe wearing pediofiles have to say.

Now does the vatican speak for all of us or just the far right?

avatar was a pretty good movie, it was like space age pocahontas minus the singing theatricals, it gives the idea of how we tend to think how our way of doing things is the only way…anyways, the vatican was really harsh on this movie, it was not bland, just not very origional, but tell that to the 1billion dollars it made. who said it lacked human emotions? it made so many poeple cry! i'm christian but alot of things the vatican have agaisnt i do not support, i support gay marriage, but im not bi or homosexual, i like avatar, but i'm no hard core tree hugger…jeez…and its just a movie!

What was the Vatican saying about "simplistic and sappy" when Spanish conquistadors were sending gold from South America back to Spain? How much of that went to the Church? If AVATAR is looked upon as an allegory for the last 500 years of Earth history then how much of that bloody history can be lain at the feet of the Catholic Church?

Three things

1) By slamming Avatar, the CC guaranteed more people to go out to watch it out of curiosity. Look at Da Vinci Code.

2) The Church should put its attention to more important stuff like world wide hunger, war and social injustice NOT in stupid fictional stories like AVATAR or HARRY POTTER.

3) Why do I have the feeling that those commenters who slammed Avatar were Catholics?