Heroine Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) with hero Jake Sully (Sam Worthington)

Move aside, here come the Avatar kiddies

The runaway success of James Cameron’s sci-fi spectacular, Avatar, is giving rise to a generation of Avatar kids as parents are rushing to name their children after the movie’s characters.

UK’s The Sun newspaper reports that movie fans are rushing to name their babies after characters in the movies. Most popular are Neytiri - after the film's Na'vi warrior-princess - and giant flying creature Toruk.

Another favourite is Pandora, name of the film's fictional planet.

Pandora is tipped as top choice among US fans, with UK parents set to follow.

Avatar was the fastest film ever to take US$1.6 billion at the box office (at press time). Movie streaming site www.blinkbox.com found major hits often spawned a rash of new names.

A spokesman said, "Past the $100 million barrier, the chances of a film's star lending their name to a child increase."

• Note: Avatar was the big winner at the recent Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood’s annual race to the Oscars, which came away awards for best dramatic/action picture and best director for James Cameron.

The Vatican frowns on Avatar

The hype surrounding Avatar obviously did not penetrate the thick walls of the Vatican. Instead the Holy City has attacked the mulit-million blockbuster as "technology without emotion", according to a report in UK’s The Sun newspaper.

The Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the 3D sci fi blockbuster had "Numerous captivating special effects but little true emotion, that is human emotion ... visually there is impact but the plot is stale."

The newspaper also lambasted the "enormous cost" of the film, which reportedly had a budget of over US$300 million, making it the most expensive movie ever made.

The review added that Cameron's film was "bland" and blamed this on the fact he had "concentrated" too much on the special effects of the planet Pandora, "in the end telling a story which is more sentimental then searching" and put it on a par with Dances With Wolves starring Kevin Costner.

It added, "In the end it is just reduced to an anti imperialistic, anti militaristic parable which doesn't have the same cutting bite as other more committed films on the same theme."

Watching 3D movies may be hazardous to your health



Quite a number of spectators who emerged from cinemas after watching Avatar had complained of headaches, dizziness, nausea as well as blurry eyesight.

And this is not uncommon said U.S. eye experts. While new digital 3D technology has made movie-watching a whole new experience it may result in an aching head for some with eye problems.

"There are a lot of people walking around with very minor eye problems, for example a minor muscle imbalance, which under normal circumstances, the brain deals with naturally," said Dr Michael Rosenberg, an ophthalmology professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago in a report on China Daily .

In a 3D movie, these people are confronted with an entirely new sensory experience. "That translates into greater mental effort, making it easier to get a headache,” he said.

Avatar has led to one casualty. According to news report a 42-year-old Taiwanese man, identified as Kuo from the northern city of Hsinchu, with a history of high blood pressure died of a stroke likely triggered by over-excitement from watching the blockbuster.

Kuo felt unwell during the screening and was taken to hospital. A scan showed that his brain was haemorrhaging. He suffered from hypertension and, said the attending doctor, the over-excitement from watching the movie probably triggered his symptoms. He died 11 days later - the first death linked to watching the movie.