Guillermo Del Toro Calls All Avatar Films “Masterpieces” — Here’s Why

Did you know that James Cameron and Guillermo Del Toro were roommates in the 90s? I learned that this week, and it actually feels like such a hilarious idea that these two filmmakers with vastly different approaches once shared a domicile together.

That kind of collaboration and friendship, I think, broadens our understanding of the world and can only make us better filmmakers.

Plus, it builds trust between people that you know you can go to for notes, get advice, and show early cuts of your work.

So when Guillermo Del Toro raves about the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, we listen.

Let's dive in.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Guillermo Del Toro Wants To Go To Pandora

Del Toro was recently a guest on the French YouTube show, Konbini, where they have you pick out movies and talk about what they mean to you, in a very Criterion Closet way.

During that conversation, he brought up Cameron and his love for the Avatar films.

He said:

I"’ve seen the three Avatars. They are absolute masterpieces. I know where it’s going and I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people […] I can’t say anything about [the third] but I can say there are very few Americans that have created an entire mythology. You have [George] Lucas. You have the entire ‘Wizard of Oz’ mythology with Frank Baum. Jim is creating that with ‘Avatar’ and he’s going to take you places."

This is high praise for those movies, but I think it is much deserved. Del Toro is a filmmaker who has always appreciated the power of myth. He understands that Cameron is doing this deep worldbuilding and expansion of a universe.

Del Toro has played with characters and deep worlds before, and for a guy who loves digging into legends and monsters, it's cool to hear Del Toro compare these movies to such huge ideas like Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz.

What I think made the previous Avatar movies work so well is that Cameron had no fear in telling different stories about different people on Pandora. And tackling side characters and other issues.

This fearless expansion comes at a risk of flubbing the story or alienating audiences, so it's great to hear Del Toro not just praise the upcoming movie, but call all three masterpieces.

The lessons here for filmmakers are to make friends who can be trusted and then support them whenever they need it. I am sure people called Cameron crazy at one point or another for these movies, and that Del Toro was there for him during the process.

While these two are obviously friends, those words are so strong that they only make me even more excited to spend a night at the movies with the new Avatar.

And it makes me excited to see where Cameron takes the movies in the future.

Avatar: Fire & Ash is slated for a December 19, 2025, release.

Let me know what you think of this in the comments.