I like the less obvious explanation: Eywah (the world mind) is the sentient species on the planet - about three or four generations ago, when Eywah realized humans were on their way, and having watched our television all along, she took some of those blue lemurs, and made herself some bait.
Why do the Na'vi look so human? Nostrils in their heads instead of their chests? Only four limbs? Apes are 94% human - but the fully alien Na'vi are sexy. Why? Because they were made for us.
Why do all the animals on the planet only kick the humans out at the end of the movie? Because Eywah now has what she wanted all along: one set of human scientist memories, and one fully-stocked base. Now she can start to trade on her own terms.
While this movie has been knocked as an example of the What these People Need is a Honky trope, I think that's just the surface, the bait. Eywah gets human memes all too well. She knew some handsome young human would fall for her all-too-beautiful native women; it's in all our movies. So she made a nice, attractive native people who fly on dragons and let, well, nature take its course.
She was probably confused as hell that we were all so short, though. That, and Star Trek had led her to believe all atmospheres are the same.
Why do the Na'vi look so human? Nostrils in their heads instead of their chests? Only four limbs? Apes are 94% human - but the fully alien Na'vi are sexy. Why? Because they were made for us.
Why do all the animals on the planet only kick the humans out at the end of the movie? Because Eywah now has what she wanted all along: one set of human scientist memories, and one fully-stocked base. Now she can start to trade on her own terms.
While this movie has been knocked as an example of the What these People Need is a Honky trope, I think that's just the surface, the bait. Eywah gets human memes all too well. She knew some handsome young human would fall for her all-too-beautiful native women; it's in all our movies. So she made a nice, attractive native people who fly on dragons and let, well, nature take its course.
She was probably confused as hell that we were all so short, though. That, and Star Trek had led her to believe all atmospheres are the same.