If only Confucius had been blue, three metres tall and with a swishy tail, Chinese cinemagoers might have been more interested. Unfortunately, China's most revered philosopher – or at least his officially approved film version – is more grey than blue, his bushy beard and ambiguous aphorisms little match for the giant-bird-riding humanoids of James Cameron's film.

The high-tech, 3D Avatar has been such a hit and the plodding Confucius such a flop that China's film bureau has quietly dropped its unpopular decision to restrict showings of the US blockbuster to make way for the homegrown epic. Schoolchildren are now being bused in to watch Confucius to make up the numbers. But even the all-powerful Communist party cannot ensure they stay awake.

The critics and the online chatrooms – where Avatar has been generally lauded and Confucius lambasted – have also rebelled. Far from buying into efforts to polish Confucianism's credentials, many critics have rejected the film and questioned the validity of a two-and-a-half-millennia-old philosophy to modern-day society. Columnist Zhang Xi takes a bold line in China Daily, normally an official mouthpiece of the government,arguing that “Confucianism was generated to serve feudal rulers”. Ridiculing a local government campaign to worship Confucius, the writer adds that Confucianism has been used to “shackle people's thoughts” and render them docile.