Avatar takes a relatively simple plot, fleshes it out with extra sub-plots that don't feel at all out of place, plops it on an utterly alien world, wraps it up in an amazing shell, and lasts for a perfect 160 minutes.

More simply, one of the best Environment Vs. Technology movies ever.

Genre-wise, it's more science fantasy than straight-up Sci-fi, I think.

I, personally, wholeheartedly recommend it.

E: If I wasn't clear enough, tell me. I do that a lot. ><

Yeah, I find myself agreeing with you, Necro.

The only part about Avatar that I thought was amazing was the imagery, which was enhanced by the newly-released 'real 3D' style of movie and IMAX capabilities. Their animation, as well, was well done.

But the plot left me wanting more. Sure, most movie plots are pretty pathetic--usually only the combination of one or two archetypes to create what they want--and this one was a step above that (but only a step). Maybe four or five different regularly-used plot combinations instead of one or two, but it was still recycled and pushed an agenda. That part set me off.

It was a fantastic movie to see if you're watching to be immersed in science fiction, but not if you wanted something deep and new to experience in the plot.

That's my opinion.

It's worth seeing.

CGI is amazing and the plot, while not very original, is told pretty well.

It's James Cameron.

Sure, he directed Aliens. But then...TITANIC

OH GOD THE PAINFUL MEMORIES OF THAT HORRIBLE AWFUL MOVIE

It's James Cameron.

 

Sure, he directed Aliens. But then...TITANIC

 

 

 

 

OH GOD THE PAINFUL MEMORIES OF THAT HORRIBLE AWFUL MOVIE

And The Terminator series. Can't forget Terminator.

Go and see this movie. It deserves to be seen on the big screen.

It deserves it. It took YEARS to make, The amount of pure effort put into every little animal and plant by teams of exhausted animators and designers deserves to be respected.

I really enjoyed the movie itself, the detail brought into the imagery is pretty incredible on its own. The fact that when you seen an overview of Pandora you see their native birds, rather than in some movies where you'll see a flock of pigeons fluttering in the sky. I think that they did a pretty good job at making the actual society of the Natives realistic, like, it made sense and wasn't just a bunch of upchucked garbage thrown together to force something to be. The plot itself is a little dull, being a rather generic "Side one finds side two, side two has something side one wants and side one has a short temper," sort of plot going on. But what I like about the story of the movie, isn't so much the overall plot, as it is the characters who are thrust into the plot.

The characters probably made the movie for me, if they were poorly done and poorly acted out, I'd have probably have been disappointed. However, you have an array of colorful figures on the side of the human military/science departments (Or whatever departments are there, it's not the whole government deciding in front of everyone's eyes to attack, or be violent, so much as it's the commanding officer in charge of overseeing the whole thing.) I just think that the array of characters brought into the actual movie fit -- not everyone things one dimensionally, one sidedly, no character just mindlessly is. The characters all have reasons, motivations, personalities, ideals, and what they want and their morals.

To me, I also liked how one side wasn't simply marked "These are the bad guys. These are the good guys." As when you think about it, everyone in those situations acted realistically. If a huge power found a smaller power that held something worth a heckuva lot of money to them, they'd negotiate at first (Which was attempted in the movie, somewhat) and if turned down -- they'd attack, force the people away and take what they want. It's not so much as an evil inclination as much as it's simply nature. You also see how each side views the other -- humans looking at the N'avi people as more savage, primitive, violent and a hazard. While you see how the N'avi view the humans as invaders, destroyers of what they hold.

Basically, depending on how the viewer views and thinks, they could side with either one of the two. I just liked that aspect of it a bit, as there's too many "Evil" sides that simply do things to make themselves look bad to the viewer, same for the "Good" guys all the time. It just holds a balance for both ends, providing a bit more of a gray-area than simple white and black.

So for me, the joy of the movie wasn't the plot. It was partly the visuals, and mostly the characters and how everything was executed and built up. They did a pretty good job when it came to that, and to me, screw large complex over complicated plots. This was fine, and it worked here.