james cameron had been developing this movie for quite some time, so for this film to be such a success with all the hype and expectation that had been mounting on it (much of it from cameron himself), it truly is a remarkable story.
everything about this film strives to be epic. the 3D scenes, the great animation, the familar narrative; this film is designed to be a hollywood blockbuster with mass appeal. and the film succeeds mightily on this medium. the large scope of the sci-fi story reminded me of star wars, and i wonder how it will be remembered in the future, when the kids who saw this movie grow older. it's uniqueness with it's greatly controlled use of imax and 3D will cause it to be remembered years from now as a great movie theater experience. blu-ray is also a medium where this film could really thrive.
this film is not without it's flaws. the narrative is very familar (think science fiction version of 'dances with wolves'). the story is rarely unpredictable, as the viewer ultimately has the end result stored in the back of their mind throughout. the dialogue is the weakest portion of this film in my mind. the character's aren't playing people but rather caricatures of their respective positions. the military talks were very crudely modeled after the bush administration (talks of 'preemptive strikes' and 'war on terror'), and i found this took away from the overall story. i do not need james cameron to preach to me about the military or crooked businessmen, and about our mistreatment of the indians.
overall, this film is definitely worth seeing, perhaps for the visuals alone. the world cameron creates in utterly fascinating, and i found that he is such an expert at creating climatic scenes that almost takes one's breath away in awe.
