So, now that it's on the home video market...

Rating: 9/10 (26 June 2010)

...I'll burn a few words on James "I'm king of the world" Cameron's latest epic sfx extravaganza. I'll not bother the reader with a recitation of the formulaic plot (which has been parsed to death here on the IMDb and elsewhere) and stereotypical characters (all of which conform to standard Campbellian norms), but rather will expound a bit on a comparison of the 3D theatrical and the 2D home video experiences.
Simply put, "Avatar" is a big-screen 3D event; the 2D home version, though beautiful, in no way matches the theatrical experience. My observation is that reducing the size of the image and flattening it only emphasizes the CGI, turning "Avatar" into more of an animated feature than it already is. The work is still pretty much seamless, and extremely effective, but there's something about the diminishment of the screen and the loss of depth that brings out the artificial nature of the visuals, particularly in some of the movements of the Na'vi (which looked absolutely fine on the big screen, btw). I've noticed this effect before in a number of CGI-fests, including Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong" and his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Even Mauro "The Kingdom" Fiore's fluid DP work and Cameron, etal's editing can't completely conceal the artifice underpinning the sumptuous, downright brilliant art and production design (shades of Roger Dean, for certain). "Avatar" absolutely depends on 3D presentation to adequately disguise the current limitations of CGI.
Beyond that, it's a fine popcorn movie with absolutely no surprises beyond the visual. I admire Cameron for having done it; now please do something with a little more substance to it, ala "The Abyss."
3/1/11 edit: Caught up to the 3-disc DVD presentation with the various deleted scenes (most of which were extraneous and excised for good reason), as well as a fascinating "making-of" documentary which I highly recommend. I'm actually looking forward to Cameron's 3D retrofitting of "Titanic" now. I love watching that ship sink.
2.27.13 edit: Finally caught this on 3D HDTV and was impressed. The 3D was excellent, reaffirming its value opposed to 2D presentation.