Lame, predictable and not a "new" idea in 2.5 hours

Rating: 1/10 (5 January 2010)

Wow, what a loud headache. And at premium ticket prices!
Short Version: "Avatar" is a screeching, day-glo mess.
Long Version: Where the heck to start??
The animated light-blue cat people and their cluttered, color-coordinated environment just doesn't work. Looks like a crazy expensive X-Box game. And nothing, but nothing, is more boring than watching someone else play a video game.
The 3-D effects work best when they're subtle. Otherwise boring, static shots of people standing in the foreground or technical displays look really wild with a depth of field. But all the hugemongous "money shots" actually appear pretty flat! The floating islands and all the sweeping establishing shots look like 2-D! Might be why so much of the action was framed in medium shots -- worked better for the 3-D (but at the cost of understanding what the heck was occurring).
Then there's the script. Or lack of script. The cherry atop the middling CGI and so-so 3-D is a completely unoriginal story derived from (but in no way limited to) the following source material:
"Pocahontas;" "A Princess Of Mars;" "Aliens;" "The Matrix;" "Dances With Wolves;" "Star Gate;" "True Lies;" "The Matrix Revolutions;" "Return Of The Jedi;" "Revenge Of The Sith"
There isn't an original idea in the entire film. You've seen it all before, and done mostly better, in other films. Cameron even swiped from himself, extensively!
I think we're supposed to oooh and aaah at Cameron's "grand visualization" of a "totally alien" civilization and ecosystem. We're supposed to marvel at the power of Cameron's imagination? Unfortunately, I saw more plagiarism than imagination at work. Plus all the warmed-over concepts are hung upon the framework of an amazingly lazy, formulaic plot.
Give someone enough rope and they'll hang themselves, right? Well, CGI film technology makes for pretty a good noose. George Lucas fell into the same trap -- thanks to CGI he ended up doing everything he was always accused of doing. Now so has Cameron.
"Avatar" is not "next-level" cinema by any means. Creatively it's many steps backwards. Except for the exhibitors...they're able to charge an extra $5 or so per person. Cha-ching.