It's all about the visuals

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2009)

The visuals are worth a rating of 10+. Unfortunately, the plot and dialog are recycled from other movies to the extent that you get mad at Cameron for putting so little effort into that aspect of Avatar.
Avatar is a mix of Dances with Wolves, Aliens, and Jurassic Park. Of the three, Avatar reminded me most of Jurassic Park, in that it took CGI to a whole new level. I really hate how CGI is overused in movies, but I loved the way it was used in this one. Some of the close-ups of Na'vi faces genuinely looked like real actors wearing makeup, rather than being computer-generated.
Over the last 5 or so years, this movie comes closest to actually living up to the pre-release hype. The movie trailers didn't do it justice. Avatar isn't in my top-5 movie list, but it's probably in my top-10 list.