While lots of plot is "recycled" it is a a MUST SEE (Once)

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2010)

Words can't do justice to the shear quality of the visuals in this movie - 3D or no 3D. On a well calibrated large screen HDTV in 1080p literally every frame is jaw dropping in both quality and imagination, every second the audio is truly immersive and razor sharp.
If you want to show off you shiny Home Theater to friends and family then I can't think of many other movies that are in contention.
Sure, there are large amounts of schlock in the plot, but check your cynicism at the door and enjoy one of the most perfectly blended pieces of CGI & live action created.
The advances in technology that have moved "state of the art" CGI from those in Jurassic Park to Peter Jackson's LoTR Trilogy and now Avatar I'm looking forwards to what's coming next.
Jurassic Park showed that CGI can be convincing (But looks dated these days), Jackson and WETA Digital showed that CGI can be used on a MASSIVE scale and deliver convincing results, and Cameron has proved that you can easily become so immersed in the visuals that you forget that you haven't seen anything "Real" for many scenes.
Mr Lucas needs to take notes because there's literally no contest between his "ground breaking" CGI work on the remastered Star Wars Tilogy (and the best ignored prequels) and Cameron's "State of the art" Avatar.
Now if only the plot and characterizations were better, and "Unobtanium" left as an unnamed element it would warrant a rare 10/10; despite being at it's heart a mediocre rehash.