Visually breathtaking and immensely creative.

Rating: 8/10 (12 March 2018)

We all know that the story of Avatar is replaceable and has been dealt with in Hollywood for decades before (-> Dances With Wolves). But honestly, if you watch Avatar and only care about the story, you're kind of missing the whole point of the movie.
Pandora, along with Middle Earth, is one of the most immersive worlds that have been brought to cinema screens in the 21st century. I would argue that Middle Earth is holding the number one spot here, but keep in mind that LOTR's world existed before in books whereas Pandora was built from scratch for the movie. To develop the appearance of the Na'vi species, the other creatures and animals, that is a big achievement. The terrain and environment is just beautiful to look at.
At the end of the day, Avatar's visual experience can hardly even be compared to anything that came before or afterwards in movies. Even in 2018, the immensely detailed particle effects when the wind of turning rotor blades rushes through the vegetation just blows my mind.
And even though 3D wasn't really a lasting success, that is what made Avatar unforgettable. People watched it because of the 3D effects (I still think that this is why it has become the highest-grossing movie) and in no other movie was it so fitting.
Ultimately, Avatar is one of the best blockbuster movies of all time, period.
The story, well, is not too bright but not too important either. The visuals kind of made me forget about the story because I was too busy being fascninated by Pandora itself.
I felt thoroughly entertained.