A must SEE

Rating: 9/10 (27 July 2010)

Note: I am legally blind and cannot see 3-D, if you want to read about the 3-D aspects of this film you need to look elsewhere as I will not be commenting on them.
At the time of this writing there are 2566 reviews of this movie and it is the highest grossing movie of all time or somesuch so I'm actually a little intimidated by attempting to write a review of this one, but I'm going to write it anyway.
First things first, if your opinion of this movie involves the words "Animal sex/rape", please don't read this review, you are dismissed. If you haven't seen Avatar but you think Watchmen was about a "blue penis", you are similarly DISMISSED
Now that we have separated the wheat from the chaff we can actually discuss the merits of this film.
Let's start with the obvious, this movie is visually stunning but that's not a surprise. I think that this movie succeeds where a lot, nay MOST SF fails in that it creates a world that is truly alien while also being comprehensible. The visual effects needed to pull this off sometimes reach the point of overstimulation but that's OK. I say that's OK because if some filmmaker on another planet imagined Earth people on that planet might complain of overstimulation because our planet is a beautiful and diverse place.
Now the plot... what to say about the plot... Well, the plot is as basic as they come. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, when you create a world that's so alien you don't want to make the plot incomprehensible as well or the audience will leave - This was/is the problem with Futurama sometimes. Second, the plot is simple because it is a rehash of many other story ideas (see below) and most of those people knew how to tell a story. Third, the plot really only exists to embed his environmental message into the story. I'm not personally bothered by that.
Now I mentioned that there were a lot of rehashed ideas in this movie. It's true. Understand however that at this point in movie history (what with post-modernism being the currency of storytelling and all) MOST movies have a lot of rehashed ideas so I'm not insulting the movie on those grounds.
Some of the rehashed ideas are obvious: Without even trying one can see Dances With Wolves, The Emerald Forest, The End of the Spear, Silent Running and Dune. Less obvious ones include The Matrix, LotR, Jurassic Park and one that struck me out of nowhere: Apocalypse Now. That one actually requires explanation. The scene where Quaritch is drinking his coffee while bombing the indigenous people reminds me strongly of Kilgore.
This brings me to something I found interesting. I usually am the type who loves the big battles in a movie like Avatar. I love giant robots too, you could put a giant robot in a Sandra Bullock movie and I'd have to check that one out. In this case though, my favorite part of this film is act one where Jake is learning the ways of the Na'vi. I was actually rather disappointed when the fighting started. Disappointed and sad.. just sad. What can I say? Cameron's message worked on me.
So is this a good movie? Does it deserve to be #1? Well when I was young I saw Star Wars and as a result I found movies like The Hidden Fortress and The Seven Samurai. I hope that kids seeing this film go back and watch movies like The Emeral Forest. If even 1% of the viewers of this movie are as touched by it as I was by Star Wars, it's all worth it.
So, this film is awesome looking, its preachy message is a good one and there are giant robots and stuff. If you can see 3D I imagine this movie is THAT much better. I think the film is #1 because it deserves to be.
Oh, one more thing, the first time you see this one you may be tired out from the overstimulation mentioned earlier, most of the people I know liked it more the second time because they are not as overwhelmed, just a tip.
9/10