Absolutely worth seeing, despite slightly ropey story.

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2009)

It is very difficult to start a review of this film without mentioning the obvious greatest thing about it. Graphically, stylistically, and technically, I am struggling to find a single flaw. It has without doubt been made with unusual care, and rigorous attention to the most minute of details.
It uses the very best we have so far in terms of 3D technology in the film, and breaks new ground in the way that 3D work interacts with the audience. Yes, I saw it with the little glasses, and it was all the better for it - 3D has indeed come a long way since the red and green filters idea.
The film did achieve another big winning goal in that I did emotionally connect to it on at least one occasion, though I was only moved to tears by the sheer level of breathtaking beauty in it, and not by any scenes of great emotional character turmoil. Those are there, and are not done badly, or acted dishonestly, but they lack 'something' which will probably come to me when my head has stopped spinning from the glorious visuals. I will say nothing more about the look of it - me and a few thousand others have already got that covered. Oh no - one more thing. This is the second film to (almost) truly nail CGI facial expressions. LOTR and Gollum was pretty damn good, and this is comparable, though not necessarily better. OK, perhaps fractionally better.
Heads and thumbs up to Richard Taylor and crew for design work to rival Lord of the Rings - creatures and machines are particularly well executed and have an extra sense of credulity to them because they are both based on evolution of one kind or another. Likewise, in another area - the various spiritual beliefs of the na'vi are backed up (albeit rather cursorily) by at least a reference to 'scientific verification', so not just the total mystical sh1t we so often see.
So it all comes down to the story, and whether you like it or not. I don't think I did, on the whole, because I really despise the way that humans just dive in to anything new they encounter and try and exploit it, and this film does make you think about that quite a lot. I hated the American 'gung-ho' self-righteous thing, as usual, but was impressed that Cameron dealt with it as well as he did - it certainly wasn't played up to nauseating levels, as it sometimes can be, and the later part of the storyline gets better in that respect, as the tale unfolds...
I suspect the storyline we see has more to do with making sure all the 'winning movie' standard bases were covered, than being led entirely by itself. I would have liked to have seen a more imaginative way of getting action in there than what they did (principally a massive battle scene or 3), but can equally see why they made the choices they did.
All in all, it's epically lovely, and you should go and see it. It was certainly one of the most entertaining and jaw-dropping films I have ever seen. Well done Mr Cameron and friends...