Fantastic CGI, Loads of Cheese!

Rating: 3/10 (20 December 2009)

10 out of 10 for Visual Effects but 3 out of 10 for everything else.
8.9? Seriously? Is this movie really THAT good? I saw Avatar yesterday in Cannes and I was lucky to have free tickets or I would have felt robbed after wards.
Don't get me wrong. The visual effects are really well done, impressive and beautiful. Even amazing at some points. It was in fact the first movie where I felt like the 3D actually added something of value.
But what happened to the rest of the stuff that makes up a good movie? Things like innovative script, believable drama, interesting non- stereotypic characters, the surprise of the unexpected happening and just a wee bit of logic (at least just a little, sometimes). This piece of junk didn't even have humor, which is usually a good last resort if all other of the above fails.
Apart from the visual effects, Avatar was the biggest load of stinking cheese i have consumed since I-don't-know-when (and I live in the land of stinking cheese). It seems to blindly follow all and every classic Hollywood guide line for making movies, no exceptions. It made me wonder if the script was generated by algorithm.
After the first 30 minutes, when the slightly interesting setting is understood, it becomes so painfully predictive and cheesy that I strongly believe that I would have enjoyed it more without any voice audio at all. And, yes, I was watching it with original voices (not French).
If the combat scenes were to be removed it would make a wonderful little children's movie, for 6 to 13 year olds. They should seriously consider doing that.
If you like ultra cheesy movies OR like CGI tech (like me) and believe you can survive a flood of cheese (unlike me) for the sake of CGI, go see it now! It will be totally pointless to watch on Bluray at home.
Otherwise, you can definitively spend your money more wisely this Christmas.