An outstanding piece of entertainment.

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2010)

First I would like to state that this is my actual opinion. I am not putting in an extreme to try to balance off everybody else as seems so prevalent in these reviews. I put my money where my pen is so to speak. So first I will provide evidence that this is my actual opinion: My wife and I VERY seldom watch TV, but we do watch 3-4 movies/week. So although we do have a life outside of watching movies, we have literally watched thousands of movies. I have a sizable investment in home theater gear, so we do not feel compelled to go to the theater very often (a couple times a year). When we do, we are normally content to wait until the DVD is released to see the movie again (if ever). Prior to this, there was only one movie I had EVER seen more than once in the theater. That movie was Star Wars and although many of my contemporaries saw it 11 or more times, I was content to see it twice in the theater. Tomorrow, we are going to see this movie the third time in 3-D (I won't see it in 2-D because I can do that over and over again in my home when the DVD comes out.) and I am not ruling out seeing it yet again before it is pulled from the theaters. This shows a landmark change in my viewing patterns and I believe that I can be believed that I am rating it a 10 because I feel it is a landmark movie rather than trying to have an inordinate sway on the overall ratings.
The movie was visually stunning, quick paced and quite a bit of fun to watch. It was a superb MOVIE.
There are quite a bit of other reviews summarizing the plot and key points, so I will address some of the negative points.
Many have said that the plot was very simple. While this is true, science fiction and fantasy have a hard time adapting to the screen if they have an overcomplicated plot. The reason is that much of the movie time is used to explain the framework. This could be technology or magic or whatever variables make up this fantastic world. The alternative is to have a movie that cannot stand on its own. "Dune" and "Battlefield Earth" were both excellent books with too much plot to make a good movie. Simple plots with well developed frameworks tend to make the best sci-fi/fantasy movies such as "The Thirteenth Floor", "Soylent Green" and "Clockwork Orange". Even "Star Wars" is very simple if evaluated only by its premiere movie. It is only after several movies that a more complicated fabric emerges. That is why stable "Universes" such as "Star Trek" are common. Once the framework has been developed, then relatively short stories can be more complicated since the framework doesn't have to be explained over again.
There have been several objections to the use of "unobtainium" as a ludicrous name for a material. "Unobtainium" is not new to this movie. It is a common engineering/fictional concept that has been around at least since the 1950s (see the Wikipedia article). It even has its own symbol (Uo). It is funny. Get over it.
There have also been several objections to the faculty that the aliens have with the English language. Excessive use of subtitles would detract from the movie far more than frequent usage of a non-existent language would.
There have been objections that the movie is predictable. OK, it isn't a who-done-it, and being unpredictable is not required for a show to be good. I absolutely love the BBC "The Blue Planet" series, and all of the fish behave exactly the way I would expect them to.
My advice is if you want cerebral sci-fi/fantasy with exotic locations and complex plot lines, read a book. If you want a wonderful trip into an exotic land watch this movie. I think it is beyond compare and the box office seems to indicate that I am not alone.