Visually stunning, but overall, not so great

Rating: 5/10 (16 April 2011)

When this film was first advertised on TV, I saw clips from it and decided that this looked like a promising movie. It then went on to make a record breaking box office total, and a friend of mine said it was amazing. I became excited for this film. Then, others told me that it was overrated. It was just a ripoff of Pocahontas that was shielded by brilliant graphics. I didn't let that opinion get to me though; I still kept an open mind.
Eventually, when I got the DVD, I began to watch it excitedly. It started off strongly; the storyline held promise, and the special effects were amazing. Then, I got to the forest scene, and the graphics were nothing sort of gorgeous. The world of Pandora was definitely one that I wanted to touch. I wanted to be there. It was unfortunate at this very moment that an advancement in the storyline ruined this sense of wonder about the movie. The moment when the elder aboriginal leader said, "Alright, you will learn our ways", and the title characters started to spend time together, I right away predicted where the story was going. This was the moment that ruined the movie for me. It fell into a cliché trap. At this point, I lost full interest in seeing the rest of the film, and I did not bother finishing it.
A film can look visually stunning, but in the end, what counts is the storyline. If your plot isn't strong, then the film will not work. No matter how good the film looks, visuals can never make up for a weak script.
I'll sum up by saying that this film was, in my opinion, overrated. It held so much promise for me, but all that died.