Technically beautiful; story lacking

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2010)

After gathering my thoughts, I will preface this by saying this is a difficult film to review. Specifically, while there were some things I liked about the movie, there are other things I found off-putting.
First, let's highlight the strengths. Technically, this was a beautiful film to watch. To get a good experience, I would definitely recommend this in 3D rather than 2D. The imagination put into the world, coupled with the computer imagery, are definitely gripping. The development of the alien species and planet of Pandora was also very remarkable, from language to culture. The special effects are definitely a step towards making computer imagery more lifelike than ever (however, I will stop short of saying "like nothing you'll ever see...more later). Second, Sam Worthington is the anchor of this movie; very charismatic, but does punctuate his performance with some subtleties that make him more human than others. Third, the sci-fi technology is believable, in the vein of the 2 "Alien" movies.
That being said, let's hit the weaknesses. First and foremost, the story was almost a complete rip of "Dances with Wolves", except in space. Very off-putting, as I think for the time and effort that was put into the film and development of the aliens, I was expecting something more original. Come to think of it, it reminded me of another popcorn movie, Independence Day, but took itself more seriously. Special effects are nice, but if a story is lacking, it can make the experience tedious. Second, when considering the other performances apart from Worthington's (and I include alien ones), they were relatively flat or overacted. Even poor Sigourney Weaver, an actress I really like on the whole, was underutilised in her role. Third, I previously stressed that the movie had to be seen in 3D; I say this because prior to going into this film, I had seen previews, and was not very convinced of the ground-breaking effects. The 3D experience definitely enhances the viewing experience (though I wouldn't say it's a roller-coaster ride), but I could easily say if I had seen it in 2D, my review may have been lower. Finally, like I previously said, the effects were a step above computer imagery as we have seen it. But would I say it had the same gripping experience of first seeing "Star Wars", or the T-1000 of "Terminator 2", or even the computer generated scenery of "Phantom Menace" (which I gave a similar rating for based on story)? Definitely not.
In conclusion, I would still recommend watching the movie, with some conditions. First, it must be seen in 3D (IMAX if possible); 2D would only spoil the experience (would definiely not rent it until 3D TV comes out). Second, story expectations should be low (like going to see an IMAX museum film--go for the scenery, discard the story). In the end, it reminded me of my experience listening to Sgt. Pepper; I appreciate the historical technical advances it made, and even like parts of the album, but would still put other albums well above it from a satisfaction standpoint.