Good, but not the best

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2010)

Plot: a deja-vu sensation here and there... even with some banalities. Though, since evil is banal, we can take it. The use of different heroic archetypes is well balanced, providing good dramatic turns and updated interpretations for main plot keys. Something better could be expected for the rites of passage, while the scene of destruction of Na'vi home tree is superb, since it conveys the idea of "cultural apocalypse" perfectly. Though, on these issues there are much better movies... I'd say Mononoke Hime by Miyazaki, for example (to me less manicheist and more universal).
Direction: the use of 3D is not gross and neurotic (luckily it is not like Up!, to be clear)... it is used at best in linking scenes than in focal ones, anyway it make sense and it is believable also in important scenes (spectacular or not). To explore further the chances of 3D, I'm expecting Tim Burton's imagery.
Actors: given the fact that they are archetypal, they're quite reliable. I'd expect more by Sigourney Weaver: her character deserved more depth.
Special effects: high rate, obviously. It was a complex and challenging production. I would stress not only the rendering of living beings, but also of machinery. To me, scenes with exoskeletons are technically top. Paradoxically, Na'vi are the less reliable beings. Highly stereotyped, poorly individualized, not really fitting the context (because of motion capture problems?). From a technical point of view, a much less expensive movie, District 9, had far more believable aliens than Avatar. Na'vi seem... fake. I don't know if it is a technical issue, or a kind of self-deceit: do they seem immaterial phantoms (differently from other living beings in the movie) because of the idea of "avatars"? Though, "normal" Na'vi are not avatars!
Set design: deja-vu again, though well mixed, and very reliable also in details (from insects to mud, mould and dust). Na'vi are clearly based on Native Americans - a thing that increases the deja-vu effect: Neitiri / Pocahontas, Jack Sully / Dunbar (Dance with Wolves) or Poe (The Last of the Mohicans)... no better imagery than this very didactic one? Again, Na'vi are too stereotyped both as bodies (no taller or short, no fatter or thinner!) and minds, and so it is their culture - an issue that clashes with core ideas of the movie. As for the environment and creatures: a fascinating mix of amphibian, deep ocean living beings and pseudo-prehistoric reptiles, with a good use of light. The idea of portraying a savage, unsettling, charming and dangerous nature is achieved.
All-in-all: enjoyable (better than expected), but too many stereotypes to be a real masterpiece.