Very Entertaining, 3d the way it should always be done.

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2009)

I liked the movie on some things, on others i thought it was bad.
It's got by far the best Stereo 3d I've seen.
Very seamless, but at the same time really immersive, more so than any other S3d movie yet.
The story isn't terrible, but it's not something i'd call original or Oscar material, specially when it gets preachy about how the earth is "destroyed" by humans because of industrialization... Humans are a terrible species according to the movie.
Also, it's sort of "spiritual", which i'm not a huge fan of either, but at least they manage to make it not so absurd, in the sense that there's nothing supernatural going on, so this gets barely saved in my eyes by that. (huge emphasis on barely, because you can't help to think it's an analogy to religion even if they say it's not)
And i guess it goes with out saying that the action could've been more violent... they're supposed to be showing you grueling battles, but it's a little too mild doing so. (PG-13...) Not to take anything away from how good it still manages to look even with that handicap when there's action going on.
Those are the main complains i have, specially the whole anti modern life style message they get across more than once. Now, when it comes to the movie itself, the 3d (not just the S3d, but the 3d renderings) are so amazing, that you forget you're watching a 100% fake world more often than not, I'm VERY impressed by it, by the time he makes a sequel he can probably get rid of actors altogether and have a 100% believable cast, since he already pulled it off for the environment and the Aliens, it just looks Natural, or at least as natural as it can look considering it's an alien world that looks different from ours in the first place.
So, it's an amazing movie WHILE you're watching it, there really isn't a dull moment, or a time when you're not swept of your feet of how awesome it looks and how much fun you're having, and the story keeps you entertained trough out the whole movie, it's only when it gets preachy that you think to yourself "OK... we GET it, humans are horrible according to you, lets move on" It's only after the movie ends that you'll reflect on the fact that while it's an incredible piece of entertainment, the story is nothing to write home about. That said, while you're watching it you're very entertained leaving you wanting for more of those cool scenes. So, does the story ruin the movie? Not entirely, but it does do some damage.
A 7 out of 10 in my book, would've been a 10 if it had a more mature storyline, multi sided storyline. (Not to mention more violent.. it's a war movie) as far aseffects go, it's on a league of it's own, there's nothing out there that beats it, but this will change as other movie makers catch up in technology, which this time and age is very, very fast. So, i don't know if this changes how movie making is made, but i'll tell you one thing:
This is the first S3d movie that makes me wish ALL movies were 3d, this truly is like going from black and white to full color, but even more so since it's more immersive, It makes your current 2d Display look very last millennium, you really do feel like you're in the movie sometimes.
If i could rate some aspects of the movie by themselves a 10 wouldn't do it justice, but after you calm down of how awesome a time you had watching it, you have to look back at the story, that while it did get the job done, it wasn't up to the level of the rest of the movie.
Now, more on what i downright hated in the movie:
The movie maybe 3d, but the story is 1d. Why couldn't he make the characters more believable? All the Navi are good. No, nearly perfect. Most humans are imperialist, greedy bastards except for scientists?
If you were to compare cultures on an even playing field, Tribes were, and are far worse than modern society. But somehow James Cameron doesn't only not see it that way, but the other way around.
-Who needs doctors? they got shamans!
-Who needs better weapons? They got Deus Ex Machina, so no worries, all we be well.
-Who needs science when you're spiritual? they got trees that fix everything! (seriously, i think the only reason they made the trees be " brainlike" is so it wouldn't look like blind / stupid faith, but i don't think that was not the original intent)
-Who needs healtcare when only the rich can afford it? (when sam talks about his legs) apparently it's better if NO ONE can afford to fix his health problems, instead of at least SOME people. (unless the Navi can cure paraplegics with their tree, but i don't think they can.)
-Think and live green, that way there's no sick or fat people! (Riiiiight)
The movie would've gotten a much higher score from me if it had either omitted these political references, or better still: if it had shown all the ups and downs to each culture. (but i guess this would be a problem, since modern civilization > tribes IRL)
This HAS been done successfully already, and it resulted in a great little movie called District 9, which in my eyes has a far better story because there is no obvious bad guy, there's good and bad everywhere.