Seek a world of CGI and blue and you'll be blown away

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2011)

Avatar is polarizing with its effects, but ordinary with its storytelling and plot. It shows off explicitly impressive graphics and exquisite acting, but still, when discussing plot elements, you'd like to say the film does something bigger and badder to commemorate the hype. Sadly, it gives us traditional storyline - one of the few letdowns of the film.
But I'm making it sound like I didn't enjoy this one bit. Avatar is a beautifully made, work of film art in the sense of almost every medium it utilizes. Including the obligatory 3D, which is used surprisingly more as a visual enhancer than a gimmick.
It's the year 2154, a handicapped man named Jake Sully is sent to an RDA corporation in replace of his brother who had recently passed away. Unlike his brother, Jake has basically no idea of what to do or what to expect during the project. The main objective is to create avatars the humans control to explore the world of Pandora. Pandora is populated by a paleolithic form of blue skin creatures, taller than humans, and resembling a feline form. The texture and detail in the creatures is spectacular and a true visual work of art.
That's all I want to give away, and even with that it looks as if I've said too much. Avatar develops the love story like we'd expect, but even in its cliché state it feels Cameron did all he could to prevent the predictable turnout. Still, it's not that the story is completely intolerable.
The effects, like you'd expect, consume the entire extravaganza. To begin with, Cameron is known for his revolutionary filmmaking, expensive budgets, and big name actors. Avatar is no exception to any of those rules. The film has a unique look to it in more ways than one. But in the effect field, it shines vibrantly. It's a technical breakthrough, possible paving the way for a new generation of movies to follow and live up to.
I think what I enjoyed the most from Avatar is its constant action. The film's plot isn't thick, but it seems to have so much happening, so much going on, and so much unfolding it's almost impossible to look away. That's one of the highest compliments of any film; the fact that it is never a bore to watch. It's consistently entertaining and achieves an extremely difficult greatness.
Avatar is more a breakthrough than anything. It is an imaginative work of art in every field but the storytelling. There's going to be three categories of fans for this film; people that love the film and everything about it, people, like me, who are pleased but not blown away by the turnout, and the people that show their inner cynic and hate the film and everyone who loves it. I will say the film doesn't force you to like it. If it did, we wouldn't have that third category.
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Giovanni Ribisi. Directed by: James Cameron.