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Rated: PG-13
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriquez and a bunch of CGI Na'vi
Directed by: James Cameron

In a two words:  Beautiful Tedium

Plot:  Human and technology = BAD; Na'vi and nature = GOOD!

Jake Sculley, a paraplegic former marine is recruited by a mining company to go to Pandora, a moon of a distant planet.  The moon is populated by an intelligent species, known as the Na'vi.  It seems Pandora is rich with "unobtainium", a mineral worth millions of dollars back on Earth and the Na'vi are being less than cooperative with the mining operations..  Jake is brought in to replace his recently deceased twin brother in the company's "avatar" project, led by Dr. Grace Augustine.   In an effort to get to know the Na'vi better, Grace and her scientists have created "avatars", human/Na-vi hybrid organisms  that are controlled by human operators.   Jake, on his first day out in his avatar, gets lost in the forest and picked up by one of the Na'vi - Neytiri, who just happens to be the Na'vi chief's daughter (well, duh, you didn't actually think he fall in love with some Na'vi nobody, did you?).  Jake is quickly accepted as a member of her clan, learns their language, masters their way of life and falls in love with Neytiri.

The company, realizing that the Na'vi will not work with them to mine the unobtanium or even get out of their way, decides that genocide and destruction are the only way to go (their EVIL...EVIL!)  Jake sides with the Na'vi in the hopes of stopping the company's destruction and saving Pandora.

Thoughts:  Sometime ago, James Cameron decided that storytelling didn't matter, only effects (I think it was when he started work on "Titanic".  This movie is proof of that.  The effects are absolutely stunning.  Pandora is wondrous to watch, with its strange creatures, almost psychedelic color scheme and phosphorescent plant life.  The interaction between the CGI and the live actors is almost seamless.  You are never distracted by bad special effects here - but you may be distracted by a bad script.  The story is very clichéd.  There is no nuance or subtlety here.  It was like being hit in the head with a hammer for 2 3/4 hours.  Normally, I wouldn't have a real problem with that (see 2012), except I KNOW Cameron can write original and exciting science fiction.  So when he gets lazy with the story, it bugs me.  So, instead of walking out of the theater thinking "wow, what a great popcorn flick!", I walked out thinking "wow, that could have been so much better, if Cameron actually cared about the script." 

That being said, this film should be seen on a big screen, if only for the effects.  While I found everything on Pandora to be too 'clean' (excepting, of course, the dirty human technology) - it was still fantastic to see explore the new world.  The Na'vi themselves are interesting, if too pretty.  Of course, this is a love story, so they couldn't look TOO "alien".  I guess the love angle wouldn't work if the Na'vi looked like the Prawns from "District 9". 

Worth it for the effects, but not much else.  Too bad.

Spoilers: Mostly unanswered questions:

Why not give Jake his leg operation before trucking him out to Pandora?  It seems like they would want him to be healthy, happy and at his best capability before making the trip.

What idiot thought that giving a paraplegic a new, healthy "body", one that seems to be able to do anything, was a good idea?  Did they actually think he would want to go back to being himself?

Why make the Avatars look like Na'vi at all?  Wouldn't it be better for everyone if the Na'vi got used to humans looking human?

They describe Pandora as having "low gravity".  Why weren't the humans affected at all?

Why did no one notice that Trudy left her position and disobeyed orders during the destruction of the Home Tree?  Why was she not punished at all?

Why would Jake assume the humans wouldn't be back with reinforcements? By my clock, he has 6 years in his Edenbefore a larger force comes in and starts destroying everything.

If you liked this try:Ferngully, Dances with Wolves and The Battlefor Terra