I thought Avatar was a fine movie. Good blockbuster spectacle, coherent plot, fine characters, and well-made all around.
It was the first movie I've seen with the newer 3D system (as opposed to the older blue and red cellophane glasses). I thought that the 3D effect was pretty good, too, though I don't know that the movie would have felt lessened in any way if I'd seen it on a regular screen.
A lot of people have lobbed some criticisms at it for a "standard" or "generic" plot. Sure, it's the same plot as Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves, and probably plenty of other movies. But it still works. And it's not a plot on auto pilot. Or a plot that asks characters to do stupid things in order to create a false crisis in order to end the movie. The movie has some real emotion, sparked by some real characters (in this case, the better characters are blue rather than the pink humans actually).
And really, that's it's greatest success: the special effects that generated the Na'vi are absolutely incredible. Gollum, one of the first truly great motion-capture characters, still at times felt like he was in a slightly different world than the hobbits. That's not the case here. They are real. It's very well done.
If you like big hollywood movies, this is a good one. Not a great one, but a good one.
totally agree with you, man. although I’m surprised this is the first new 3D movie you’ve seen. that was actually a big part of it for me-showing how the 3D could be used not just to make things jump out at you (there was one scene in Beowulf with a spear that was totally over the top), but rather to texture the image and give more depth to the visuals. a major jump in integrating all digital scenes/characters and 3D into a movie that happened to have a workable, if familiar, plot.