Visual Effects
Let's face it, the major selling point of this movie is the killer visual effects. Avatar marks a giant leap forward in filmmaking. When you see this movie in digital 3D, you are immediately forced to acknowledge that in terms of the technical aspects of creating a film, Avatar ranks up there with The Jazz Singer (which ushered in the age of 'talkies'), The Wizard of Oz (which ushered in the age of color movies), and Star Wars (which revolutionized special effects). When you see Avatar in 3D, seeing any other action movie in 2D just does not compare.
One of the main reasons for this is that Avatar avoids one of the major flaws of 3D films that have gone before it. There is no monster leaping out of the screen at you. There are no explosions that send shrapnel by your head. They avoid the easy thrill, and instead use the 3D technology to its greatest effect in creating a fully immersive experience that literally puts you in the forest. To compare prior 3D films to Avatar is like comparing boy bands to the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Sure the boy band gives a nice, cheap thrill, but can't compare to the timeless beauty of the orchestra.
The only problem with the visual effects is that a normal movie screen is too restricting for them. If there's an IMAX theater in your town (or a town near yours) it is well worth the money to see Avatar in 3D on the IMAX screen.
Plot
Ok, I'll get this out of the way right now. I liked the plot the first time I saw it, when it was called Dances With Wolves. And don't tell me you weren't thinking it too.
Now that I got that out of the way, the plot basically runs like this. The main character is a marine who got paralyzed below the waist. His twin brother was a scientist, who was part of some super-freaky science project, but got killed. Because the marine has an identical genome to his brother, he can take his place, and the Company won't lose out on their investment. More on that later.
After the first bit, the film takes place entirely on the forest moon of Endor, I mean Pandora. Seems the Company has come to Pandora because it is one of the few places they can find some rare ore called Unobtanium. Unfortunately, the Company faces a few problems in their mining operation. The atmosphere is toxic (though a simple gas mask is enough to protect you), the forests are chock full of deadly animals, many of whom just shrug off machine gun fire, and, oh yeah, there's a native population that doesn't care for how they're strip mining the planet.
Remember that science project I mentioned earlier? Now we figure out what it is. Scientists take DNA of the natives, mix it with human DNA, and grow remote control bodies tuned to their owners' genome. Since our Marine's genome matches his brother's, he can pilot his brother's Avatar.
On his first mission, our Marine nearly gets himself killed, and has to jump off a cliff to keep from getting eaten, and winds up lost in the forest. Night falls, and a native woman saves him from a pack of nasty creatures that look like a cross between wolves and jaguars. She was going to leave him, but got a sign from Emya, and brought him before her tribe. The Marine is allowed to stay with the tribe to learn their ways, though the Company wants them to figure a way to get them to move, since their home is on one of the largest Unobtanium deposits around.
Most of the movie revolves around the Marine learning the ways of the tribe, while the Company plans to destroy their home and take the resources for their own. The Marine is eventually inducted into the tribe, and takes a mate, just in time to learn that the Company is moving on the tribe's home.
The tribe tries to fight, but fail utterly due to the fact that bows and arrows don't do much against gunships, and their home tree is destroyed, and many tribesmen are killed. The Marine rallies the tribes, to fight against the humans, in a desperate last stand.
As for how it ends? I'll let you find out for yourself.
Theme
Avatar beats you over the head with the native american theme, and telling you how mining without regard for the ecological consequences is bad. And the whole army man goes native, realizes the natives are better concept is literally straight out of Dances With Wolves.
Final Score
All told, I'd give Avatar top marks for visual effects, and the action sequences are excellent. I highly recommend you watch this in the theaters. When it comes out on DVD, I'm just not sure they'll be able to do it justice unless they're able to project the 3D effects on your TV.
