Its hard to describe something that engulfs you and sucks you in the way that James Cameron's Avatar did to me. Much has already been said about its visuals, and its story, reminiscent of Dances with Wolves. You should already know the plot by now, so I won't bore you with that, but unless you have read the play by play on Wiki or IMDb, I can assure you that whatever you've heard, it is way more than that. I don't think the praise has been too great, and I think the criticism has been a little unfair. I try to judge movies on how they make me feel. This movie made feel like a child, not in the way that someone patronizes you with words that insult your intelligence, but in a way that makes me remember what it was like before I knew everything. Before I knew how they did everything in a movie, and had seen everything that a movie was referencing. I found myself wanting to be there, and putting myself in the shoes of the characters. The visual style, the story, everything that this movie was about and what it was "about" made me think like an adult and feel like a child. I think the casting of Wes Studi as the head of the Na'vi tribe was Cameron's way of saying, yes I know, now look at this! So I don't think it tries to hide from the nods to "Native American meets pale-face" story comparison.
I saw this movie in 3D which I think it was made to be seen, and there were so many things I had never seen before. The mixing of CG and live actors has been done, but not like this; American outsider going to a native land and becoming accepted by the natives has been done, but not quite like this, and the list goes on. I highly reccommend this movie because of the way that the story is told and the non-conventional ways that old story elements and devices are spun and given to you a new way. That, to me is what we need. That is what we want in a world of CG cartoons that are a series of pop-culture references and remakes of movies that were made in the same generation as the audience they are made for again.
