Avatar

The Pitch: A shady corporation backed by mercenaries attempts to strip-mine an alien planet for its valuable resources. At the same time, a scientist (Sigourney Weaver) makes efforts to befriend the planet’s native population through the “avatar” program – a way for humans to psychically link themselves to an alien host body. A paralyzed ex-Marine (Sam Worthington) gets caught between the money-grubbers and the tree-huggers.

The Highs: This is, simply put, one of the most beautiful movies you’ll ever see. Cameron doesn’t employ 3-D as a gimmick (no one gratuitously shoves sticks or guns in your face), instead he uses it subtly to give the planet Pandora amazing depth—watch for the tiny gnats buzzing around as characters wander through the jungle, or the pieces of ash and burning embers that float around after violent attacks. It is immersive in a whole new way, and it is almost impossible not to get sucked in. The movie is helped by the fact that the motion capture is nearly flawless—these aren’t dead-eyed CG characters. They actually perform. Avatar is also a neat 180 for Cameron – this is Aliens told from the point of view of the aliens. Those Marines with the itchy trigger fingers and powerloaders you rooted for back on LV-426? Get ready to view them as the bad guys. And we defy anyone not to chuckle in delight when Sigourney Weaver’s character is introduced emerging from a cryo-sleep-esque avatar control pod.

The Lows: The word “game changer” was somewhat unfairly tossed around during Avatar’s pre-hype. Technically, it has already changed the game (once again, Cameron has invented ways of shooting that previously did not exist), but the movie itself might not. The story is really nothing you haven’t seen before (a man trapped behind enemy lines goes native), some of the dialogue is clunky, and not all the characters are fully written. This is more a showcase for new technology with an easy to follow narrative than an attempt to push storytelling. But just like Cameron used The Abyss as a test-run for the special effects that made Terminator 2 so amazing, we’re willing to bet that Avatar will be a great warm-up to something even better.

Final Thoughts: If you’ve already pre-judged Avatar, then you’ll likely find a lot to roll your eyes at. But given a chance, the movie is gorgeous, funny, fun, and engrossing in a way that a lot of movies aim for but few achieve. This is not “the end” for Cameron (much like Titanic wasn’t, despite critics’ claims), but a whole new beginning.