Avatar First and foremost, as I'm sure all the people have already seen the film will testify, Avatar is a stunning looking film. There were moments where I honestly couldn't tell CGI from the real thing. By far the best visuals I have ever seen. The story is obviously an updated take on a very old tale: outsiders encroaching on native peoples land for either natural resources and/or the land itself. Whether this is a negative like many people have said, is another matter. I personally do not think it was. If viewers make the connection with the Na'vi and our very own habitat destruction while raising their awareness, it can only be a good thing. Though despite this, I imagine many will find this premise slightly pretentious. Regardless, the narative in Avatar is very well done and well paced. The Miyazaki masterpiece that is Princess Mononoke sprang to mind while watching Avatar; what with its emphasis on every living thing interlinking and being as one. I appreciated this aspect to Avatar, because even though I call myself an Atheist, I am very much interested in Shinto (even though Shinto is not technically a religion anyway). Obviously there have been many of our very own native people here on earth, from all corners of the globe throughout the ages, who have followed some sort of Animism and Polytheism. The past decade of terror and the various wars and battles in the Middle East, show their influence in Avatar - despite the fact that I've read James Cameron wrote the basis of the story in the 90's. The Last Samurai is another film which Avatar reminded me of. The Na'vi themselves bear more than a passing resemblance to native; indigenous; aboriginal people here on Earth. This will lead you no doubt to feel they're not alien enough or as I have mentioned, that James Cameron is trying to tell us something. On the subject that the Na'vi can come across as not very alien (in the true sense), I would say that all sci-fi comes from the human mind. The stories, lands, imagery we make up fantasy wise comes from our own shared experiences and our history as humans beings. As a big science fiction fan myself, for the film makers to go to this much trouble in realising the world of Pandora - with its rich, detailed enviornment and wildlife - was an absolute joy for me to witness. I personally watch films to escape (into a different world in this case), and for that purpose Avatar does a fantastic job. Performances for the most part were solid. I've only recently seen Sam Worthington for the first time in Terminator Salvation, and although he isn't exactly going to be winning any Oscars for his recent roles, he gets the job done well enough. He's no doubt a rising star. But yeah, films are subjective and not everybody will like Avatar. Some will see, hear and read about its success and before watching will already have in their heads: "So this is meant to be the best film EVAR, huh?! Well, we'll see about that!" All the time forgetting to switch off a little and just escape awhile. Of course, Avatar will just simple not turn people on or appeal to them; and there's nowt wrong with that. But for me, it was an endearing experience and beautiful one at that. 9/10 I didn't mean for my review to be that long. I do apologise if I bored anyone with my ramblings. I didn't want to go too much into the visuals of Avatar, so I got that out of the way from the start and concentrate on other areas more.