Warning: verbose. :)

I finally saw it the other night in 3d (non-IMAX) and then went right next door to the IMAX to go
through it again on the bigger screen.

Sure, most of us knew how the story was going to play out. Even so I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

I hope I'm not offending here, but most of us on this forum are not of low or even average IQ, so most of the time we need something that challenges our brain, complexities in our entertainment.

This is a story the average person can get into, it's an escape where they don't have to THINK hard about what it means, which is what makes box office smashes. And that's not to say it's stupid or for made for morons - just that it's simple in the story structure; it sets up the conflicts and then resolves them to the intended audience's satisfaction. Notice that they don't go into the science too deeply. Personally, I'd have liked those moments to be a bit more in-depth.

If Cameron didn't know how to make movies the masses can enjoy, he'd be asking if we want fries with that during the day and we'd all probably be talking to him on this forum in the evenings. It doesn't matter how "deep" or "unique" a story is - if an audience can't relate to it, it will fail. Unfortunately the bottom line is, well, the bottom line. Studios can only survive on small or no sales for so long. Avatar succeeds because people relate to it at the same time they're amazed by the visuals, no matter if the story has been done to death or not.

There are very, very few truly original stories out there anymore anyway.

Like it or not, Cameron's redefined scifi filmmaking for the next few years at least and other major studios are going to be jumping all over his new camera system and we'll see a glut of 3d movies. The good ones will rise to the top and the bad ones will also ultimately show their true colors.

I'll probably go see Avatar another 3 or 4 times on the big screen just to enjoy the eye candy
again and to geek out on the CG details of the amazing environments. And to look for AgentSmith in the credits since there are SO many names at the end.

I dare any of us to do something one-tenth as good. I'm with ice-boy, even if you aren't into the aliens or the story, see it for the experience.

And by the way - I'm waiting for the simulation rides they'll have at Universal or Disney... ;)