Right, Avatar from the director of Titanic, NOT Avatar the Last Airbender; don't forget that bit, okay?  There are spoilers because I am discussing many aspects of the story so please read at the chance of ruining the movie.

I was skeptical about the movie.  I was a bit miffed when I heard the title announced right after I saw the first preview for the Airbender Avatar movie.  I've only seen one 'Book' of the series and I felt evilly disposed towards a movie that would steal the name of an established series and movie that was already slated to come out.  So I came into this whole thing a little biased.

With that said, I only went to see Avatar because a friend wanted to and it sounded like a good enough idea at the time.  I'm very glad I went to see it.  I'll cover various aspects of the movie in blocks, Setting, Characters and Plots.

I was very much impressed with the Setting of Avatar; when I heard about how much of the movie was done with computer created graphics I was very leery of how bad and cartoony the whole thing could appear.  While yes, there are some points anyone can argue just don't feel real - it's not real, you have to accept it as real in the reality that it exists which is not our own.  The setting is beautifully crafted; it's very clear that they really designed many aspects of the world.  The forest was so very alive with color and character, I would have like to have seen more of that carried into the wildlife of the world of Pandora.  While you got to see an interesting type of monkey, a horse like creature, something that made me think of a hammerhead rhino, two Pterodactyl creatures, some insects, a dog-like pack and a huge jaguar.  I would have like to have seen more, personally, for having spent three hours sitting there.  However, you don't really realize the lack of animals you see until later when thinking back on it; the world is created so beautifully.

Characters I'm going to divide into three groups; antagonists, protagonist, The People.

Starting with the group of protagonists; these are mainly human scientists who are forced to take in a marine, Jack Sully, into their highly prestigious ranks of the Avatar program.  He gets this because his twin brother dies, and I wondered where the grief was.  I get that there was a six year gap between when they left earth and when they landed on Pandora.  I thought that the group of people who made up the protagonist group was rather well developed, though I question: What happened to the other people who are/were in the program before they got there?  I thought that the transition Jack makes from human into his Avatar life could have been more marked.  I especially had a squeal moment when Michelle Rodriguez entered; I adore her from other roles, and hate that she's always the token tough girl who dies the martyr role.  I do want to pause and say that I applaud them for casting Jack Sully as a man bound to a wheel-chair; it made me like him much more.  Over all I really like this group, thought there could have been some more shown development between them.

The antagonists... Where to start? The antagonists were characterized by the kind of strong-arm military shoot everything in sight stuff that makes me sad.  I thought that the main bad-buy was too bad, honestly; it was like he was bad for the sake of being bad.  They could have used some more motivation, some more solid base for why he was the way he was and thusly the rest of the military.  There was a small faction represented by a corporate figure that explains the real reason they are even there; to mine a mineral.  I actually liked this figure, he made sense and at some point you saw the realization of their evil on his face.  I'm going to pause here and rant about the military aspect.  I'm getting tired of seeing movies that portray the military as this sort of wolf-by-the-ears entity, foaming at the mouth to devour anything and everything.  I really would like to see a movie that makes me believe in not only our military but others; yes I know that's a bit silly of me and it's not all that realistic, but I'd like to believe that not everyone in the army is a brainless idiot who shoots at anything that moves and takes orders without second guessing them.  I'm the kind of person who wants to be proud of those people who fight and serve for me to enjoy going to movies whenever I want to go.  I still tear up when I watch the news and they show pictures of solders who die, and even though a lot of bad things happen, there are people out there who do what they do for good and I'd like to see that in a movie sometime.

The People; that's what the indegenious people of the planet Pandora call themselves.  I thought they were beautifully crafted visually, and their culture, religion and ways very well thought out.  I was very much wrapped up in learning about them and their ways moreso than parts of the story.  Very easily one of the most dynamic elements of the story.

The Plot.  Oh my. Where do I begin?  It was fairly predictable in nature once I saw where the story was going.  I would have like to have been surprised by a twist, somewhere.  So a guy who has no training at all is put into a program? Well duh - he's going to be special; that goes with the viewers expectations.  I felt the story was far too predictable, I knew that he was going to be special, influential, he'd learn the culture and language, betray them and then champion them in the most impossible way.  You knew there was going to be a huge battle where The People almost lost - and at the last moment were saved, somehow!  I would have like to have seen the romantic element between Jack Sully and the female lead removed and for him to be more of a tragic hero instead; it's the director of Titanic. I expected to cry! I only felt disgusted at my consumerism and how violent people can be.  There was something else about the plot I really wanted to say, but can't remember....  For me, that extra *wow* factor in the story that just sucked me in was missing, however my friend that took me felt that very strongly and even said she teared up several times.

There were a few places where I found myself thinking of Fern Gully; those made me laugh.

I know I sound a little critical of the movie, but I did enjoy it and found three hours passed surprisingly quickly.  I would completely suggest going to see it at least once in the theater because you won't get the same experience at home unless you have a good sound system because the audio at times even had me looking around, expecting one of the people around me of making those noises I was hearing.