That Star Trek reboot was lackluster at best,so there at least, he has a point. Avatar on the other hand is in the league of the Original Trilogy for goodness and sheer wonder.

Bayformers isn't fit to sniff Jake Sully's furry blue ***sack.

I saw it last night, with low expectations, and must admit I was entertained. As I thought it would be, the script is awful: every character is a cliché (especially the villain, who made me groan aloud with every line of dialogue), and we're beaten around the head with Cameron's "message" until we're as blue as the Na'vi.

(SPOILER ALERT to be safe, although what I'm about to say should be obvious.)

It also seems slightly hypocritical that a film preaching peace and understanding boils down to a high-budget Battle of Endor, with the alien indigines violently killing all the human invaders with their bows and knives. It makes sense, and the action scenes are impressive and quite cathartic, but it goes to show that Avatar is intended to be all about spectacle, with the message just providing a convenient excuse.

(END "SPOILERS")

The production itself, however, was impressive. I thought the CG characters looked fake and unimpressive in trailers, but they didn't seem out of place in the film's context. The attention to detail in their facial expressions and body language was excellent; enough to sell them as people, and not puppets. The actors all did a good job with what they had, and I ended up liking them all by the end of the film, even if they were about as deep as a puddle on paper.

I'd actually recommend seeing it in 2D. Considering how much the 3D element was hyped, it was never made much use of, and when it was noticeable it came off as more distracting than complementary. It didn't help that the glasses I was given were awful, compared to the ones I had for Pixar's "Up" a couple of months ago. Whether that was down to my choice of cinema or whether it's a different kind of 3D technology, I don't know, but they made the film almost impossible to follow at times, due to how blurry they made the picture.

Despite all the hype, Avatar is really nothing more or less than the archetypal action film, only with more impressive CGI than usual. The themes and characters are explored only enough to justify the many spectacular action scenes, and while I was never particularly bored throughout, I didn't come away feeling like I'd had an "experience". For me, personally, there was nothing about it to inspire either love or hate; it was simply watchable.

But considering how much money it cost to make, that does seem like a shame.