Ah, just saw the movie Avatar in 3D. Finally a movie that surpasses the hype. Simple story - maybe, but a simple story told very well. Very good seamless integration of 3D and live action. Ground breaking I'd say. Stereoscopic (?)3D effects are used effectively to tell the story and manage to avoid the 'watch the ball fly at your face' gimmicks.

All in all? One of my all time favorite movies. In fact, I just got back an hour or so ago and I wish I could go right back. I'm going to do something I rerely do and schedule a second viewing this coming week.

agreed. although the story is really really weak the rest of the movie is superior. but really, what new story can you tell anyway?

too bad i cant see that 3D things. (sight problems)

but i will go watch the normal version tomorrow.

hope that a cinema nearby supports the 3d version.

My son and his gf went to see it last night. I haven't heard the low down yet (late showing and he's still sleeping). Ubisoft (Montreal studio) provided the cgi and cinematic work. The 3D version was shot using Imax technology. About the story line, remember Cameron took a story about a ship sinking and turned it into an epic movie.

Yeah the story is familiar -but it is well told. I think that familiarity is more because it has elements of our universal story as humans than anything else. In fact Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" talks about this and directors like George Lucas credited it when he did Star Wars. I also saw an interview of Will Smith where he gave it props.

Anyway it blew me away. I've been saying it's going to surpass the original estimates at the box office. It's a very hot topic on Twitter right now.

Hmm, I don't think we've actually ran out of original and innovative stories just yet. There are loads of interesting novels that prove unconventional story plots can be very cool and very mind-blowing.

But I think certain types of the more universal stories do simply evolve. Or at least should.

To be honest, I think it's painfully obvious how they've cut insane corners story-wise here. A bit of a disappointment, despite the very cool overall production.

But even there, it's hardly original. In fact, it's more like one giant mix of a bunch of successful franchises.

Star Wars, the Matrix, Starship Troopers, Halo, Outcast, Unreal 1, heck sometimes it even felt a bit like a Command & Conquer cutscene ( http://cinema.theiapolis.com/movie-0BE4/avatar/gallery/avatar-1021707.html ).

All in all mind-blowing, but they've certainly played on safe here bigtime.

Now this may sound overly negative, but it's not. It had potential to do even more, but it was definitely an excellent movie. Probably the best I've seen in a while, even though The Dark Knight is still lonely at the top.