Just came back from this. Jim Cameron is back, and it's like he never left. Yes the story is conventional. Yes the characters are very black and white. And despite all that the result is a terrifically entertaining movie of the highest order. Its conventionalisms aside it's very, very well written with characters that still manage to easily gain and hold our attention. And once again Cameron proves that shooting action scenes is his forte. The visuals and 3D effects are impressive, but I'm still not totally convinced it's the medium of the future. Cameron knows how to use it, but others might not, and not every movie will have a $300 million budget greenlit. Plus I don't think he really went for photo-realism. It isn't photo-realistic, it's more fantasy-realistic if you get what I mean. A lot of it has to do with the colour pallete, but in any case I must say the foliage and water and fire look breathtaking.

Horror-action, sci-fi action, comedy-action, and romance-action... and now fantasy-action, Cameron has done them all. So yeah... this is one epic, entertaining movie. Everyone, just go watch it. In 3D.

P/S: I think the world of Pandora is actually pretty original. It's very mythic, and normally I dont like mythic, but this time it really worked for me. And all the little details, like the floating jellyfish-like tree seed and the way the Na'vi and the creatures bond, all add to the richness of Pandora.