After years of anticipation, hundreds of millions of dollars spent, and one of the biggest media campaigns of all time, James Cameron’s “Avatar” is finally here.

And it’s worth the wait, sort of.

Most definitely one of the most visually stunning pictures to take advantage of cutting edge 3D technology, Cameron’s “Avatar” gets an A-plus in the eye-candy department and a C-minus when it comes to the story, an imbalance that elicits a mixture of excitement and disappointment.

Ultimately, the visuals are worth the price of admission, but with a running time of 162 minutes and a routine plot, it has no hope of living up to the huge expectations that have been surrounding it for months.
On the surface, “Avatar” may seem like something completely original.

The movie takes place on Pandora, a tropical moon brought to life entirely by computer-generated 3D images. The moon is inhabited by 9-foot tall, tail wielding blue humanoids called Na’vi, and the setting is something that has never been seen before.

Yet, what happens on Pandora to the Na’vi is a tale that’s been told numerous times before.

Humans have also inhabited Pandora, with the goal of mining an extremely valuable mineral. The Na’vi’s home tree happens to be located right on top of the largest known deposit, creating a huge roadblock in the human’s mining efforts.

Human scientists have created a technology that enables humans to link to avatars of the Na’vi, making it so they can infiltrate the humanoids and kindly persuade them to find a new home.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a wheelchair-bound Marine, is chosen to inhabit one of the avatars after his scientist twin brother, who was originally supposed to take up the task, was killed. The whole situation is extremely frustrating for Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) a smoking, steely scientist, who is the leading expert of the Na’vi and the creator of the avatar technology.

At first, Sully is the typical, vacuous Jarhead everyone expects him to be, but the more he learns about the Na’vi tribe, the more he comes to respect their ways, eventually falling in love with Neytiri, a member of Na’vi royalty.

From there, the plot develops in a by-the-numbers fashion, with every turn and twist being wholly predictable. It ends up being an allegory for how our country was founded, with the Na’vi trying to defend themselves against the human’s guns with only bow and arrows, trying to keep their land and so on.

If the film were “Pocahontas,” (which is might as well be), Jake Sully would be John Smith, and Neytiri would be Pocahontas. Like I said, the story is nothing new.

Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), a hard, weathered Marine heads the military's invasion of the Na’vi people. Most of his lines are trite, and Lang plays him to be the caricature of every super-villain to ever grace the silver screen.

The most fascinating thing about “Avatar,” though, is the tale of how it was made, not the story the film portrays.

Almost every publication out there has run a story on it, and rarely did they focus on the movie itself. All the technology, all the money, all the eccentricities, that’s what is worth talking about.

The visuals are amazing, no doubt, and the beautiful blending of live-action and computer generated images that WETA (Peter Jackson’s special effects team) help Cameron bring to the film are not just visually stunning, but revolutionary to the film world.

The movie is long, uninspired and cheesy, but it is also something completely new and genius visually. Just go in expecting it to be nothing more than what it is on the surface, and you won’t be let down.

Reach the reporter at pmelbour@asu.edu