Beautiful movie to watch, though the high fps did create a bad soap opera effect at times. I felt like David Attenborough was going to do some narration at times, especially when the whales showed up.

Felt like we didn't really develop a connection to the kids, especially the older brother and younger daughter (I can't even remember their names). The story really was just "our kids are in trouble again", over and over. Felt also like they sidelined Neytiri until they needed her to kick some ass.

Saw it again tonight, this time with the family, in 2D, and it was even better the second go-around. Everyone loved it, was in tears, and just swept up by the whole thing. It really is an incredible sequel.

What struck me this time is how much of the focus truly is on the kids - it's *their* story - and how much they grow over the course of the film, to ultimately be the ones teaching and guiding their parents in the end. The roles end up completely reversed. There's just such a great Goonies vibe I didn't know I was missing, in the Marvel/Star Wars age, where a ragtag group of kids disobeys their parents - in order to do the right thing - getting swept up in an adventure, and in all sorts of trouble, along the way. I don't know, just watching them all come together to help each other was really moving this time, and made me nostalgic for all those kinds of movies from the '80s that did roughly the same thing. Cameron captures that whole vibe so incredibly well, which gives it a classic, Amblin feel that I failed to appreciate on first watch, in all the spectacle and hype. To the point where, honestly, I kind of want to see it a third time.

I finally saw this last night with a group from my office. Saw it in 3D unlike my one and only theatrical viewing of the original movie. I am a sucker for James Cameron's science fiction efforts. I love his depiction of hardware of the future, and how he grounds it in the familiar even when the movie is set in 2159 (don't know that date is the fact, but I believe the original was 2154 and this one was 5 years later).

Visually, this movie is spectacular, as was the original. Clearly, this was a movie that was likely as close to 100% visual effects as any ever released. I have read nothing on how the effects were produced, but am presuming a lot of CGI was employed. There were many scenes that for my 55-year-old eyes appeared to be a bit off. The rendering was great - none of the characters appeared like young Princess Leia in Rogue One, for instance, but I just felt that the color spectrum was a bit too vibrant, cartoonish almost. That is a minor quibble that may very well be only in my eyes.

I cannot say that the story truly wowed me. It was largely meh for me, but it was a vast improvement upon the previous movie. I don't have a derisive statement to make about this one as I have for the first (Dances With Wolves in space, or something similar). I do get why the colonel was returned as an avatar, as his mission to kill Jake Sully drove the entire narrative, but just felt like a "getting the gang back together" approach. No, I don't have any alternatives to how Cameron could have developed his story. The colonel as an avatar is fine but IMO a bit lazy.

Regarding the 3D, I was amazed at that. Despite my issues with the color spectrum, the 3D gave that entire world a sense of being alive. And holy crap, when tracer fire was on screen, it literally appeared to come right at my chest. Same with splashes of water.

When it ended, I told my wife that Cameron had finally found a way to meld Aliens with Titanic and maybe a bit of The Abyss into his Avatar world. The scene were the youngest daughter and the Gamora gal's mom got sucked down the hole while the attack ship was sinking gave me an instant flashback to Newt falling down the chute with Ripley failing to pull her back by her jacket in Aliens. And of course the mom/daughter crawling through the upside-down cafeteria looked like something one might have seen in Titanic.

The humans in Avatar 2 😁 pic.twitter.com/vJIWw586dQ

— Alex Svan (@AlexSvanArt) December 30, 2022

So, Comanche Na'vi

Ha, exactly. And then get ready for even more b*tching about appropriation/depiction from the same old left-leaning bellyachers.

Now I'm thinking the Fire Na'vi will be the ones who want to take the fight to Earth and the Sullys will be the ones resisting trying to prevent mass genocide on Earth.

Part 4 will be the wind Na'vi, part 5 will be the heart Na'vi and we'll then get a spin-off with Jake Sully growing a green mullet and going back to Earth as Captain Planet.

So James Cameron starts a franchise called Avatar... and in it, there are different groups of natives. The first being an Earth Kingdom... and then we meet a Water Tribe... and now we're getting an evil Fire Nation...

Finally got out to see it. In the beginning, I was again blown away by the 3D and I was reminded of what an incredible experience watching the first one was. After three countless times of watching the Navi, or the fish, or whatever, swim around the ocean, I found the effects less impressive. I guess I just got used to them pretty quick, unlike the first Avatar, where I was blown away the whole time.

The story was a major disappointment, though. I would have liked to see more depth added to the world other than, "Navi/nature good, humans bad." Even my kids felt the story was paint by numbers.

Overall, it was nice to be reminded of how great 3D can be when done correctly, so I'm not upset and spending the money, but unlike the first one, I won't be taking groups of friends back to see it again.

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Use of air bags to raise up the whales, just like they used barrels in Jaws.

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What was wrong with this?

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I had the same thought regarding the barrels. Felt like a ripoff despite it being a sound tactic for dealing with aquatic critters.

And I also really hated the use of the word "bro". Too current for a movie set well into the future.

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This is not the first time I questioned financial numbers in a Cameron movie. In Aliens, the bean counter early in the movie stated the loss of the Nostromo was worth 47 million, minus payload. I'm pretty sure that in current days, 47 million would not even get you half of a F-35 fighter.

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It's as if Cameron spent so much world building on the Na'vi/Pandora environment he didn't do likewise on the human side. On one hand he has robotic spiders building infrastructure rapidly, on the other he has prop driven aircraft carrying soldiers with "ARs" G-shocks and Oakleys.

However it wouldn't be much of a movie if the humans hovered over the planet, released 1,000,000 armed flying drones equipped with AI & dispensed with the Na'vi overnight. (Which is the way war is headed)

Saw it over the weekend. I don't know how some of yall have seen this movie more than once, it's entirely too long. It's the longest video game cutscene of all time. Still unsure if the younger or older son died at the end. It was fun.

Saw it. Was entertaining.

The battle sequences were some of the best I have seen. Immersive, engaging, and stunning to watch. Applied to both human v blue people and human v space fish.

During the cable scene my 7 year old excitedly proclaimed that "his arm got torn off like the guy in Jurassic world fallen kingdom." Moments like this, which are etched in a child's mind to be recalled immediately, make one realize the inappropriateness of a violent pg-13 movie to a kid. Luckily mom was not there.

Pretty much nailed it!

Saw it with the kids yesterday. An enjoyable theatre experience for sure, but yes it was definitely too long. You can't tell me you couldn't cut 5-10 minutes out of each hour and it would have been just fine! Especially the middle section which at times felt like it was just showing off the underwater technology (which was beautiful) but didn't server the story at all.

My kids all really liked it. In the truck on the way home we all discussed the plot holes/annoyances and things you'll always have in the plot of a visually driven movie. I'm sure some of these have been discussed.

• We were all annoyed that the older brother died. The younger one was just annoying. Always leading them into danger because he couldn't simply listen!
• The brothers served a purpose, the adopted sister did too, but the younger sister seemed completely unnecessary. She was just kind of there.
• At the end when the wife and kids are about to abandon ship and the fire encircles them. Why didn't they just swim under it? Didn't we just spend an hour+ watching you learn to the ways of the water and how to dive and stuff?
• The colonel being emotionally attached to spider wasn't really well developed. Spider was also a weird character. He took to the marines VERY quickly.
• The kids go save the whale and the younger brother says he'll lead them away. JUST SWIM IDIOTS! Also he led them away yet still somehow the other kids didn't manage to get away. Eye roll!
• The bad guys plan sucked. Take out Jake and there will be peace? I don't think they'll stop fighting if you take out their hero. Also after the first battle Jake disappears. So is there peace? Why not just leave him alone?
• Also the dialog amongst the kids was pretty cringey at times. I can just see 60+ old Cameron sitting at his computer Hey bro! What's up cuzzz! "This is how kids talk, right?"

Overall it was fun and beautiful but just too bloated. I don't think I would rewatch until maybe a viewing right before the next one comes out.