It’s not just that we’ve seen the tale before… it’s that every aspect of the screenplay is terrible.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Dec 7, 2022

Cameron and his artists have so lovingly imagined the moon of Pandora that every shot of the film contains new wonders.

| Sep 23, 2022

Five hundred million dollars [wasted].

| Sep 1, 2021

Rewatching it with fresh eyes 10 years later, the movie's pluses and minuses both rise into much starker relief. The verdict: It's...fine.

| Dec 19, 2019

In my opinion, Avatar has been hyped beyond the point of forgiveness.

| Jan 16, 2018

Learning your visuals from Jack Kirby is one thing, but too often it sounds like Cameron learned to write dialogue from the guy too.

| Dec 14, 2017

Overall, Avatar was really about the jaw-dropping visual effects--that's the great thing about it.

| Original Score: B | Sep 12, 2017

The story is just a scaffolding for the world-building. That may make it more of an experience than a movie, but the experience is a fun place to visit.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 14, 2012

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Cameron knows the viewer will recognize Avatar's story from elsewhere, whether as the love affair between John Smith and Pocahontas or almost all of Ferngully and so tries to dazzle the viewer with "shock and awe."

| Feb 25, 2011

Avatar is a joyous celebration of story craft and the visual possibilities of cinema. Cameron had set his sights on taking the technology of film where no one had gone before. And he delivers. Avatar is stunning. Cameron and Peter Jackson's Weta Digital h

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jul 7, 2010

Avatar is a phenomenon you can't ignore, monumentally imposing and done with extraordinary expertise - but the same could be said of the Dubai skyline, and I'm not sure that represents any future worth investing in.

Full Review | Jan 5, 2010

Even with its simplistic plot, Avatar is a stunning achievement in next-level cinematic bravado. Watch it on the biggest screen possible. Prepare to be blown away.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 28, 2009

From the music to the muse, this is clearly a James Cameron flick, clearly a masterpiece, and clearly marks a revolution in blockbusters, for if you only see one film in a 3-D cinema this year, make it Avatar.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 23, 2009

The narrative would be ho-hum without the spectacle. But what spectacle! Avatar is dizzying, enveloping, vertiginous ... I ran out of adjectives an hour into its 161 minutes.

| Dec 21, 2009

I had the feeling coming out of this movie that I haven't felt since maybe I was eleven years old in 1977 and I saw Star Wars for the first time.

Full Review | Dec 21, 2009

It's a remote-control movie experience, a high-tech "wish you were here" scribbled on a very expensive postcard.

Full Review | Dec 18, 2009

The most-hyped movie of the year just about merits it.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 18, 2009

Big money, big risk, pretty big reward. That's been his consistent pattern, and it's high time to give credit where credit is overdue: James Cameron delivers.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 18, 2009

I have seen the future of movies, and it is Avatar.

| Original Score: A+ | Dec 18, 2009