I went to see Avatar for the 2nd time on the weekend, and I was again blown away by the visual impact. 

  • It is not an original story.  In fact, it's a lot like Pocahontas.  Or Dances With Wolves.  But any more complexity in the story would take away from the visual impact. 
  • The technology is incredible.  Seeing it in IMAX was worth it, just to better catch the miniscule details (and watching the lady in front of me swat at bugs as the flew towards us was HILARIOUS).
  • Sam Worthington is kind of awesome.  Not that he's a Robert Redford or Al Pacino calibre actor, but I can imagine that it'd be difficult to carry a film where you don't really play yourself and where you're mostly costumed as a big blue thing.  Zoe Saldana was pretty incredible too. And Sigourney Weaver pretty much rules. 
  • The message in the film is pretty blatant, but I think that if the movie had been set on Earth, in the current decade, it would be seen as environmentalist propaganda.  Instead we're all “Oh my goodness how could they destroy such a beautiful planet like that?“. Hello Irony.

That's #2!