Avatar is a familiar, even clichéd story, but James Cameron wraps it in the most dazzling and unique world imaginable. And while the script won't blow your mind, it's tight enough to ignore while your eyes feast on this visual masterpiece.

Jake (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine unexpectedly thrown into an alien world. He is asked to befriend a race of "savages" to help gain intel for an army of hired guns. The army is being paid by a greedy businessman to forcibly remove the natives from their home so that he can mine a precious rock called "unobtainium." You know, because its seemingly unobtainable. Subtle, huh? Prepare yourself for other "subtle" themes.

The story is full of obvious foreshadowing, so there's no major turn in the script that you don't see coming from a mile away. Some of the dialogue feels forced and some of the characters are extreme, over the top caricatures. But despite all of this, the story is believable, coherent, and undeniably exciting. In a weird way, the simple, borrowed nature of the story allowed you to focus more on everything that was created in order to tell it. And that's not to say you are distracted by the special effects either; they actually envelope you more deeply into the film.

So How Does It End?

Prepare yourself for a three hour experience that definitely has three distinct acts. The first is the set-up of characters, with Pandora being a character itself, and it concludes with Jake being allowed into the Na'vi tribe. The second act is Jake's training and eventual acceptance, but it ends with his betrayal and the destruction of the tribe's home. This scene is haunting and full of terrible war-like imagery, although at times I was distracted by the Colonel (Stephen Lang) and thoughts of Wagner playing.

The third act is the assembly of many Na'vi tribes for a final battle against the humans. Jake is now emotionally attached to his avatar so strongly that he is willing to kill fellow soldiers; a fact easily accepted by the audience because the humans have been unabashadely depicted as pure evil. Despite an intense and well fought battle, the Na'vi are still outmatched until their deity decides to join the fight as well. She controls all living things and thus is able to help over power the enemy. In the end, the humans are all sent home so that the Na'vi can live in peace. Jake not only stays behind, but is actually able to transfer his consciousness completely to his avatar.

While I don't think this film is perfect, I do think it is worth every penny of your movie ticket. I give it 4 out of 5.