Just as "The Jazz Singer" was the film that moved Hollywood firmly into the era of the talkies and "The Wizard of Oz" moved film into color, "Avatar" is the film that will move the industry firmly into 3D.
In that respect, it's the first film of the 21st Century. Everything that goes before is destined to be labeled by film historians as "20th Century film".
ANYONE that loves movies, MUST see Avatar for that reason alone. It's history. Any Sci-Fi or Fantasy fan will love the movie, any film goer that loves a good romance or action adventure will love the movie as well.
Sometimes when the ground has been explored as much as the Original ST has, you just have to begin again.
In typical Star Trek fashion, this version uses a time traveler to change reality and cast our heros into new lifes in their new alternate universe. Now, with the same DNA and temperment of the original crew, they get to explore the new universe and make their own way.
I smell a TV series coming out of this, and I'm planning on not missing any episode of it!