While the storyline is familiar (think "Dances With Wolves"), where an outsider ventures into an foreign land and re-thinks life, I was pleasantly surprised by the intensity of this politico-institutional statement. It was like a big budget indie! The shot at the establishment was masterful. So was the love story. A movie has to be really great to get its audience to applaud. This one did.
The special effects are worth the ticket price alone. As such, it did not need to be shot in 3-D. That effect was barely necessary.
Were it not for Saturday's northeast snowstorm that kept most of us house-bound, I think Avatar would have broken even, financially, by now.