I highly recommend the 3-D viewing as it really helps to immerse you into the movie. My overall impression was that if you're looking for an exciting action packed few hours with some spectacular visuals, then you can't go wrong with Avatar. However, there was some depth I felt was missing from the film. Many of the main characters lacked a sense of completeness and I felt like they could have been fleshed out a little more. That being said, I do think the lack of character development was more than made up by the character of the environment. The lush forest with its unique creatures was a feast for the eyes and the many action sequences did keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the long running time.