While the plot is fairly run of the mill, the world that James Cameron has created is breathtaking. The creation is on scale seldom seen in fiction's history. Complete with language, culture, wild-life, and vegetation, one could say that before Cameron, Tolkien was one of the few in history to create on such an imaginative, large scale. Tolkien still has Cameron, however, as he had a plot and history to go with his world. My only regret is not seeing Avatar for the first time in IMAX 3d instead of in regular 3d.