It was much better than I was expecting. While the movie does rely heavily on spectacle, there is more to it than just that. It's not an original story, by any means (See: Dances with Wolves) and the some of the characters seem a little one dimensional, but both the characters and story are compelling enough that I was able to stay interested.
For those of you interested in my more detailed thoughts, here's a "review" that I wrote in an e-mail for a friend after seeing the movie:
"Well, my official opinion is that it is a terrific movie. I
was a little surprised, as I went into it expecting simple CG
entertainment, but this was not the case. Avatar is no 2001: A Space
Odyssey, but it's a far, far better movie than most which are special
effects driven. (see Transformers)
The Effects:
The visuals were quite stunning. They weren't amazingly beyond others
that we're seeing today, but they're definitely a major selling point,
especially in 3D. Most of the time, the effects were convincing
enough that I forgot I was looking at special effects, which brings up
an interesting paradox. As CG becomes more and more realistic, in
some ways, it also become less and less spectacular. As it approaches
reality, your brain stops going "Wow, that looks incredible," and
starts going "wow, that looks normal." Granted, these effects can be
used to show amazing things, which rarely ever occur in reality, but
the spectacle itself ceases to be amazing. In my opinion, this is an
excellent development. Sooner or later, the movie going public will
become jaded with CG effects, and film makers will be forced to once
again focus on other elements of their work, which will provide us
with more and more "best of both worlds" movies. Avatar, I believe,
is a step in this direction. The CG effects are fantastic, but they
didn't feel like the reason for the movies' existence (at least to
me.) It felt like the CG was a really cool too used to impart
something much deeper, which is as it should be.
The Plot:
The plot conveys many powerful ideas and emotions. These ideas are
nothing that we haven't seen before, but they are very effectively
conveyed, providing a great experience. South Park's comparison to
Dances with Wolves is actually very accurate. In fact, I might go as
far as to say that the movies have pretty much the same plot, just a
different setting. Now, one can argue that this is less than stellar,
as there is very little originality in the plot. However, Dances with
Wolves told a very archetypal story: a more technologically powerful
culture seeks to take something from another, more spiritual culture,
and the victims' way of life is threatened. It's the same tale of the
righteous underdog versus the evil, overpowering force, which will
probably never get old.
There were cliche moment of the film, but they were never deal
breakers. I only found myself groaning during a couple of the
romantic subplot scenes, which, surprisingly, were not all extremely
painful to watch. Some were, but some of those moments felt genuine,
which is quite hard to do in a movie.
The Characters:
This is one of the places where I feel the movie is a little lacking.
There was very little depth to most of the characters, but there was
not so little depth that I couldn't enjoy myself. The acting
performances were never terrible, and were often pretty good. Despite
the lack of depth to some of the characters, what is there is usually
pretty believable, at least it was for me.
Final Verdict:
As I began with, I feel the movie was very good. The comments
floating about before it was released such as "This movie will change
the way films are made," and "a completely original plot," were by no
means warranted, but if you go into the movie looking for a good
story, with more depth than your average film, believable characters
and stunning visual effects you will certainly not be disappointed, in
fact you may be a little impressed. I'm giving it four out of five
creepy blue-alien sex scenes.
