Truth is, they were both. When Cameron first started talking about Avatar he hyped it up so much that there was no way it could live up to expectations. "Ground breaking"..."Revolutionary".."Never seen before"..Then came the trailers, and cries of Dances With Smurfs! Lets get this straight, Avatar IS unoriginal, its cliched, it has some awful dialog and the special effects are not only NOT revolutionary, they aren't even the best we've seen this year. But its one of the most entertaining movies you will have seen for a long time I think.
The plot is pretty well known(its been derided enough after all). Jake Sully(Sam Worthington) is a crippled ex marine whi signs up to give his consciousness to an organically grown Avatar of one of the Na'vi, the indigenous species of the planet Pandora. Some very bad military type folks want the Na'vi out of their way so that they can mine a precious stone that is located right beneath their village. Sully infiltrates the tribe and meets Neytiri(Zoe Saldaña) and the obvious happens. He falls in love, becomes torn between following his orders and gathering intel and fully integrating himself into the tribe.
I won't say any more as you can guess what happens..but how it happen came as a surprise to me. For all the action and "splosions" in the trailer, Avatar is a movie with a lot of heart. And even strives for spriritual at times. It doesn't quite get there because of its heavy handedness, but Cameron's intentions are made clear. The story may be a well worn one, but its delivered so expertly that your completely sucked in regardless. And although the effects are not exactly revolutionary, they are still amazing to behold. The best scenes are of course on Pandora where all manner of creatures and plant life provide a feast for your eyeballs. And when the shit hits the fan, well, who does action like Cameron? Its fantastic stuff.
Now, what about Sammy boy I hear you ask! Well, although his accent does falter toward the end, he's really great in this, in both human and Na'vi form. Zoe Saldana is also first rate even though we only see her CGI performance, she really makes you feel for Neytiri(and also somehow still manages to look hot!). Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine is also great(when isn't she?) and although Stephen Lang is a walking cliche as main baddie Col. Quarditch, he's still a blast, delivering lines like "Not while Im breathin" and "lets fight terror with terror" with relish. The only real bad turn comes from Michelle Rodriguez who Im not a big fan of anyway, and this certainly didn't do anything to change my opinion.
So there you have it. Don't believe the hype, Cameron hasn't reinvented the wheel here..but he has made a damn good movie. And isn't that the most important thing anyway?
4/5 Stars.
P.S..try to get the Hell out of dodge before that awful Leona lewis song kicks in!