When his identical twin brother is killed, ex-marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) gets a new chance at life, far from Earth on the distant moon Pandora, by taking his brother’s place amongst a group of scientists and researchers led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). By linking consciousness with an avatar, an individually and specifically designed hybrid body, the researchers can take on the form of the Na’vi, the indigenous people of Pandora, and interact in the wild while the human body remains at military base and “sleeps.” Despite having no training and no foreknowledge of the Na’vi culture, Sully is somewhat welcomed by the tribe and is taught the ways of the Na’vi by the chief’s daughter, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).  While the research team’s goal is to forge a stronger bond with the Na’vi, the mining corporation funding Augustine’s efforts has a far more sinister objective in mind – the massive unobtainium deposit lying directly beneath the Na’vi’s jungle village.

Without a doubt, Avatar is a visually stunning masterpiece, unlike anything that’s been created before. It’s clearly fantastical, but unlike fantasy worlds of the past, the jungles of Pandora have a certain tinge of believability to them. Every part of Cameron’s lush paradise, from the pink, luminescent willow-like trees to the enormous, orange, multi-layered flowers that shrink when touched, is so vividly and meticulously portrayed that it’s as if this dreamscape actually exists. You know it’s not real, but it feels real.

That’s the magic of Avatar; it is imagination at its best but shown in such a way that it comes to life and is very much believable. Even the romance that develops between Sully and Neytiri, while predictable, is tastefully done and slowly builds over the course of the movie, as opposed to being abruptly inserted randomly near the end. On the subject of predictability though, one would be hard-pressed not to admit that Avatar’s storyline is anything but predictable, almost like a futuristic version of Pocahontas or Tarzan. The small nuances and details, like the technology of the avatar program and the animals of Pandora’s jungles and skies, are brilliant and creative, but even Cameron admitted that the film follows a more classic “going-native” approach.

The real drawback to Avatar is, unfortunately, the movie’s terrible dialogue, which not even the beauty of Pandora’s lush, ethereal flora and fauna can mask. Sully, for one, is particularly guilty, although each character has his fair share of cheesy lines. As the conflict between human and Na’vi heats up, Sully drops his collected and emotionally detached exterior and adopts a more passionate and fiery attitude. Sadly, due to his rather poor choice of words, his attempts to rally and unify the Na’vi are painful to watch and embarrassingly awkward. The second half of the movie is filled with these lackluster, corny declarations, along with the occasional unconvincing war-cry, making the more dramatic scenes hard to stomach.

But while his script could use some major revisions, Cameron, nevertheless, delivers an awe-inspiring and stellar cinematic experience, especially when watched in 3D. Should you choose to skip over a groundbreaking and revolutionary film such as this, it may just be your worst decision of 2010.