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Avatar (2009)

tomatometer

83

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 283
Fresh: 235 | Rotten: 48

It might be more impressive on a technical level than as a piece of storytelling, but Avatar reaffirms James Cameron's singular gift for imaginative, absorbing filmmaking.

95

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 38 | Rotten: 2

It might be more impressive on a technical level than as a piece of storytelling, but Avatar reaffirms James Cameron's singular gift for imaginative, absorbing filmmaking.

audience

92

liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 622,949

My Rating

Movie Info

A paraplegic ex-marine finds a new life on the distant planet of Pandora, only to find himself battling humankind alongside the planet's indigenous Na'vi race in this ambitious digital 3D sci-fi epic from Academy Award-winning Titanic director James Cameron. The film, which marks Cameron's first dramatic feature since 1997's Titanic, follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a war veteran who gets called to the depths of space to pick up the job of his slain twin brother for the scientific arm of a

Apr 22, 2010

$760.5M

20th Century Fox

Cast

All Critics (283) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (241) | Rotten (50) | DVD (20)

Cameron's 'Avatar': Brainy & Beautiful

July 20, 2010 Full Review Source: Passionate Moviegoer | Comments (24)
Passionate Moviegoer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The narrative would be ho-hum without the spectacle. But what spectacle! Avatar is dizzying, enveloping, vertiginous ... I ran out of adjectives an hour into its 161 minutes.

December 21, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Magazine | Comments (10)
New York Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I had the feeling coming out of this movie that I haven't felt since maybe I was eleven years old in 1977 and I saw Star Wars for the first time.

December 21, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies | Comments (47)
At the Movies
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a remote-control movie experience, a high-tech "wish you were here" scribbled on a very expensive postcard.

December 18, 2009 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comments (167)
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The most-hyped movie of the year just about merits it.

December 18, 2009 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comments (4)
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Big money, big risk, pretty big reward. That's been his consistent pattern, and it's high time to give credit where credit is overdue: James Cameron delivers.

December 18, 2009 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Planet Pandora's plant and animal life is done with a wonder that has been often absent from fiction screens.

January 6, 2012 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | Comment
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

It's both wildly original and hauntingly familiar, like Dances With Wolves in a galaxy far, far away.

September 30, 2011 Full Review Source: American Profile | Comment (1)

It is far too long and the romance is half-hearted. Still, you'd have to travel very far to feel so fully immersed in another world.

July 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Digital Spy | Comment
Digital Spy

It's good. It should have been better.

March 11, 2011 Full Review Source: Needcoffee.com | Comment
Needcoffee.com

It may not change the world, but it'll certainly provide enjoyment to many millions of people all over it.

February 3, 2011 Full Review Source: What Culture | Comment

As a fantasy epic, Avatar is an undeniable victory ... but outside of the narrow confines of immersion he's managed, it's also quite limited.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | Comment
ComingSoon.net

The nature scenes are nothing short of magical in this film.

December 7, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Spiritually moving, visually daring and emotionally stirring, Avatar is classic storytelling at its very best.

December 4, 2010 Full Review Source: IGN DVD | Comment
IGN DVD

If you shoot for the moon and miss, it's a long way down. Now that Avatar has moved to the home video market, that plummet may have finally begun.

November 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | Comment (1)

"Avatar" looks amazing on Blu-ray. If the plot wasn't so pedestrian, it could have been a great film. Paul Chambers, CNN.

November 20, 2010 Full Review Source: CNNRadio | Comments (15)
CNNRadio

Avatar looks more like a cartoon on the small screen than it did in theaters, but anyone who owns a Pixar film on video knows that isn't meant as a slam.

November 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

I did not like Avatar and I have no interest in any bonus features that prolong the agony of the 160 film.

November 16, 2010 Full Review Source: KPBS.org | Comments (13)
KPBS.org

Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition follows in the wake of James Cameron's other terrific special video editions - and even puts them to shame.

November 14, 2010 Full Review Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune | Comment

If you ever wondered what a live-action Hayao Miyazaki film would look like, Avatar is a damn good approximation.

November 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI) | Comments (6)
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)

You can feel Cameron's anger and his passion every time a Na'vi roars. The most exhilarating moments are those when you can feel the director urging his actors to let go completely, to become furious, and to unleash hell.

October 27, 2010 Full Review Source: Quickflix | Comment

For all the justifiable knocks on James Cameron's writing, his personal investment in any project is never in doubt. With "Avatar," his passion for pushing the very possibilities of film as a medium pays off. Here's hoping we see him again before 2021.

September 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comments (3)
Suite101.com

Avatar is a joyous celebration of story craft and the visual possibilities of cinema. Cameron had set his sights on taking the technology of film where no one had gone before. And he delivers. Avatar is stunning. Cameron and Peter Jackson's Weta Digital h

July 7, 2010 Full Review Source: indieWIRE | Comments (3)
indieWIRE
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Avatar

Visually stunning , amazing on the IMAX 3d screen. As many have said the story isnt anything new but it does not have to be. This was an incredible feast for the eyes. If your going to spend 400 million on a movie this is the way to do it.

December 21, 2009
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

Seeing as I'm the last person on the planet to have seen Avatar, the hype was always going to effect my judgement. Ok, so here we go, the 3D special effects were very clever, and for the best part very good but...is it just me or did the Na'vi people look shit? I mean really, all that time, effort and money and that is

January 20, 2012
SirPant

Super Reviewer

    1. Col. Miles Quaritch: You're not in Kansas, anymore. You're on Pandora, ladies and gentlemen. Respect that fact, people. Every second of every day. If there is a hell, you might want to there for some R&R after a tour on Pandora. Out there beyond that fence every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes out for jujubes.
    – Submitted by Kris R (8 days ago)
    1. Jake Sully: When I was lying there in the VA hospital, with a big hole blown through the middle of my life I started having these dreams of flying, I was free. But sooner or later though you always have to wake up.
    – Submitted by Lexi F (31 days ago)
    1. Trudy Chacon: You're not the only one with a gun, bitch.
    – Submitted by Lexi F (31 days ago)
    1. Neytiri: I see you.
    – Submitted by Austin G (32 days ago)
    1. Norm Spellman: Jake!
    – Submitted by Austin G (32 days ago)

Latest News for Avatar

December 15, 2011:
Five Favorite Films with Roger Corman
Movies as we know them just wouldn't be the same without Roger Corman. Sure, filmmakers like...

September 21, 2011:
James Cameron Wants to Take You on a Ride to Pandora
The world of "Avatar" is coming to Fox's theme parks.

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Foreign Titles

  • Avatar - Aufbruch nach Pandora (DE)
  • Avatar: Special Edition 3D (UK)
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