- 10
Avatar's shock and awe demand to be seen. You've never experienced anything like it, and neither has anyone else.
—Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times
- 10
Believe the hype.
—Luke Y. Thompson E!
- 10
...a stunning masterpiece.
—Bill Gibron filmcritic.com
- 10
He [Cameron] hasn't changed cinema, but with blue people and pink blooms he has confirmed its wonder.
—Manohla Dargis New York Times
- 10
...a jaw-dropping wonder...
—Kirk Honeycutt Hollywood Reporter
- 9
...given a chance, the movie is gorgeous, funny, fun, and engrossing in a way that a lot of movies aim for but few achieve.
—Nick Starkey Premiere
- 9
At the end of a decade defined by much bellyaching about ?the death of cinema? (including, on occasion, by this critic), Avatar concludes, appropriately enough, with an image of rebirth.
—Scott Foundas LA Weekly
- 9
Watching Avatar, I felt sort of the same as when I saw Star Wars in 1977.
—Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
- 9
... a film of universal appeal that just about everyone who ever goes to the movies will need to see.
—Todd McCarthy Variety
- 8
If I never felt entirely transported by Avatar, it's probably because the story thudded just as often as the imagery soared.
—Peter Rainer Christian Science Monitor
- 8
...may sometimes speak in Velveeta, but it's rarely less than absorbing and never boring over its nearly three-hour length.
—Lo Lmenick New York Post
- 8
...tone-deaf but thunderously exciting...
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 8
...may sometimes speak in Velveeta, but it's rarely less than absorbing and never boring over its nearly three-hour length.
—Lou Lmenick New York Post
- 7
...a technological wonder, 15 years percolating in King Cameron's imagination and inarguably the greatest 3-D cavalry western ever made. Too bad that western is Dances With Wolves.
—J, Hoberman Village Voice
- 7
...dazzling and immersive, a ravishing techno-dream for the senses, but one that's likely to leave audiences simultaneously amazed and unmoved.
—Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly
- 7
For all the grandeur and technical virtuosity of the mythical 3-D universe Cameron labored for years to perfect, his characters are one-dimensional, rarely saying anything unexpected.
—Claudia Puig USA Today
- 7
The first 90 minutes of Avatar are pretty terrific -- a full-immersion technological wonder with wonders to spare. The other 72 minutes, less and less terrific.
—Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune
- 6
...a hokey morality tale we've seen before.
—Joey Bartolomeo People
- 5
On a story level, Cameron has invested the bare minimum necessary to call Avatar into existence, and while there's no doubting his meticulousness, the film is more demo than drama.
—Scott Tobias Onion AV Club
- 5
Despite "king of the world" James Cameron's cocky claims to the contrary, with Avatar, a cinematic revolution doesn't begin so much as proceed into its next phase, one in which the battle vigorously continues between technology and storytelling, novelty and cliché, maturity and juvenilia.
—Nick Schager Slant Magazine