He still occasionally has a hard time writing dialogue that doesn’t sound like how adults think tweens speak, but damn, James Cameron can spin a yarn and, more importantly, create a true motion picture experience. An epic wonder of visual effects, this ambitious follow-up to the 2009 original brings us back to Cameron’s wholly immersive world, trading the forests of Pandora for the beach and ocean. It clocks in at three hours and change (just two minutes shorter than ‘Titanic’), but that’s not a bad thing—it actually gives the characters and plot some much-needed time to breathe. A stunning masterpiece of cinematic wonder.

5/5 stars