What do you get when you combine an Oscar winning director/writer, state of the art special effects, revolutionary 3-D technology, and 500 million dollars. A masterpiece, right? Wrong.

In the 2009 epic, millions and millions of people bought tickets to see one of the greatest visual experiences of all time; there’s no denying that. James Cameron used the 3-D technology like no one ever has before, making you feel as if you are on Pandora. The spectacle of beautiful scenery and indescribable environment of Pandora are truly those worth seeing. The performance capture is also outstanding, while the characters may be 10 feet tall and blue, you can see the actor’s performances come shining through.

That being said, while you can see the actor’s shine through, you kind of wish that they wouldn’t. Sam Worthington, playing Jake is the best actor by far in this film, which is not something that Mr. Cameron should be proud of (even if Worthington can’t seem to get rid of his Australian accent). The other players in this film delivered there clichéd lines with below par skills. Even in the touching moments, it was hard to feel sorry for the beautiful characters. You almost cringe seeing some of them, like Sigourney Weaver, because the acting is so god-awful.

Now, being fair, perhaps it is not the actors fault. It probably has something to do with good old James Cameron. It has been said that Cameron is the greatest showman of all time, and its true. This movie delivers a crowd pleasing epically outstanding visual experience. But what it lacks is any true substance whatsoever. For one thing, Cameron uses clichés so much that watching the film, you can practically write the ending by yourself. Ok Cameron, we get it, good defeats evil, the hero gets the girl, happily ever after.. blah blah blah. In addition, the characters are so flat and unoriginal that the only thing keeping me in the theater were the visuals. They were so predictable that one could name one hundred other characters that were virtually the same as Jake Sully, Neytiri, Grace Augustine, etc.

At the end of the day though, this film is the highest grossing picture of all time, and although I may disagree I have to tip my hat to James Cameron for producing an entreating movie.