Academy Awards winner: Avatar

Set in 2154, James Cameron's Avatar tells the story of Jake Sully (Australian actor Sam Worthington), a paraplegic Marine, who is sent to infiltrate and win the trust of the Na'vi, a race of 10-feet-tall, blue-skinned humanoids. When Sully is rescued by the Na'vi warrior princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and embraced by her clan, he must choose between this peaceful race and the hawkish mission of Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who wants to uproot the Na'vi in order to mine their land.

Its storyline may be clunky and the environmental message heavyhanded but, after four years of post-production, Avatar is a visual tour de force. Cameron's psychedelic 3D landscapes, phantasmagorical Garden of Eden-style rainforests and mind-boggling menagerie of alien life-forms are truly spectacular.
It cost $300m-plus to make – but took just six weeks to become the highest grossing film of of all time.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: "What a glory Cameron has created for Jake to romp in, all in a crisp 3D realism. It's every fairy tale about flying dragons, magic plants, weirdly hypnotic creepy-crawlies and feral dogs rolled up into a rain forest with a highly advanced spiritual design. It seems - although the scientists led by Sigourney Weaver's top doc have barely scratched the surface - a flow of energy ripples through the roots of trees and the spores of the plants, which the Na'vi know how to tap into."
 
Chris Hewitt, Empire: "As much as technology aids and defines Avatar, it's also a love letter to humanity and the glory of mother nature. The analogy with the Vietnam and Iraq wars is obvious, but Cameron, in siding with the insurgents (hardly an all-American move, but then again he is Canadian), is also asking fairly complex questions about what it means to be human." (Verdict: five stars out of five, assuming you wear the 3-D glasses)

Richard Corliss, Time magazine: "Cameron has devised a romance similar to Titanic's - a grunt falls in love with a princess - but this time with far more emotive power. Instead of embracing on a ship's prow, Sully and Neyfiri ride their banshee steeds in ecstatic communion across the Pandoran sky. Think of them as the prince and princess of the world... But unlike the tryst between DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, this love affair has consequences. It is not a footnote to history; it makes history, as two species merge to save a planet."
 
Andrew Pulver, the Guardian: "Avatar tries to have it both ways, to be preachy and a thrill-ride at the same time. I can't in all honesty say it pulls it off – it's baggy, longwinded and, for all the light-speed imagery, just not quick on its feet. Cameron used to be the tautest film-maker around, but he just got slack." (Verdict: two out of five stars)

'Avatar' is out on general release in the UK. ·