James Cameron has done the seemingly impossible yet again. To this day, nobody does visual effects like Cameron. For three hours straight you’re sitting in a theater staring at the screen gobsmacked by how incredible every single shot is. The water, the creatures, the sweeping and dynamic shots, the action scenes, the

While the film garners an undebatable five stars for visual effects the actual story leaves a lot to be desired.

Its predecessor, Avatar, is a film that came out thirteen years ago and isn’t exactly the most memorable movie ever made. There aren’t any quotes that really stand out and the story is surprisingly forgettable. Because Cameron realizes this, Avatar: The Way of Water is an invisible soft reboot of the first film, introducing new characters who follow jarringly similar story beats to the first movie.

Nearly everything plays out like Avatar but with a lot less urgency, resulting in a second act whose scenes not only seem egregiously repetitive but shockingly boring. For a large stretch of the film, I found myself absolutely bored out of my mind…until the third act.

The third act ramps up so fiercely that by the time the movie reaches the last thirty minutes I was so stressed my head hurt once the film concluded. Oh, and I thought I wasn’t going to cry…until the film’s last minutes broke me.

And so, with mixed feelings, I can definitively say Avatar: The Way of Water is a movie that absolutely deserves to be seen in IMAX 3D but if you plan to wait to watch it on Disney+ that’s fine too.

I definitely prefer the first movie instead. Avatar has grown on me with each viewing whereas Avatar: The Way of Water feels thirty-forty minutes too long. However, I cannot deny my excitement for the third movie in which the story is preparing to be a doozy. There are a lot of complicated relationships being built and moving forward, the war against the Sky People is only going to get intense. I’m pumped.

Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water isn’t a full-blown disappointment but I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy Puss in Boots: The Last Wish much more on Christmas.

I’m giving this movie 4 out of 5 stars and 87 out of 100.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.