‘Avatar’ is, according to some reports, the most expensive film ever made. Records say the film cost $350 million, and every penny shows on screen. This may be the first film that creates a fictional, but living, breathing, new world that you entirely believe in. Not one moment of the film looks fake.

This is director James Cameron’s first film since 1997’s ‘Titanic’, so expectations are huge. Ignore the somewhat clichéd advertisements for ‘Avatar’: This isn’t just some other action blockbuster; ‘Avatar’ is truly different from any other film you’ve ever seen. It was filmed using motion capture technology, which is basically where you act on a blank stage while computers track your movement and record it. However, the triumph of ‘Avatar’ lies not in the revolutionary way they told the story, but in the fact that the way they told the story never distracts you from the story.

The film is set in 2154 on a nearby planet called Pandora. Earth’s natural resources are being depleted and Pandora has a massive deposit of a special mineral that will solve the crisis. However, a tribe of tall, blue beings called Na’vi is living on top of the deposit. Our military wants the Na’vi off their settlement. To accomplish this, they develop ‘avatars’, where humans control a genetically-engineered Na’vi with their thoughts. (Rather confusing, I know) A paralyzed ex-Marine named Jake Sully takes control of an avatar, and ventures out into the Pandora jungles. Along the way, he falls in love with a Na’vi named Naytiri.

I won’t lie to you – ‘Avatar’ is a flawed film. The general premise is recycled from other films. Dialogue in this film is a very mixed bag: One moment, it may be complex and interesting, other times it’s brief and blunt. The thinly-veiled attempts to provide parallels between Pandora’s crisis and our current energy crisis are somewhat pathetic, and solely drag down the film. However, I thought the story was well-told overall, blending an old-fashioned (and interesting) romance with futuristic science fiction. Sam Worthington as Jake somehow makes the dialogue believable, and believe me there’s a lot of un-plausible lines. Zoe Saldana as the Na’vi woman is excellent, showing just how much emotion motion-capture technology can display.

The film easily has the greatest special effects ever made. It takes skill to create an explosion, but to create an entire fictional world goes above and beyond traditional effects films. The fictional creatures are imaginative, and surprisingly the computer-created Na’vi look stunning, even in close-up camera shots. ‘Avatar’ is stunning any way you see it, but if you see it in 3-D, it’s an incredible experience. The 3-D adds a depth to the film that you can’t get with a traditional screening.

‘Avatar’ is alot of fun. It has some problems with the script and some of the intended undertones, but you’ll be too entertained, too enthralled, and too awe-struck to really care. Easily one of 2009′s best.