I dont understand the hype hoenstly. I saw marty supreme and i thought that was pretty good as far as movies go these days.

I saw 60+ movies in theaters last year. How about you?

I'd make a joke about Avatar is a massive success with no cultural impact, but this entry marked the first time I saw fan art and references in the wild following the film's release. So I'll just give my regards to a massive franchise that finally found its online fandom.

I'll watch the 3rd one when it comes out on home video. I remember being initially blown away by the first movie when it was first released in theaters, but after the first couple of viewings, the novelty wore off. The characters weren't that interesting. The story was akin to Dances With Wolves on an alien planet, with a "save the forest" narrative. By early 2010, I had grown tired of Avatar.

I saw the second one just to see how things improved, and it was more of the same, this time with a Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home-esque "save the whales" narrative lol. Impressive visuals still, but visuals alone weren't doing it for me.

So I'm holding off on seeing the third one. Which seems to be a wise choice for me as all my family and friends who have seen it agree that it's the weakest of the franchise so far.

It's a Cameron film so just by the sheer scope of the talent he has in knowing how to direct scenes and as a storyteller how to build drama/create emotion ... it's still probably the best "big budget action sci-fi/fantasy" film of the year. I would take it over Superman or Fantastic 4 or things like that easily, it's a level above stuff like that. Dude is just more talented than most directors, even good ones. There are some clever hard decisions the main characters have to make, good writing on that front. 
And despite the long run time I wasn't really bored, but pro-tip, skip the soda/drinks until after the movie as it's generally not great having to hold your pee waiting for a movie to finish.

That said I'm not that crazy about the character of Spider though I get what they are trying to do with that story arc in terms of related to a human audience. But overall I enjoyed it. The Fire/Ash lady was fun though oddly not featured enough as the film went on. The third act is a bit derivative though. Entertaining sure, but a bit derivative of the previous two finales. 

I also think they didn't know if this is the final film of the series so they kinda split the difference and made an ending that's sort of an ending but not a definitive one.

If they are making an Avatar 4, I would like to see a new biome on Pandora (ice area?) and some of the story to take place on future Earth. Got to change the formula up.

Given that there's not many good "Part IIIs" of anything (Lord of the Rings and Star Wars OT being more exceptions than the rule) this one was pretty good. 

I'll also give the Avatar sequels this ... most of the new "family" characters are likable and the family dynamic is very well done, they feel like a real family going through some tough shit. Again, most directors/writers wouldn't have a clue on how to pull that off in a big sci-fi action movie without making it cheesy. The characters feel "real". Even little things like the relationship between Netiryi (sp?) and the other ocean lady matriarch is well done and touching, that's just a little thing but Cameron really goes the extra mile to make those things work and the result is a fairly touching moment. 

I'd give it an 8/10 for reference my other comparables

Terminator (1984) - 8/10

The Abyss - 8/10

Aliens - 9/10

Terminator 2 - 9.5/10

True Lies - 9/10

Titanic - 10/10

Avatar 1 - 8.5/10

Avatar Way Of Water - 8.5/10

Avatar Fire & Ash - 8/10

Should be around the 50 mark

I think its just the spectacle of being transported to another world. Saw the first one as a teen and loved the world building. Watched the second as an adult and was bored by how repetitive it was and the lack of personality.

I do hope they make a game which more attaches it gameplay more to the lore and fantastastical aspects of the world. Making the focus on military combat and bases was a mistake (Far Cry), they'd be better of setting the next game with a tribe who haven't yet had human contact and just make it full on breath of the wild but with Navi

Their appeal is basically that they are pure popcorn escapism; beautiful visuals, over the top action, a simple straightforward story, just check your brain at the door and spend 3 hours or so in another world where you can forget all about the complexities and problems of the real world.

That's one of the reasons, though. You get the best "graphics" of any movie with Avatar which many just don't want to miss and it's at least an ok franchise which is enough for many to go watch it. If the CGI wouldn't be that good or if the movies would be even worse it would be something else, though. It also helps that it's liked by men and woman and that people of many age groups watch it. 16 years old watch it and 50 years old as well.

It also helps that pretty much the whole world watches it. It's a success in USA, it's a success in Brazil, in Germany, South Korea and so on...many other movies just don't get anyone in the cinema in some regions. 

it could be even bigger if it would be bigger in China but no Avatar movie passed 250m I believe. 

I was in that camp as well (even in previous convos on VGChartz), but credit where it's due to Cameron.  The 'colonizer bf/psychopath gf' pairing has inspired a few great memes.