I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by the unbelievably great CGI and I was totally underwhelmed by the story and the dialogue.

The story was shallow, IMO (not that it was a bad story). I could tell what was going to happen from the beginning, there weren’t any surprises or twists.

And if the dialogue was written by anyone other than Cameron, the script probably wouldn’t have made it past the reader. My least favorite line was “Death from above,” an Army Airborne motto coming from a Marine. Yeah.

But as I pointed out to my son’s girlfriend, I’m just old and jaded.

Well, I would have to say that it's just a frickin movie. Written by white males. Where the biggest audiences is white males.

You can't talk about change if you don't describe a situation. It may not be the best memory or portrait of America but it is a familiar story and the establishment of the "world" was more important as it enables everyone to have the same type of CGI.

Just the introduction of another world lowers the cinematic choices.
You can have discovered monsters, hostile environment or native people; and all of these would involve mining or resources.

I guess perhaps Cameron should allow polishes from writers who don't have to work with the tech people most of the time, but again this tech is now available to everyone.

Perhaps some of the detractors should think about revisiting it with a different story. The tech could definitely help something I'm working on.

When all of this started happening (3D) I began to develop a visual language to emphasize it.

Anyway, I have to say that it's not quite my cup of tea so the cold is preventing me from venturing forth.

But I expect that if it gets a run like Titanic, it could take the #1 spot.

Two other good critical pieces on Avatar: Caleb Crain, who compares it to The Matrix, and Scott Kaufman, who amplifies the point made by the author you quote with a football analogy.

The reasons for telling that story are commercially sound (white male sci-fi fans), but they don't make it a problem-free story to tell.