First of all, I have to say that I have seen the first Avatar about 50-60 times since it came out on blue-ray. It is an absolute favorite movie of mine. Magical atmosphere, super cgi and great story.

The way of the water however is an unworthy successor.

About the story: it is very banal and extremely similar to the first one. Besides gaps in the context and completely incoherent events, the label's desire to release another part is very clear. It has its moments but in the end it becomes very obvious that it was just something to close the gap to the following movie. The open end comes as a horrible decision on top.

Characters: acting-wise it is what it is, with cgi unfortunately not much to hollow out. But also hardly any new characters and other things are introduced to the first and you could have honestly organized another better villain.

Now for the cgi: the film is beautiful. Nothing breathtaking through the bank, however, there are some very good scenes. Still these can't make up for the fact that there are some extremely bad cgi sequences and objects. The potential is also either not fully exploited in the right moments, or is far too bright and shiny and just seems fake.

The new world that the film wanted to show is not really as beautiful and new as was hoped.

The film does not really convince me but more important what really leaves me cheerless is whether the next part will be a pure money-making or if it finds its roots again.