Having grown up on video games , 3D cinematic cut scenes have long lost their innovative dazzle. But James Cameron did not get the memo apparently. The stereoscopic effect here is purely used to overstimulate your senses so that you ignore how poor the actual 3D animation is. When you watch it without the 3D, everything feels fake an less polished then the predecessor. The way objects interact with the environment, There is no smoke, dust or loose sediment in the oceans. Everything is sterilized to keep the 3D scenes crystal clear. Trains, boats and ships all exhibit rudimentary crash physics of tumbling and rolling without realistic crash damage. The explosions feel like they are used to cover up the animation crime scene.

Every moment you are reminded that it is nothing but a cartoon. 3 hours of James Cameron doing a homage to himself . Recycling the same cliche action from his previous thrillers The Abyss,s and Titanic . If I wanted to see a reefs and whales, I would rather watch Discovery channel then imaginary animation for three hours.

The story is as thin as it gets, teen drama of imaginary blue aliens having human problems, not even interesting problems.

This is more suitable as a 15 minute Disneyland ride than a 3 hour movie.