Two stars is for the CGI effects. There really is very little story here and it is not original. The effects are very good just like in anything state-of-the-art at the time like Star Wars, Titanic, etc. The movie is 30 to 45 minutes too long and without a story, the experience begins to border on tiresome. Suspension of disbelief is fine so long as a story abides by its own internal logic. Avatar does not. No doubt, the hype is out there and driving ticket sales but I just don't see the big deal. I was thinking during the movie that whoever green-lit this enormously expensive project had to have been worried upon seeing the final product. The public is buying into the hype, but I could easily understand how this movie could have been received by the public as absurd and resulted in a huge financial turkey. The gamble paid off as the box office is huge and I can see many sequels totaling a 10+ billion franchise. As for me, I'll cut my losses and stop after seeing this first movie.