I think I've said quite enough about what I think of Avatar, but I'll finish by answering the straight question why I watched it at all, "since it is clearly not my sort of movie". Well, not really. I enjoyed the first two Terminator films, the latest Star Trek and many others. On television the BBC did an excellent version of The Day of the Triffids in the 60s or so which was repeated fairly recently. Most of the Tennant Doctor Who stories are very good or better. So I have no problem with science fiction per se. And of course many people people proclaimed Avatar as a thing of wonder. So I went to see it in quite a positive frame of mind. That may even be part of the problem: if I had expected less I might have been more forgiving. And the same applies to other kind of films: I can enjoy some horror, comedy, and all the other genres: keep the story consistant and (in the genre) believable and interesting and I will be a happy bunny. But all those conditions are interdependant: if the story is slow or less interesting I am more likely to notice inconsistancies which make it less believable and the vicious circle is under way.