Avatar's Plot: Fail, or Fail Safe?

I bet you felt something was vaguely familiar with Avatar's plot, I know I did. But you have to admit there are many ways to achieve some form of narrative originality, and Avatar is like a very well made collage. A combination of elements from Sci-Fi and Fantasy, epic romance and a current hot topic: ecological collapse. All of it packaged in technology that has existed for over a decade but is now finally entering the mainstream.

The best thing about Avatar however is the image system of Pandora. How everything connects into some kind of neurological network that is the consciousness of the entire planet. Also, we know the main point of watching movies like this is not really the experimental story telling (we might be too overwhelmed trying to comprehend a new world and a novel narrative in just about 3 hours, I think. The main point is the glorious setting and the myriad of new and interesting creatures and things in it. As pointed out by Carol K Yoon in this NYT article: Luminous 3D jungle is Biologist's Dream. If you're into Natural History, you could also dive into her book, Naming Nature.