Overall, it was as good as Aliens and looks cool. Worth the $30 for a good demo set.
While the young girl in
Aliens brought down the movie a bit, I'd still say it was a lot stronger movie than
Avatar, mainly because, as you said, it's basically a re-tread of past movies. The idea of the avatars themselves held a lot of potential, but to use that idea to simply remake
Dances With Wolves? Such a wasted opportunity. And yeah, the message was uninspired, the writing heavy-handed. Of course, I liked
The Abyss, and you could make the same arguments about it. Anyway, I like James Cameron's technical vision, if nothing else. It really was some decent fun for the senses, but I'm definitely feeling insulted by the writing.
