The character work gets a bit lost in the environmental messaging and over-reliance on narration but what doesn't is its heart and empathy for nature which it uses effectively to build one of the more interesting fictional worlds in modern sci-fi. There is some corniness here that doesn't mesh well with the overall tone of the movie (unobtanium got a good chuckle out of me though) and all of the military schlock is pretty heavy-handed. Cameron's sensibilities as a visual storyteller overshadow his shortcomings in the script however, and the movie has aged fairly well for what it is. He handles the action with an extremely steady hand and never loses a sense of continuity which is quite the feat considering the mayhem that goes down in the movie's third act. James Horner is sorely missed, and the void left by him will be hard to fill in the sequels.