Going into the release of 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, logical concerns arose about its financial prospects. Sure, it acted as the first sequel to 2009’s Avatar, a film that made nearly $3 billion worldwide.

That remains the highest-grossing film of all-time, a fact that should’ve alleviated any financial naysaying.

Given the 2009 movie’s success, one might assume a sequel would deliver money in the bank. However, the 13 years between releases didn’t seem like it benefited the franchise, as no strong lingering affection for Avatar appeared to exist.

Someday we’ll learn never to count out filmmaker James Cameron, though. Though not as successful as the 2009 Avatar, Water nonetheless captured $2.3 billion worldwide, a figure that made it the third highest-grossing movie ever – and gave Cameron three of the top four, with 1997’s Titanic in fourth place.

We won’t know until late 2025 if Cameron’s third Avatar can strike gold yet again. Nonetheless, it would seem foolish to assume it won’t.

In the first film, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) gave up his humanity to become part of the alien Na’vi species on the planet Pandora. 16 years later, he lives as chief of the Omaticaya clan with wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as well as biological kids Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), and adopted children Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion), a human who was the son on Jake’s now-deceased foe Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).

Their peaceful lives find disruption when a military team led by General Frances Ardmore (Edie Falco) arrives. With Earth dying, they want to colonize Pandora, and this brings major battles – with a Na’vi avatar that contains Colonel Quaritch’s memories at the fore.

If you look back at my review of the 2009 Avatar, you’ll see I kinda sorta enjoyed it but didn’t really embrace it. Honestly, it too often felt like a technical triumph more than a compelling and involving set of characters and plot points.

I hoped Water would improve on that model. Without all the first film’s exposition and “world building”, I figured the sequel could offer a more engaging and fleshed-out tale.

Alas, this did not occur. Indeed, Water often feels like a clone of the 2009 flick, for better and for worse.

In the “for better” category, Water continues the terrific production values of its predecessor. With another 13 years of R&D at his disposal, the already-excellent computer visuals of the 2009 movie fare even better for the sequel.

Well, mostly, as I still don’t buy the CG humanoid characters as real. Granted, they come closer to a sense of organic believability than occurred with the first film, but Water’s roles still suffer from that “Uncanny Valley” impression.

Though some fare better than others. Clearly Cameron and crew devoted more time and attention to the lead characters than supporting parts, so we swallow Jake and Neytiri more easily than most of the rest.

Still, the Na’vi and other Pandora races just can’t come across as “real”. The animation works well enough that this doesn’t become a major concern, but the inability of Water to create truly natural humanoid CG characters continues an off-putting aspect that marred the first film.

I should probably amend my earlier statement when I referred to Jake and Neytiri as main roles, though. This seems accurate in the abstract but Water spends a whole lot of time with their kids instead.

As such, Jake and Neytiri tend to get lost along the way – especially Neytiri, who goes from her place as a huge part of the 2009 film to a borderline superfluous part here – well, until the finale, when Cameron remembers she exists. Jake gets more to do – especially in the third act, too – but Cameron seems way more concerned with their offspring.

I get this choice to a degree, mainly because Cameron wants Water to focus on family. Avatar told the story of a human who “went native”, and this one looks at the bonds of kin.

In theory, that seems fine, but in reality, it means Water can feel like a sort of spinoff film. It devotes so much times to the exploits of the kids that it can seem like Avatar: The Next Generation more than a sequel to the prior flick.

Perhaps Cameron did that on purpose to set up subsequent movies. Maybe he wants to pass the torch more formally in chapter three and this allows him the chance to do so.

Whatever the case, I don’t think it works, mainly because the Na’vi kids generally seem like such forgettable characters. Kiri manages some personality and her own arc, but Neteyam and Lo’ak feel virtually interchangeable and they make little impression along the way.

This turns into a pretty big concern given how much of the movie follows these journeys. While I can’t claim I ever invested much emotion in the Jake/Neytiri arc, at least Avatar felt like it delivered a consistent, forward-moving progression, whereas Water lacks the same focus.

I just can’t get into the younger generation, though I can understand why Cameron focuses on them here. Really, Water lacks much room for development when it comes to Jake and Neytiri.

Jake went through a major arc in the first movie, but now he seems stuck in amber. Even his role as a father doesn’t get much exposition because of the chronology.

If Water showed Jake and Neytiri as parents of little kids, then we could see his evolution. However, since we’re 16 years down the road, fatherhood isn’t new to him, so the film fails to present real evolution or drama there.

Because the Jake and Neytiri of Water lack much room to grow, I get the emphasis on their kids. That POV could work in theory, but as noted, the new characters seem less than engaging, so they fail to ground the narrative well.

All that said, Water never becomes boring. Granted, the middle third can drag as it devotes endless minutes to less than engrossing character exposition, but the sheer spectacle of it all keeps us with it.

Again, I wish Cameron would devote more effort to story than to world-building, but I can’t criticize the results. Water does present a lush and engaging universe.

In addition, the years haven’t dimmed Cameron’s ability to pull off vivid and exciting action scenes. Since nearly the entire final one-third of Water revolves around various battles, this means the film kicks into higher gear for an extended period.

The lively final act helps redeem the semi-sluggish nature of the first pair – to a degree, at least. I still wish Cameron spent more time with real character development and a more creative story in the opening two hours, but he manages to kick the tale into higher gear by the end.

All of this leaves me with virtually the same impression of Way of Water as I encountered with the original Avatar. It brings a great technological achievement that boasts some thrilling action but it suffers from lackluster characters and a less than enthralling story.

Might the third chapter in the franchise finally bring me the “total package” Avatar film I crave? Perhaps, but the first two strike me as moderately enjoyable flicks that just never achieve greatness.

Avatar: The Way of Water appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. As expected, this became a top-notch Dolby Vision presentation.

Sharpness never faltered. From start to finish, the movie came with accurate and tight visuals.

The film lacked signs of jagged edges or moiré effects, and it came with no edge haloes. Source flaws also remained absent.

Unsurprisingly, the palette favored blues and aquas, with some oranges, purples and reds tossed in at times. The disc made these hues look full and vivid. HDR gave the tones added range and impact as well.

Blacks came across as dark and deep, while low-light shots appeared smooth and concise. Whites and contrast got a boost from HDR. Everything about the image satisfied.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack also worked well, as it created an engrossing soundscape. With a broad variety of natural habitats, the audio provided a smooth, involving sense of locations.

The mix of action scenes kicked to life well. With lots of underwater scenes as well as flying elements and violence like gunfire and explosions, the soundfield allowed for lots of information to fill the various speakers and blend in a smooth manner.

Audio quality seemed strong, with speech that came across as concise and distinctive. Music showed appealing range and impact as well.

Effects displayed solid accuracy and punch, with tight, deep low-end. The movie’s soundtrack added to the experience.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? The 4K’s Atmos audio proved a bit more immersive, though the 5.1 already worked so well that I didn’t find much room for improvement.

A native 4K product, the Dolby Vision image offered delineation, colors and blacks superior to those of the already-excellent Blu-ray. It became an obvious upgrade.

A recommendation complication occurs due to the existence of Avatar in a 3D Blu-ray version . For viewers with the ability to watch both 3D and 4K, which would I recommend?

I’d opt for the 3D. Yes, it comes with weaker picture quality and lacks the 4K’s Atmos, but Cameron designed Way of Water to be seen 3D.

Note that Disney released two 4K versions of Water in 2023. Its 4K debut, the studio dubbed the June 2023 package as the film’s “Ultimate Collector’s Edition”, whereas the December 2023 set earned the sobriquet “Collector’s Edition”.

In a confusing twist, the December CE includes more extras than the June UCE. This makes no sense but I guess Disney hoped no one would notice the backwards title choices.

I never saw the UCE so I can’t compare it to the CE. I suspect the two offer very similar visuals, though the CE comes with Dolby Vision encoding, and that acts as a bonus for those with the proper equipment.

A second platter brings a Blu-ray copy of the film. It appears to recycle the 2D BD linked earlier.

All this package’s extras appear on two bonus platters, and Disc Four duplicates the supplements from the prior release. Under Inside Pandora’s Box, we get 14 featurettes with a total running time of two hours, 32 minutes, 14 seconds.

Across these, we hear from writer/director/editor James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, production designers Ben Procter and Dylan Cole, costume designer Deborah Scott, Weta Workshop creative lead Richard Taylor, director of photography Russell Carpenter, senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri, 1st AD Maria Battle Campbell, property master Brad Elliott, Weta FX visual effects supervisor Eric Saindon, creature designer/key character designer Ian Joyner, concept artists Jonathan Berube, Joseph Hiura and Daphne Yap, creature designer Constantine Sekeris, dive master John Garvin, supervising art director Aashrita Kamath, character design supervisor John Rosengrant, stunt performers Chris Denison and Mike Avery, performance free diver instructor Kirk Krack, 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Garrett Warren, virtual production supervisor Ryan Champney, performance capture special effects supervisor JD Schwalm, supervising art director Luke Freeborn, on-set coordinator Richie Schwalm, casting director Margery Simkin, Spider physical fitness coach Josh Murillo, movement and performance coach JoAnn Jansen, Weta FX visual effects supervisor Dan Cox, simul-cam supervisor Casey Schatz, Weta virtual production supervisor Dejan Momcilovic, editors John Refoua and Stephen Rivkin, underwater cinematographer Peter Zuccharini, Na’vi language creator Paul Frommer, dialect coach Carla Meyer, Na’vi sign language creator CJ Jones, lead character designer Joe Pepe, Weta Na’vi costume art director and supervisor Flo Foxworthy, Weta concept artist Rebekah Tisch, Weta design art director Stephen Crowe, concept art director Jonanthan Bach, concept artist Jon Park, Weta project supervisor Mona Peters, Weta producer Lena Scanlan, Lightstorm visual effects supervisor/virtual 2nd unit director Richard Baneham, Weta animation supervisor Stephen Clee, Weta senior visual effects supervisor Daniel Barrett, facial motion supervisor Stuart Adcock, Weta head of creatures department Gios Johnston, Weta pre-production supervisor Marco Revelant, Weta animation supervisor Eric Reynolds, animation sequence supervisor Anneka Fris, Weta FX visual effects supervisors Pavani Rao Boddapati and Nick Epstein, Weta head of effects Jonathan Nixon, Weta animation supervisor Todd Labonte, Weta FX associate VFX supervisor Sam Cole, concept art director Fausto de Martini, supervising art director Kim Sinclair, live action special effects supervisor Steve Ingram, art directors Ken Turner and Alistair Baxter, Weta concept artist Jeremy Hanna, Wild Factory president Adam Gourley, composer Simon Franglen, re-recording mixer/supervising sound editor and sound designer Christopher Boyes, associate producer Brigitte Yorke, set decorator Vanessa Cole, New Zealand stunt coordinator Stuart Thorp, and actors Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Bailey Bass, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Duane Evans Jr., Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Jack Champion, Filip Geljo, Kacie Borrowman, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Jemaine Clement, Brendan Cowell, and Edie Falco.

“Inside” covers story/characters, research, set/location/creature design, costumes, various effects, cast, performances and performance capture, photography, props, vehicles, shooting underwater, development of the Na’vi culture, music and audio, and working in New Zealand.

On the negative side, these components can lean too heavily on self-praise and happy talk. Nonetheless, they deliver a good array of insights and cover the complicated production well.

Additional material of this sort pops up via More from Pandora’s Box. Its four featurettes span a total of 28 minutes, six seconds and involve Landau, Cameron, Simkin, Warren, Denison, Avery, Baneham, Vela-Bailey, Borrowman, assistant stunt coordinator Steve Brown, stunt performer Emilie Siemer, environment supervisors Dean Lewandowski and Motoki Mark Nishii, sequence supervisors Steve Deane, Andrew Moffett and AJ Briones, motion edit supervisor Don De Castro, supervising stage manager Dan Fowler, stage operators Connor Gartland and Buffy Bailey, chief technology officer Tim Bicio, and actors Jamie Landau, Kevin Dorman, Courtney Rosemont, Johnny Alexander and Kevin Henderson.

Over these segments, we get more info about casting and screen tests, stunts, virtual sets and locations, animation, and the use of background/stand-in actors. It seems unclear why the disc doesn’t just include these four segments under the “regular” collection of “Box” featurettes, but they nonetheless offer some useful information.

In addition to two trailers, we get a music video for “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)” by the Weeknd. We see Avatar-esque visuals as we listen to the song. Neither element works well.

From there we go to Disc Three, which contains materials not found on the prior releases. Hosted by Jon Landau, Behind the Scenes Presentation lasts 36 minutes, 56 seconds and also involves Cameron, Dylan Cole, Procter, Saldaña, Worthington, Lang, Weaver, Simkin, Flatters, Dalton, Bliss, Champion, Bliss, Winslet, Vela-Bailey, Jones, Krack, Pepe, Curtis, Scott, Foxworthy, Rosengrant, Elliott, Bach, Taylor, Yap, Sekeris, Garvin, Schwalm, Cox, Campbell, Warren, Schatz, Momcilovic, Champney, Refoua, Scanlan, Baneham, Barrett, Adcock, LaBonte, Reynolds, Saindon, and Sam Cole.

This reel gives us an overview of the development and creation of the sequel. A lot of this material appears elsewhere but “Behind” offers a decent summary, albeit one with a lot of happy talk.

Memories from Avatar: The Way of Water runs 19 minutes, 10 seconds. A panel hosted by Jon Landau, he chats with Worthington, Weaver, Saldaña, and Lang.

They discuss the movie’s themes, their characters and performances, working with the technical domains, shooting in the water, and connected topics. While I like the chance to see the main cast together, they lack many insights and tend toward fluff.

Landau reappears for a Production Design Panel. This one goes for 32 minutes, nine seconds and also involves Kamath, Procter and Cole.

As expected, they discuss the creation of various design areas. Like the actor panel, this one can feel a little oriented toward praise, but it nonetheless comes with a mix of good notes.

12 Deleted Scenes occupy a total of 32 minutes, 52 seconds. That sum includes a “User’s Guide” that teaches viewers about the various stages of completion they’ll see with these clips.

Many of the added beats offer minor exposition or character moments. These tend not to bring much to the table.

Some elongated scenes prove more aggressive. These come with the text disclaimer that reads “we toned down the violence and intensity from this extended cut because we felt the film needed a better balance between the beauty and the uplifting moments and the darkness.”

This feels like a good choice. While the additional violence never becomes graphic, it leaves the movie with a more brutal vibe than it needs.

Scene Deconstruction offers three options: “Capture”, “Template” and “Final with Picture-in-Picture Reference”. “Capture” shows the raw footage of the mo-cap actors, “Template” depicts rough animation, and “Final” gives us the finished product with an inset that lets us view the other two. Viewers can flip among the options with their player’s remote.

11 scenes get this treatment, and they take up a total of 24 minutes, 38 seconds. Expect a fun view of the various stages of the production.

12 components appear under Production Materials. We find “’One Meal a Day’” (3:28), “Editing” (7:49), “3D Technology” (6:25), “Virtual Camera” (5:14), “Bringing the RDA to Life” (7:13), “Tank Timelapse” (2:45), “Weta Reel” (3:31), “ILM Reel” (7:08), “CJ Jones Sign Language Guide” (5:19), “Jackcam” (3:56), “Shaman Blessing” (1:07) and “Cliff Curtis Blessings” (16:26).

These mix demos, shots from the production and typical featurettes. In the latter domain, we hear from Landau, Rivkin, Cameron, Refoua, Carpenter, Baneham, Moffett, Briones, Bicio, Deane, Champion, picture acquisition and mastering supervisor Geoff Burdick, 3D camera systems producer John Brooks, 3D camera technology design supervisor Patrick Campbell, sequence supervisor Paolo Ziemba, ILM visual effects supervisor David Vickery, ILM production manager Rachel Cohen, ILM animation supervisor Kiel Figgins, ILM associate visual effects supervisor Jan Maroske, and ILM CG supervisors Will Gallyot and Steve Ellis.

This becomes a solid collection of elements. It seems unclear why some of the material got left out of the longer documentary.

Four more pieces show up within Beyond the Big Screen. We get “Pandora – The World of Avatar” (8:56), “Crew Movie” (6:13), “Hand and Footprint Ceremony” (25:46) and “’Scene at the Academy’” (12:13).

“World” features Landau, Baneham, Cameron, former Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde, Imagineering creative executive Zsolt Hormay, and Imagineering principal show systems engineer Tanner Rinke. They discuss the Avatar area at Disney World in this largely promotional piece.

With “Crew Movie”, we get an animated affair that pokes fun at the project in a good-natured manner – and also that incorporates other Cameron movies. It becomes a fun experience.

“Ceremony” goes to January 12, 2023 and depicts the cement immortalization of Cameron and Landau. In addition to those two, Lang and Weaver also speak, and TV personality “Ellen K” introduces them. It feels more than a little self-serving.

“Beyond” ends with “Scene”, a reel that features comments from Landau, Cameron, Dylan Cole, Scott, Procter, Boyes, Letteri, Saindon Barrett, Sam Cole and Baneham.

The featurette offers a quick summary of various production domains related to one specific sequence. It becomes a decent overview.

Archives becomes the disc’s final domain. We get a “Monday Night Football TV Spot” (2:02) and stillframe domains.

“Original Script” comes from December 2015 and indeed presents that screenplay. We follow with “Art Gallery” (122 frames), “Set Stills Gallery” (174), “Russell Carpenter Gallery” (69), “Advertising Gallery” (22) and “Fan Art Gallery” (9). All add solid material.

When Avatar hit screens, I wanted to love it, and I went into Avatar: The Way of Water with the same desire. Alas, both movies bring some real high spots but they come with the same lackluster elements as well, factors that make Water moderateloy enjoyable but inconsistent. The 4K UHD boasts excellent picture and audio as well as hours of supplements. Water does enough right to make me kind of like it, but I can’t claim it excels.

To rate this film visit the original review of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER