One criticism I've seen levied against "Avatar" in the 13 years since its release is that James Cameron's 2009 film is the cinematic equivalent of a theme park. I suspect this is meant derisively — an indication that "Avatar" prizes spectacle over insight, thrills over emotion.
I also suspect these critics may not understand the appeal of a theme park.
It's an open question whether "Avatar," a groundbreaking technical achievement and box office phenomenon, established the kind of cultural footprint that can endure the long delay between the original and the release of its sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water," on Dec. 16. Are fans of the original all that desperate to find out what happened to Sam Worthington's Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña's Neytiri? Will new viewers be won over by the unusual premise, in which Sully, a human, trades in his disabled body for a blue-skinned Na'vi avatar, thanks in no small part to falling in love?
