Chubbs and I went to see Avatar 3D last week.  Having gone to the Movie with only a little smattering of knowledge of Avatar I didn't know what to expect.  And since it was in 3D and I've never seen a 3D movie I didn't know what to expect from that either.

The movie is 2 hours and 42 minutes long.  So, drink sparingly because you will not want to miss anything.

Visuals.  
The computer generated characters and scenes are incredibly lavish and life-like.  They have come a long with with the eyes of computer characters and it shows.  And coupled with 3D you are immersed in the film.  I did not feel the movie was 2.75 hours long.

Story.
The story is nothing new... evil corporation wants what natives have.  Instant conflict.  I wish Cameron did not call the desired mineral unobtainium... but that's me.  However, the corporation has used anthropological means to help 'educate' the natives to try and convince them to move.
While some have said this is Dances with Wolves.. I disagree.. There is more to the story than mere riding to the wild west to see it before it is destroyed.  And, BTW Dances with Wolves is not a unique story either.. just research Malinowski and his trobriand islands or any other early 20th century ethnographer.

3D Technology.
Works fairly well.  Most things in this film don't come out at you, rather the 3D is used to provide depth to the picture, which in some respects makes it more realistic in my opinion.  My only complaint?  Because the glasses darken your sight it would be nice if the film was a little brighter to offset this issue.  But, as I've said that is a MINOR point.

Overall.
There is a reason this film has earned over a billion dollars worldwide.  It is a fun ride and is as engrossing a film as I've ever seen in the theaters, perhaps the most.  I highly recommend seeing it, but you must in see it in 3D.  I give it 4 out of 5.

I'm wondering if they'll be able to incorporate the 3d technology into a blue-ray disc...

To get the quality of 3D that the theaters use you'll need an LCD TV that goes at least 120hz.  The PS3 is already able to play 3D movies, but you'll need TVs that are capable of switching between left-eye and right-eye.
Sony says they'll have 3D TVs later this year.  Most likely it will involve 3D glasses that flutter in sync with the TV so that each eye gets a slightly different view of the same frame of video.
The theaters use polarized light.  You can spend a bundle and get a polarized screen and projector today, but since all the 3D blurays are still the Red+Blue glasses style of 3D, it'd only be good for gaming.

Really?  They wouldn't be like the glasses in the theatres?

Nope.  They're active shutters that have to be synced to the TV refresh rate.  So if you've got a 120hz TV, you'd effectively be getting 60hz per eye as it flips back and forth.  They haven't figured out how to do polarized light yet.

However!  There were a number of glasses-free 3D TVs at this years CES.  They do some funky light bending trickery to make your brain think you're seeing 3D, but only if you're sitting directly in front of the TV.  Off to either side you'd be able to see the double images.

I think I'll wait to jump on the 3D TV bandwagon till they figure out either:
a) Holographic 3D objects floating in space
b) Polarized light emission so that your glasses don't need batteries

Last night was the last showing of Avatar 3D on IMAX.  I was glad to catch it, although I am surprised they'd stop showing it, given that it was still selling out, and showing up even an hour early only put us near the middle of a very long line of ticket holders.

The cgi is amazing.  From the unbelievable landscapes, to the very expressive faces, you truly forget how much of this movie was done in a computer (or banks of computers as the case may be).  The Navi faces were very effective at conveying the emotion of the character.  A far cry from the dead-eyed zombies of Polar Express!

At an IMAX, the screen fills your vision, so there were several scenes where I could feel the room moving (which it wasn't obviously).  The downside of such a large screen with 3D glasses though, is you can't look around.  If you turn your attention to the edges of the screen, you just get double images.  You must keep your attention on the center and use your eyes alone to move around the screen.

Even just using my eyes I found a little frustrating at times.  I would often want to look at some aspect of the scenery that the camera did not have in focus.  I could feel my eyes trying to make the blurry image come sharp, but since this isn't REAL 3D, that could never work.  I basically had to look at what the director wanted me to look at, which is hard to do on such a big screen!

Also my glasses were a bit too big, I think.  The gap over the nose was too wide and I seemed to have a "dead" zone in my field of vision.  I eventually learned to ignore it, but was off-putting at the start.

Even taking all this into consideration, I STILL thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  They did a tremendous job of making you feel the 3D without the cheese of "OOOoooo!! Look at this... in three deee!!!"  (cue Count Floyd's 3D action from SCTV).

As for story, it was adequate.  I didn't really go expecting to be enthralled by drama, but did find myself getting pulled in regardless.  I found it quite enjoyable a tale, and just went along for the ride.

Unlike Hawkeye, I had no problem seeing dark scenes.  Perhaps the IMAX was darker than the theatre in which he watched the movie?

I highly recommend watching it, and if you get a chance, if it comes back to IMAX, it's worth seeing there.