It is impossible to talk about without sounding hyperbolic. But James CameronB次元官网网址檚 sequel is a truly dazzling cinematic experience that will have you floating on a blockbuster high.

It doesnB次元官网网址檛 matter if youB次元官网网址檝e spent a second of your life in the past 13 years thinking about whatB次元官网网址檚 happening on Pandora or how Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Salda帽a) are getting on, assuming you remember their charactersB次元官网网址� names.

B次元官网网址淭he Way of WaterB次元官网网址� will make awe-struck believers out of even B次元官网网址淎vatarB次元官网网址� agonistics like me, at least for three hours and 12 minutes. The film isnB次元官网网址檛 just visually compelling, either, itB次元官网网址檚 spiritually rich as well B次元官网网址� a simple but penetrating story about family and the natural world that is galaxies better than the first.

About that run time: Three hours and 12 minutes sounds excessive, but there is something decidedly decadent about really committing that much time to a movie in a theater. When the filmmaker is purposeful with that time, as Cameron is and many others have been before him, itB次元官网网址檚 a uniquely rewarding experience.

In other words, itB次元官网网址檚 not a big ask. And youB次元官网网址檒l forget all about checking the time from the first shot of Pandora and JakeB次元官网网址檚 earnest exposition about whatB次元官网网址檚 been going on in the past decade.

He and Neytiri have three kids now, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), LoB次元官网网址檃k (Britain Dalton), Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) and an adopted teenage daughter, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and theyB次元官网网址檙e happy living in the forest.

B次元官网网址淗appiness is simple,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淲ho ever thought that a jughead like me could crack the code?B次元官网网址�

So, of course, it canB次元官网网址檛 last. The humans are on the hunt for Jake, with a familiar antagonist leading the charge. And soon his family is on the run, taking up home in another part of Pandora, on the water with a new tribe led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) who reluctantly grant them refuge and try to teach them how to live on the water.

ItB次元官网网址檚 worth noting that Cameron has not stuffed the film with mind-numbing, wall-to-wall action and needlessly complicated plot. There are long stretches of movie where weB次元官网网址檙e simply exploring the environment with the characters, delighting in the intricacies of a reef or basking in the beauty of giant sea creatures.

Sometimes weB次元官网网址檙e just sitting in the water with Kiri who is also sitting in the water. It is not advancing the action in any obvious way. It is not even really developing characters. It just is, and itB次元官网网址檚 serene. You imagine that anyone without his clout would have a hard time justifying something similar.

The action is there, too, of course, and itB次元官网网址檚 exciting because youB次元官网网址檝e become invested in the family and worried about the kids who are never where theyB次元官网网址檙e supposed to be and are often in danger because of it. And though we know there are more sequels coming, and one already wrapped, this is not the kind of franchise where anyone is guaranteed to get a fake superhero death.

Sure there is some B次元官网网址淎vatarB次元官网网址� silliness, including the fact that the word B次元官网网址渂roB次元官网网址� is uttered about 8,000 times, but there is something admirable about the straightforward dialogue and emotions at play, too. No one is snarking their way through this ordeal.

B次元官网网址淣ever doubt James CameronB次元官网网址� has become a bit of a rallying cry lately, at least among those left on Twitter. ItB次元官网网址檚 all the more extraordinary as the once-mythical sequels had become a kind of joke in the years since the first movie.

Even as B次元官网网址淭he Way of WaterB次元官网网址� release date actually approached the B次元官网网址渨ho cares?B次元官网网址� chorus intensified. Had anyone really thought twice about B次元官网网址淎vatarB次元官网网址�? But Cameron knows his way around a thrilling sequel, and the water for that matter (and references his own greatest hits in this film, too).

But then people saw it and the tune change.

There is something comforting about the fact that we are capable of intense, collective cultural whiplash. That B次元官网网址渨ho cares?B次元官网网址� can turn to uncynical amazement in an instant. Is that the magic of the movies? Of continuing to push the bounds of the big screen experience? Of betting big on weird-sounding stories about giant blue environmentalists instead of superheroes every so often?

Maybe itB次元官网网址檚 just the magic of James Cameron.

B次元官网网址淎vatar: The Way of Water,B次元官网网址� a 20th Century Studios release in theaters Thursday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for B次元官网网址減artial nudity, intense action, sequences of strong violence, some strong language.B次元官网网址� Running time: 192 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

MPA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

B次元官网网址擫indsey Bahr, The Associated Press