Has time passed Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ fantasy by?

Above: James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" opens wide on Friday. (Photo/Walt Disney Studios)

It’s been some 13 years since James Cameron premiered his CGI-heavy fantasy/action film “Avatar.” And as with some of his other projects, it proved to be pretty popular.

A.O. Scott caught the fever of most critics when he wrote, “I had the feeling coming out of this movie that I haven't felt since maybe I was eleven years old in 1977 and I saw ‘Star Wars’ for the first time.”

And while I wasn’t all that impressed with the story that Cameron came up with, it feeling pretty much the same as Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves” (among others), I was blown away by its 3-D process.

In fact, having grown up during the first big wave of 3-D movie, the ones that obligated you to wear those flimsy cardboard glasses, I was never able to get the process to work for me. But Cameron’s movie certainly did.

So I should be at least somewhat excited for the sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which opens wide on Friday. But I’m not, particularly. I likely would have been had the film come out a few years after the original. But 13? It just feels as if the world has passed the “Avatar” story by.

And since no advance reviews have yet been published, Cameron may be afraid that other critics might be feeling the same way.

Whatever, I’ll see it when I have a chance. And I hope I’m pleasantly surprised.

It wouldn’t be the first time.