James Cameron’s return to fiction after a decade away is set to culminate with the December 18 release of “Avatar,” an epic science fiction starring “Terminator Salvation’s” Sam Worthington alongside Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana. Many have likened the story to “Dances With Wolves” meets “Aliens,” about humans who meld with their alien avatars to mingle and exploit the indigenous Na’vi of the planet Pandora.

The film however has been afflicted with the ultimate hype machine, with some working it up to be the second coming of Christ, while the majority of the world probably hasn’t even heard of it. In order to build up support, Fox and Cameron decided on a little something called “Avatar Day.” This free, 16-minute sneak peek would be shown at 6 P.M. and again at 6:45 on “342 screens in 58 countries, with 102 3-D and 3-D Imax screens here in the States,” according to the Los Angeles Times. When tickets became available last Monday, the official “Avatar” Twitter page, @officialavatar, was forced to explain that “due to the overwhelming response for tickets to the Avatar event on 8/21, [their] servers [had] crashed.” This debacle was eventually cleared up and people were able to get their tickets. Soon after, the first official photo was released showing Worthington’s Jake Sully with a still-developing Na’Vi-human hybrid. A trailer that left me a little cold was then released, leading up to the big day on Friday. There was even a marketing mishap, as the Apple page initially said “From the Director of the ‘Titanic’” instead of “From the Director of ‘Titanic.’”

20 minutes were screened for Comic-Con attendees, though I opted for Bill Plympton’s panel instead. Good thing, since apparently the footage shown last month was the same screened during “Avatar Day.” A lot of people claimed that theaters were half-full. Mine certainly wasn’t packed in the work-unfriendly 6 P.M. screening at Irvine Spectrum in Southern California, though the line for the next screening seemed much longer.

So was all the hassle and disappointment worth it? It certainly comes across much better than it does on a little computer screen. But I’m still not convinced by 3D. Several times I kept catching myself looking at the 3D itself rather than the movie, exploring the depths. I had the same problem with the “Beauty and the Beast” 3D preview footage at Comic-Con. It’s all so distracting and takes me out of the movie. But there were a few times where the 3D definitely swallowed me into the film completely. In fact, the only movie that’s worked for me all the way through in 3D was “Coraline.” And it all just leads me to ask, Why? It’s really not that big of a deal and still just comes across as one big marketing ploy. Sorry, Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The aliens themselves look kind of realistic, kind of not at all, but I never bought into all the hype anyway. This film looks beautiful with all of its bright, vibrant colors. What was disappointing was the lack of your typical James Cameron dialogue, where every line—every word!—is insanely quotable. That is what I want from “Avatar,” not state-of-the-art special effects and photo-realistic aliens. I want his trademark style. That didn’t come across during “Avatar Day,” but it also wasn’t a complete disaster; I left the theater wanting more.

Moving on, this week’s edition of Ad Watch has an impressive collection of great and very good trailers along with some decent ads for highly prominent future releases. But before we go any further, the new Coen brothers film, “A Serious Man,” has one of the best trailers I have ever seen, becoming a kind of music video. Please, please watch it. And rounding things up, “Up in the Air” has a new poster and photo and “Priest” now has an official Web site.

Clips

• “The Baader-Meinhof Complex“

Trailers

• “Alice in Wonderland“
• “Bronson“
• “Capitalism: A Love Story“
• “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant“
• “Gamer” (TV)
• “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto” (red band)
• “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus“
• “Legion” (red band)
• “The Lovely Bones“
• “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?“
• “Tron Legacy“
• “Where the Wild Things Are“
• “The Wolfman“
• “Zombieland” (red band)