Thanks to 20th Century Fox, the latest, greatest trailer for James Cameron's forthcoming sci-fi epic Avatar is now online, and you can watch it by clicking on the Trailer tab above.

It's impressive, and you'll want to check it out. Particularly for those who have found that the online publicity for the film hasn't quite got under their skin yet. This trailer should change all that.

The film is being heralded in many quarters as technologically innovative, but has also been accused of perhaps being a bit conventional in story. By now, many of you will have read about last week's claims that James Cameron’s story bares a resemblance to a novella by Poul Anderson. Yes, the notion of a paraplegic who telepathically connects with an artificially created life form in order to explore a harsh planet seems lifted from "Call Me Joe", but it's probably a bit of a red herring, frankly. Arguably, Avatar's storyline borrows from many antecedents we've seen over the years, including Vietnam parables and historical occurences such as European powers colonizing North America and stealing land from Native Americans hundreds of years ago.

In Hollywood, it's often about siphoning from the zeitgeist and at the end of the day, moviegoers will probably remember Avatar for how Cameron combines the story elements, as opposed to whether the elements themselves are familiar. As the saying goes in Hollywood: "There are only seven story ideas."

Then there's that wonderful technology and the look of the film, which is inherently apart from anything you've seen before. Watch the trailer and see for yourselves.

Opening in conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on December 18th, Avatar stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang and Matt Gerald.