After nearly a decade of setbacks, James Cameron’s return to Pandora has finally arrived.

Seeing Avatar: The Way of Water on the big screen makes it abundantly clear how this immense vision had no hope of being birthed in 2014, which is when it was first slated for theatrical release. With the bulk of the film shot underwater, where motion capture is no simple task, it features such scenes as the Na’vi aliens swimming through waves and currents alongside varieties of imaginary underwater species and later resurfacing into flight. All of this appears convincingly real, closer to a National Geographic documentary than a CGI-fueled blockbuster.