James Cameron Was Afraid The Original ‘Avatar’ Might Look Too Cringey Compared To The Fancy New Sequel

There is a lot of early-to-mid 2000s CGI that did not age well. There are the wolves in Twilight: New Moon, the baby in Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part—honestly, anything in any of the Twilight movies will do. Of course, CGI has aged well in some movies, but James Cameron was a little nervous about seeing Avatar back on the big screen.

Avatar might have come out in 2009, but the upcoming installment will hit theaters this December, over a decade after the first movie was released. Cameron recently told EW that he was unsure of how it would compare to the new movie. “I went into that screening worried that it was going to be a bit cringe-worthy relative to the new film, which looks pretty spectacular,” Cameron said after seeing the film again in theaters.

“As the film ended, I went, ‘Hmm, I don’t know. I’m now worried about the new film,'” the director quipped, before adding, “That’s not true. I’m not worried about the new film. It looks pretty amazing. But I am hopeful that people will get out to the cinema and either discover or rediscover that experience so that they know what an Avatar movie’s all about.” Yes, that’s what it is all about, not water or the color blue or anything.

The first installment recently made its way back into theaters with a new and improved look. Cameron added that his kids were able to see it in the theater for the first time since the remastering. “I got to watch it with my kids, who are 15, 18, and 21, recently. And they hadn’t seen it in 3D in a theater, certainly not in the state that it’s in right now because it’s more gorgeous than it’s ever been.”

So, despite being nervous about the “cringey-ness” of CGI, it all looked good in the end. As for the storyline…it’s still a little cringey. Sorry.