And there were not many scenes in Avatar where the cgi and live action actually blended. Other than soldiers walking around in a digital forest, they only shot that comes to mind in which the two elements actively worked together was at the end. Neyitri holds Sully in the trailer before putting the oxygen mask on him. This scene, for me, created a very emotional connection between those character and my sympathy for them, because for the first time in the film I “saw” that the real world and cartoon world were one and the same. Before this point, there was somewhat of a disconnect between the two worlds because we always would see Sully put on his AVTR machine before the audience could see the magic of Pandora. It is like virtual reality. I did not get the “reality” of Pandora at first. Once the gungans and humans started fighting, I was like, “Oh, they do exist together.” But fighting is not as personal as that scene in which Neyitri holds Sully. that scene was too short!

then again, i am not sure the disconnect stems from a cgi vs. practical effect solution, or the way the story was written.