Unsurprisingly, effects-driven movies don’t age well.

As a teenager, watching films such as "Jurassic Park" years after their release left me very unimpressed. I didn’t understand why this was such a big deal of a movie, but as I read more about it, the reason so many found the movie so great was not its plot or acting, which were both mediocre, but the initial awe they got from seeing that towering brontosaurus when the film first came out. "Jurassic Park" is a classic because it was revolutionary; there was nothing like it.

It wasn’t until this year that I finally realized what this experience is like. I first felt it in J.J. Abrams' new "Star Trek"; while I found it entertaining, I had trouble focusing on anything outside the gorgeous creatures and starscapes. The vivid color, the way the monsters’ skin glistened — there was a certain beauty to it that I had never seen before in a movie. It gave me a wonderful, elated feeling, like I was truly experiencing this other universe, not just an imagination of it.

This is the sole reason that "Avatar" is so spectacular. It created a whole other world, full of infinitely exotic flora and fauna, and fully realized it — and the resulting wonderment is ratcheted even higher by the 3-D, which achieves an unmatched sense of immersion.

Only science fiction is capable of delivering this kind of amazement. "2012," for example, had great effects, but it’s not going to make one feel giddy to watch well-rendered explosions.

Think of all the movies you remember for their special effects. "Star Wars," the "Terminator"s, "Jurassic Park," maybe "Alien." Sci-fi lets you witness things you’ve never seen before. You came out of "Jurassic Park" and you’d just seen a dinosaur. Yes, it was fake, but it was closer to being real than you’d ever possibly imagined.

In 20 years, "Avatar" will be a decent but fairly unspectacular story with some cool ideas and a nice dose of nostalgia, but right now it’s an experience unlike anything you’ve ever had. For those of you reading this that have yet to see "Avatar," I have 1 piece of advice for you: see it now, because if you wait you’ll be missing what it’s all about.

Josh Kaplan is a student at Pioneer High School.