I think too much emphasis is being put on the visuals. They were certainly breathtaking and technically incredible, but everyone I talked to coming out of the theater (including myself, a major VFX nerd), were much more focused on the great imagination and realization of Pandora and the alien life. The visuals, and even the merely adequate story, were tools to present that, but IMO that was the real star of the movie and why I think it will hold up outside of the theater (as well as any other visually stunning movie does, at least).
The extended cut will be very interesting to see. I'm not holding out much hope for it turning the story into something spectacular, but it sounds like there could be some major stuff missing from the theatrical cut, so I'm curious as to what that will be.