Why so much hype?

not as good as all the hype

It is a performances centric movie

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Pay attention to how this is not James Cameron's "Avatar" movie, but a half-hour documentary, which gives us an insight into how this film was made. And exactly like the movie it is all style over substance. Superlatives like never-existing, revolutionary etc. are used once per minute and the intention is to put audiences under the impression that this is a one-of-a-kind movie. This may even be true in the sense of technical achievements, but that doesn't change at all that "Avatar" has a really weak story that in no way justifies its immense runtime. But back to this documentary. Many people who worked on this film are interviewed, several Oscar winners, but also director James Cameron, actress Sigourney Weaver and late composer James Horner. This film offers really nothing of interest in my opinion and I only recommend these 25 minutes to massive fans of the movie, that kind that is looking forward to the sequels. Nobody else needs to see it and it's a pretty forgettable making-of, just like the movie in my opinion.