There's a reason TITANIC won Oscars for almost every single department, it's an exquisite example of the best of film craft on every level.
And I still think it's an injustice that Cameron wasn't nominated for his script. People mock a few lines of clunky dialogue, mostly in the "Picasso" scene, but the script is a work of Swiss-watch genius, with colorful, active, complex characters that people around the globe related to and cared about. Those characters have goals in conflict with each other, facing ever-increasing obstacles, coming up with creative solutions to them. Story structure like that is the real heavy lifting of screenwriting, and Cameron is a world class MASTER at it.
I think because in this and AVATAR, Cameron was intentionally working with archetypes and tropes, people found it easy to bash him for "cliches" or for "copying" other films, but that was exactly the point, he was
intentionally and knowingly
writing elemental stories that recur over and over in pop culture throughout the centuries.* THAT is why those two films were monstrous hits. It can't just be explained away with the novelty of 3D technology or a bunch of teenage girls, HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of people went to these
clipart and told their friends to go see them as well. The box office for both films stayed consistent week after week after week, that just doesn't happen unless people truly love a film.
*For proof that Cameron knew exactly what he was doing with TITANIC, look at STRANGE DAYS in comparison. He wrote, produced and edited it immediately before TITANIC, and it's the polar opposite - a dark, complex, much more nuanced film, which is not easy to love (though passionately loved by those who did get it). It was equally brilliant, but grossed about $1.95. He knew precisely what he was doing with TITANIC.