I guess you cant expect anything less from M Night Shayamalan, whos movies continue to get even worse as his carreer moves along. I dont think that he should quit the movie biz, i just think he should stop writting and directing movies peroid!

Wrong score on first review oops
If you are unfamiliar with the movies source material, the Animate series of a similar name this movie will have little to offer you ; If you are familliar or even a fan however, it will have plenty to offer, unfortunately all of it's offerings are bad. First off, I do want to give an honorable acknowledgement to the special effects in the move as well as trying to stay somewhat close to the story, one can understand that sacrifices have to be made to take a full season of a series into a one sitting movie timeframe. What kills the movie however is the acting, Bad diologue bad choreography, just about every name is mispronounced which to an extent is understandable perhaps if the source is either in a foreign language or a book but not if the source is in the movies originating language and has already established such things. Also the story is very shallow and some scenes such as a segment where the main character and their friend are practicing water bending stances (based off of tai chi) you can tell that they are supposed to be in sync with each other but are fare from it. All in all, at best this movie could be accepted as a very well done fan movie done by a third party with some of the best special effects programs available to the public, but when one considers that this is published and backed by major production companies, all of this films shortcomings are unacceptable. I find it to be hard to believe that this movie can leave a positive impression on any viewer, fan or not… Expand

a movie with many holes partlly because M. Night did really care about it he just wanted to make money. the special affects really saved this movie big time. and the acting and dialoge really improved in the 2nd half of the movie.

This movie could have been good, but it leaves out waaayyy too much of the story, so there was no way to develop the characters as well as the plot jumps around, plus the acting is only so-so. If they had another hour or two, they could have patched something together that made sense, and if you haven't seen the series, you'll have no clue what's going on. The kid they chose for Ang wasn't bad, though, and the special effects were pretty decent. If you've watched the cartoon series and you're a fan, you're better off skipping this. I take that back - it's probably a good idea for everyone to skip this!… Expand

I like watching the series on Nickelodeon but this movie was just so boring and I know it wasn't to long but it felt like it. I hope that if they make a sequel is better than the first one.

Such an amazing series that has been denigrated into such an overblown poorly directly heap of rubbish. I just hope that the creators of the original Avatar series (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) never watch this as it would make me cry seeing something that was so great be destroyed by frankly, a pretty crappy film maker. Watch at your own peril as it will make you want to scream, not with delight and joy, but pure pain and frustration!… Expand

Do they hire people to give this movie a score of above 0? I thought Dragonball Evolution was brutal, but its actually not that bad compared to this POS.

It is really depressing that something like this could have come out of such enjoyable source material. There is good intent, but that is about it. Save yourself some time and watch that.

Wow M. Night really messed up on this one. I saw no parts similar to the series in the movie. Oh and that wall of water was like the worlds biggest psych out! Hope they don't do book two.

TNot only considered the worst adaptation of a cartoon series, b ut also the worst martial arts film ever. Not only is it a butchering for fans but also non-fans will find not only everything wrong but also a poo man's recap of the first season. The dialogue is dumb, the acting is unwhelming, the 3D is a joke. Not to mention that its getting a sequel of a planned trilogy.

While I respect M. Shyamalan's talents, I've got to say this is the worst film of 2010 (I bet nothing will top it). It will win the Razzie Awards, but its box office is so huge that they are going to make a sequel! No need for a big review. While the effects are quite good, I hated the acting and everything else about it. This is just like a Disney TV show with good effects. It is nowhere good enough to be in the big screen, yet people still come to check it out. The Last Airbender is by the far worst film of the decade and M. Shyamalan is the worst director of the decade for creating this film.… Expand

Has M. Night Shyamalan done it again? No, no he hasn't. Or actually if I look at it from a different point of view, maybe I can say that he has done it again. Based off of his last few movies, which were huge disappointments, The Last Airbender certainly followed suit. With a spectacular trailer and a well-written cartoon series to back it up, it was sad to see that the great storyteller, Shyamalan, did a horrible job at telling the story of The Last Airbender.

Read full review at FlicksWorthWatching.com… Expand

Wow, poor acting, worse dialogue just an overall terrible film. The movie had a TON of potential, yet it lacked just about anything to make it worthy outside of it's concept. Whoever casted and wrote the dialogue in the film should be shot. They made Hayden Christianson(Anakin Skywalker) look smooth in speech.

awful. he changes it from the original awesome series to this shamalayandingdong piece of #$@. stays tru to the series very few times. i hope he will not disgrace the awesome series by nmaking another piece of crap movie.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After watching this movie i can now say that M. night shama-whatever should quit making movies. it is truly that awful. I'm a huge fan of the avatar series, and before watching it i knew it would be bad, but what i didn't think it would be this bad. for one thing they misrepresented the intentions of the fire nation when they started the war. the Kioshi warriors were completely absent from the movie. none of the character really felt like they should, they included the blue spirit (a character established in the third book), and the fire benders couldn't make fire from their chi like they could in the cartoon. instead they had to bend an existing flame. for the normal viewer who wouldn't care abut these or notice, the movie still has horrible pacing and dialog, the original series had wonderful and very natural dialog but the movies dialog is awkward and poorly paced. the acting was also awe full because half the time the actors seemed uninterested and the rest of the time they were just standing awkwardly. especially the fire bender soldiers, they would just stand around awkwardly attacking the air until it was their turn to get there butt kicked by one of the protagonists. so if your a fan don't expect any sort of fan fair, or general accuracy. if you have never watched the show then you may sightly enjoy the movie however even if it was disconnected from the Avatar franchise, its still not a good movie. in all if you think you might be interested in the Avatar series go rent the DVD's.… Expand

The Last Airbender is all eye candy and has no heart like the Nickelodeon cartoon it is based upon. The only thing really going for is the somewhat decent visual effects used for the action and bending effects. Other than that, the story is dull, the dialogue is uninspiring, and the acting is utterly atrocious. If the visual effects were not decent, this film could have been a lot worse. This is by far the worst film M. Night Shyamalan has ever made.… Expand

With an incomprehensible plot, laughable dialog, poor actors, and flat action sequences, The Last Airbender is a mockery of the original cult TV series and one of the worst blockbusters of 2010.

Terrible, terrible movie. The combined emptiness and stupidity of the protagonists is unfathomable, and though the effects are VISUALLY impressive at times, the fidelity of the audio is non-existent, thus "airbending" becomes fizzly breeze-bending, and fighting scenes become unintentionally funny. Stay away from this movie, read the books instead

Okay, how do I put this........THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES EVER!!!! Don't watch this. This is a disgrace to the TV show. The special effects are great, but the dialouge is laughable and the acting is wooden. Do NOT watch this. I hope Noah Ringer is better in Cowboys vs Aliens than he was in this. People often ask, "What went wrong" about this movie. A better question is: What DIDN'T go wrong?

The TV series are pretty good, but this film is total **** The Last Airbender has to be one of the worst films ever created so far. The movie was rushed and the script was crap. My score: 21/100

Beyond terrible. Worse than any movie I've ever seen. This was a make or break for whether I would watch any more M. Night movies and boy did he break it. As a huge fan of the original series (I even went dressed up in a home made Water Nation costume), I am in constant disgust of what he did with this movie. When it ended, my entire theater was literally booing and screaming. When Shyamalan's name came up for the end credits many profanities were yelled. By far the greatest aspect of the movie, the visuals, still weren't even THAT impressive. If I could give it below a 0, I would.… Expand

It was done like he didn't care about the characters and their personalities, and as if pretty graphics with no attention to detail or development = translating an amazing story to the big screen. It was like he watched the series for 10 minutes, cut all the story and left all the "cool looking" parts.

This movie was unthrilling and just completely horrible.

A terrible script intensified by the abysmal acting destroys this already lackluster action film.

This is one of my favorite series and M. Knight completely ruined it. I was so excited to hear that they have turned this show into a movie. All great expectations went down the drain during the movie. Even the creators of the show pronounced the characters names correctly, so why is it that they changed it? It sounds so stupid. If you have never seen the series, i find that you are going to be SO lost. The actors could have been so much better. Sokka was awful and sukos scar was hardly even there! Aang was not light hearted and Katara was just there. Why did the creators let M. Knight direct this film? He obviously has no idea what he's doing. I'm so upset. The movie is a disaster. I hope when they do the next two books, a new director/actors are chosen. Better yet, they should redo the whole f****** film.… Expand

The only reason this movie doesn't get a 0 is because of the cool special effects (saw it in 2-D). If you're a fan of the show don't watch it, the horrible script, worse acting, worse camera work, and worse decision to take the fun out of it make this an awful movie. the fight scenes weren't very good either, unlike in the show it looks like interpretive dance. I didn't like anything in the movie besides the special effects, and it basically ruined the show for me. don't waste your time.… Expand

Waste of money, in my thoughts. It was so random it seemed like the people who planned the movie never even saw the cartoon. The mispronunciations and wrong depictions from the cartoon, this movie was an Epic Fail. They should just re-do the whole movie.

Echhh, just plain drivel. No fun at all, nothing interesting in the dialogue, action, or effects...Skip it and watch the cartoon.

Wow. How terrible was that? I can't remember the last time I walked out of a movie but it was all I could do for this. Way to suck all the fun and personality out of one of the best animated series of the last decade, Shyamalan!

Shamalamadingdong has ruined yet another movie with his inability to direct himself out of a wet paper bag. And this time he did it on the writing front as well.

I wanted The Last Airbender to be wonderful. I thought maybe the critics were wrong. They are completely accurate the whole movie felt like it was in fast forward. The casting director made horrible choices as well. If anything see this movie for perspective on movies.

The effects and action scenes where well done, but the dialogue suffers as it feels like it was zooming through the avatar universe.

When I heard that M. Knight Shyamalan would be directing the live action adaptation of my favorite cartoon of all time, I felt like kicking a puppy. This man is a sham, he is not a director, he is a destroyer of all things glorious. He is nowhere near qualified to direct any film, let alone one with so much potential. He took brilliant source material, and ruined it. I would not be surprised if the script itself was written in crayon. To Shyamalan, I have only one thing to say. I hope this movie buries you.… Expand

I'm afraid it really it as bad as everyone says. I had even lowered my expectations accordingly and was still let down. I haven't seen writing this terrible since SW: Ep 2. This movie could make any actor look horrible.

Now, I had fun watching this movie, but only because I went with 2 of my friends and we all went in to the movie knowing that it was terrible (so we went just to laugh at it). There are so many flaws with this movie it honestly seems intentional. The fighting was alright at some points but then it gets to a point where you are thinking "Let's see...you bend water and this fire bender here is using fire, PUT THE GOD DAMN FIRE OUT SO HE CAN'T USE IT!". There is also some very helpful narration brought to you by Katara and it's about as pointless as giving a snake a pair of shoes; the entire movie, instead of letting the audience SEE what is going on you just hear things like "We went this way and Ang was thinking this and that, so blah blah blah". Why do I have to look at a tree in the distance as she is explaining what evidentally happened instead of seeing what ACTUALLY happened instead!? Also there were some of the corniest moments I have ever seen in a movie, in the Last Airbender. It's just too much to rant about...but if you want to see it anyway, expect a comedy.… Expand

On the one hand, I'm impressed by the film's commitment to the source material. It pulls from multiple episodes and does allot of it justice. Unfortunately, it does this at the expense of its character development and actual dialogue. And the fact is, that while the martial arts, awesome animation, and intriguing storyline were all large facets of the series, the one aspect that set it above typical kids shows was the characters, Instead we're left with cardboard cutouts that leave us longing for the show. Again, if you're looking for eye candy and unique martial arts scenes, you could do allot worse. just don't expect much else.… Expand

I'll start with the disclaimer that I'm a fan of the series. But I'll set away from that to review this movie on it's own merits. This movie is lacking two key features a movie needs. 1) Characters. It's nothing but people saying lines. You could swap around actors and it would have made no difference. There was zero performance in this movie. 2) Story. This movie is a series of events poorly linked together by narration. They tried to compress a whole season of TV storyline into 2 hours, and they failed. At the end of the movie, I felt like I had sat through maybe 30 minutes of a story, despite how much ground they tried to cover. So you may be able to put those two things aside and try and enjoy the action. Good luck. The action is boring. The bending is fairly well done with CGI, but the fight choreography is not interesting at all. it's slow, lacking skill, and looks clumsy. There are not knock down drag out fights in this film. Just weird slow down/speed up cinematography with CG over it. Now, back as a fan of the series. If you love the series don't see this movie. It's not going to ruin your love of the series, it's just not good. They make weird changes, like pronouncing almost every name differently for no reason. Ang is now "awng" and Saka is now "Soo-ka" It's just unexplained and weird. This movie is just like you watch short snippets of the first season, but with poor acting and boring fight choreography. Oh, and how could I forget, the dialogue is first grader material. I mean, it's TERRIBLE. "I searched the library, and found a scroll in the library!" Sometimes a movie will use poor dialogue to help move along the story, or to try and explain a lot in a little time. This move was NOTHING BUT THAT. Right from the start, the first 5 or 10 minutes it was awful, and it continued the whole way through. Honestly, even if these people CAN act, they're going to have a hard time doing it with this dialogue. This movie is the antithesis of the series. No character, no plot, not fun, no good action. It's not just a failure to fans of the series, this movie is a failure to movies as a whole. It's just poor film making from beginning to end.… Expand

Giving this movie a 1 is generous. How does M. Night call himself a fan of the show? How does he call himself a director? Both fans and newcomers will absolutely hate what I begrudgingly call a film. Shame on you M. Night for continuing your egotistical joyride in the movie industry. The only redeeming quality to this movie is that I hope is put the nail in his directorial coffin.

This movie is a colossal waste of time. Critical aspects of the plot were left out, the movie scenes hopped around at a dizzying rate, the acting was thoroughly unconvincing, and the explanations were excessive and sometimes confusing. The characters had no depth. The bending -- which is thier ability to manipulate air, water, fire, and earth -- was just a bunch of weak tai chi moves with a little a bit of special effects at the end. The ending was ridiculous. This movie was bad, very bad. If you were into the series, you're going to need counseling after the movie.… Expand

Anyone rating this higher than a 4 is just trying to trick you into making a terrible, terrible mistake. The movie was feculent. Poor acting, endless exposition, completely drained of humor and characterization. You could do a seminar on how not to make a movie from this film.

If anyone has even watched the anime show, they'll know that those dumb hour long fancy movements that they shoved at us in the movie will have left right when they saw it because it doesn't take literally 30 seconds of arm exercises to bend water in the real show.

I am 17 years old and i loved the avatar series and my opinion of this movie is comming from a fan of the show's point of view; being that I am a part of the teenage demographic that this movie was targeting, I think I can speak for most airbender fans. this was by far the biggest disaster of a movie I have seen since Dragon Ball came out. I guess the best way to write this review is by the rating scale provided by yahoo: story, acting, direction, visuals, and overall. Story: I have got to give them credit for trying to stick to the series's storyline, but they made a massive fail in execution. The movie tried way too hard to reenact each episode and fit it into a movie that's under 2 hours long. also, the fire benders couldn't bend fire out of the air (all but one) which was EXTREMELY disappointing and i didnt understand why they chose to make that change. Acting: As for the acting of the movie, it was horrendous: everyone in the film either over-acted the whole time or didn't act it out enough to make me feel attached to the characters. when there was tragedy going on I either felt like "what?" or "so, I've only seen you in like 3 minutes of screen time. who cares if your not around anymore." in other words, I never got attached to the characters like i usually do in good films. some of the dramatic moments were actually more humorous than sad. Direction: the direction of this movie was EVERYWHERE! I watched all of the episodes from the cartoon since it came out when i was about 14 years old so i know all about what they talked about in the movie with no explanation necessary, but for anyone that was new to the airbender storyline would have no idea what was going on after about 1/3 of the way through. they mentioned very important things from the series that play a major part in the story very quickly with little or no explanation IE: the "hidden library" was HUGE in the series and definitely required more talking than it was given in the movie, the spirit world left you feeling confused about what was going on, and alot more that im not even going to get into. Visuals: the bending in the movie really left you wanting more (not in a good way), it was super disappointing and did not look very fun to watch. the bending looked more like a dance with no elemental outcome than bending. im not too concerned with "the scar" that everyone in getting all worked up about, because if someone had a burn wound like he did in real life it would look very similar to what we saw in the film. anyway, i wish they had put more effort out on the bending factor and not chose to skip or shorten fight scenes by merely "scaring" away the bad guys (you'll understand if you dare to watch this movie). Overall: the movie was overall a cop-out of a film. i guarantee that the fans would have loved to wait a little longer for the films release if they would have gotten a better job on just about everything in the movie. I'd like to end this review on a good note and that note is..... (drum role) the trailers were pretty sweet looking, just watch them and bask in the mystery of not watching the film. trust me, it'll be better if you not know what it actually looks like, just use those images to visualize what it looks like and you will have a better time thinking about it, i did.… Expand

Think Dragonball Evolution but WORSE. Nuff said.

Uwe Boll eat your heart out.

I don't get it. How could he possibly ruin this movie??? All he needed was to copy and paste the scripts from the original series, add in some appropriate actors for the role (perhaps some that had emotions and fit the race roles), and get the names right. Instead we get slow action with incomprehensible plot line. I thought the series was amazing and would love to see the second two with all new actors, except for Dev Pate who did welll, and replace Shyamalan with the original writers and directors. Shyamalan hasn't had a decent movie since The Sixth Sense. I see dead career for this director and writer.… Expand

I'm a fan of the series. A huge fan really. I believe M Night really tried hard to create a good movie, but the idea of this movie should have been dropped ages ago. The main problem was is that such a HUGE storyline had to be covered in a matter of less than two hours. Therefore, the entire movie suffered. Parts were left out, random stuff had to be made up. Also, the characters were pretty bad, and were under-developed as a rest. Other problems include that the director, for whatever reason, decided to change fundamental parts of the series. Idk why he made the fire nation a bunch of brownies and made the protagonists white. Also did he really have to change the pronunciations? It was a noble effort, but it was truly a dismal failure. I like the graphics though.… Expand

Not horrible... could have been better. Still fun and wasn't a waste of time. I'd buy the DVD.

"You think you're heaven-sent/Gonna get your halo bent," goes Calvin Johnson, as only the ex-Beat Happening frontman can, on "Halo Bender" from The Halo Benders' second album "Don't Tell Me Now"(a collaborative effort with Built to Spill's lead singer Doug Martsch), a song that perfectly captures the egomaniacal auteur's fall from grace, especially when the atonal godfather of indie ululates(with some paraphrasing): "It's the ["Last Air]bender"/A real career-ender," which sadly just might be the case. So murky, so haphazardly executed are the special effects, let alone, "mis-en-scene" after "mis-en-scene", it wouldn't be a stretch to say that this would-be fantasy epic is, at times, the filmic equivalent of ramshackle indie rock. Clearly, staging action scenes is not this writer/director's forte. They have the look of a full-dress rehearsal with the cameras rolling. For instance, a confrontation that pits Aang and the Earth Benders against the Fire Benders seem to unfold a step too slow, as the Avatar(Ana Eng from the They Might Be Giants song would have been more entertaining), who seems to control air with the use of hula, is undermined by elemental special effects that materialize at an almost glacial pace, as the mortal enemies use air, water, and fire against each other to farcical effect. Even worse than the failed stabs at spectacle, the filmmaker, who normally coaxes wonderful performances out of his young perfomers(Rory Culkin & Abigail Breslin from "Signs", and especially, Haley Joel Osment from "The Sixth Sense"), gets three bewilderingly bad ones here(especially Jackson Rathbone: Is Sokka supposed to be a coke addict?), although to be fair, the dialogue is atrocious in its sheer perfuntoriness; the words nothing more than time-filers to bide time before the next incompetent action set-piece. While Aang's true identity and the James Cameron film both sharing the same name can't be helped, the filmmaker, like M.C. Hammer going after Michael Jackson(back in the day), seemingly wants moviegoers to think of him in Cameron's league, since "The Last Airbender" references "The Abyss"(the water-shaping and the giant wave), which is unfortunate because the abyss is where this prodigiously talented(but obviously slumping) filmmaker is heading toward.… Expand

Absolutely terrible in every respect. The movie was incredibly dull; I found myself more concerned with how uncomfortable the seats were than what was going on in the movie. The acting was incredibly poor, the special effects at times were okay, but nothing special. The fight choreography was the worst I've seen in quite some time. The plot had more holes in it than old socks. Moreover, there was absolutely NO character development. We aren't given any reason to care about Sokka, Aang, or Katara! They are just there. I went into the theater unaware of the bad reviews or anything like that, and I thought it was absolutely terrible. Why do they allow M. Knight to continue making movies? This was so poorly written that no matter who directed it, it wouldn't come out with decent reviews. A failure in every possible way. I guess if you are going to fail, fail big. That's exactly what M. Knight did.… Expand

This has to be the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. I have grown up with the series Avatar: The Last Airbender, and really do love it. Everything done in this movie was just wrong. They didn't even really follow their own story in some ways. Aside from murdering the show, the actors can't act. It's like watching a childrens puppet show. There were two emotions through the whole thing... flat, and upset. If you have watched the TV series, you know that Sokka (Katara's brother) is sarcastic and funny. There was pretty much no humor. Aang is supposed to be this fun-loving kid who loves to play and mess around. None of this was there. Don't even get me started on Zuko.. Two words: no temper. I could name a million of other things that the got wrong with the characters. I would have walked out of the movie in the first half hour, but I payed for it. In conclusion, don't see this movie. It is a waste of time, money, and more time for people like me that feel like they need to warn you so they come on here and leave a review. … Expand

This is one of those few special movies that gives you a reason to kill yourself.

The movie is an absolute mess. Confusing storyline, horrible acting and dialogue, fake cgi and incredibly boring. It talks more about action than shows. This is the worst 3d conversion I have ever seen. So dark that you can't see what's going on in the night scenes, so dark that it masks all the color. You have to take the glasses of to see what's going on. And all that for what, to see 3d effects that hardly look 3d? This is the worst movie I have seen in 3 years, and they charge an extra fee for it. Shyamalan has sunk to an absolute low and Paramount, shame on you, for the worst 3d exploitation job ever.… Expand

Just terrible. Acting, script, pronunciation, etc. Wow as a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender the series, I am offended and saddened to have watched a beloved cartoon reduced to 150 million dollars worth of trash compressed into barely 2 hours. I felt like I was watching a youtube parody.

Absolutely terrible. Did Shyamalan even watch the cartoon before writing this movie. Half of the names were mispronounced and he left out key scenes and characters from Book 1 of the cartoon. Shaun Toub and Dev Patel were the only good actors in this movie. Everyone in the theatre booed when the credits rolled. If they decide to make two more movies they are going to need a different director and a completely different cast.… Expand

This movie butchered the original cannon. How hard is it to pronounce names and words in general correctly? Every time I heard Aang pronounced Ung or Avatar pronounced Ovatar I cringed. Severely disappointing for true fans. Do not support this movie please. Go buy the original season sets.

Ridiculously boring, too much exposition, unconvincing characters and world

The movie was by far one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The acting was terrible, even for a childs movie. The plot was hard to follow, and changing the pronunciation of the characters names was retarded. M. Night should just quit directing anything, because when its all said and done, the last good movie he made was "The Sixth Sense". I've seen the cartoon and it blows the movie out of the water, and hopefully they don't let him make the next 2 books. (If they're even made because of how crappy the first one was).… Expand

For those who have seen the show, the movie was a disaster. The pronunciations were wrong, major events were left out, key characterizations were missing. It was all out horrific and I am appalled that I wasted the money on something that I was so looking forward to.

This was quite possibly the most disappointing moment of my life, after waiting an entire year for this movie to come out, it fell completely flat, with unnecessary name changes to horrible special effects, to bug-eyed acting, the cartoon is more life-like and realistic than this. I almost cried in the theater.

I'm pretty sure The Happening was actually a movie about what happened to people after they watched M. Knight's remake of one of the best animated series ever made. I was close to throwing my body into a moving combine too after I saw it.

100minutes of my life I will never get back. Worst movie I have seen since "To Die For" back in 1995. The story is weak. The cast was horrible. Monkies could have made a better adaptation.

I have watched the cartoon series many times over and M Night Shyamlan has made a mess of what was originally a wonderful story.

I spent $13 on a ticket to see "The Last Airbender" in 3D on opening night. I was nervous due to the overwhelmingly negative response by professional movie critics everywhere. Critics very rarely tend to agree with each other, and yet they were united in their stance that this movie was cinematic trash. Yet, I still gave the movie the benefit of the doubt because I had enjoyed some poorly reviewed movies in the past and I was a fan of the animated series on Nickelodeon. This was the biggest mistake I have made in all of my life. Everything about the cartoon has been lost in translation to film, even things as simple as the pronunciation of the main character's name. The screenplay and dialogue were extremely poorly written. The acting could have been great and it wouldn't have saved this movie, but it's arguably one of the worst parts of the movie. The 3D effects are completely unnecessary and for about 75% of the movie, there are next to no 3D effects. I have seen plenty of bad films in my life, and thankfully none of them have been memorable. This movie stands alone however, because I will never be able to forget just how awful this movie was. It is, with no exaggeration, the worst movie I have ever seen.… Expand

This Movie was very dissapointing. The acting was very horrible, the script was plain, and the climax was very anti-climatic. I had high expectations for this movie...but it was a struggle to stay asleep. May I please get back the hour + I spent painfully in theatre?

Not good, just not good.

One of the worst movies I've seen. The effects were off (and by off i mean not timed right at all) the actors were cardboard cutouts and had NO comedy (like the series does) at all. The plot had soo many holes and scenes missing. Overall one of the worst movies I've seen.

The most horrible and bad made film EVER! Night lost his good direction and talent. Poor man that steal money from poor Americans. He is a talent-less man. Can we sue him? Fire him from making movies. My rate? F

Hollywood needs to stop its racist casting if it expects to continue to appeal to a non-white audience.

Uwe Boll, should have been the director.

I'm a big fan of the tv show the butchard the movie paramount should be boycotted for this sh%T. I have never been so disappionted. what were they thinking. was mks drunk or high when he made the movie. find out were the 150 mill went because it didn't go in to the movie.

I rather plunge to my death than watch three seconds of this "movie." But hey, at least we all know that M Night hasn't lost it! He hasn't lost the ability to induce mass suicide. It's a shame that I don't have an actual "movie" to review.

Had potential but did not deliver a single drop or it. I was really anticipating this movie but ended up greatly disappointed.

Not nearly as bad as the drones are saying. Geez, it's like they've got a personal score to settle with the reviews. Was it great, no; but my 9-year old loved it. In the grand scheme, who is this movie for anyway!

This is not a good movie. Very, very poorly done.

Quite possibly the WORST movie I've ever watched and I've watched a lot of movies! Bad acting, bad script, just plain bad. The special effects are the only reason this movie gets a 1 instead of a 0.

they cant create fire out of nothing, iroh isnt fat ( and now its eeroh) aang is now ong, sokka is Soekka appa is ugly momo is there but never even given a name, and just sits in thebackround, people are to serious, HORRIBLE ACTING except maybe dev pattel and ms. sparks, but thats because everyone around them sucks so much. fights are boring compared to the cartoon series, and there is no giant fish thing at the end. however it did have a nice explosion, and the end made me cry. because it was so horribly bad. oh, and no kiyosho warriors. who wouldn't want to see sokka in a dress for comedic effect?… Expand

Such a horrible adaption of a great cartoon. Was so disappointed in this. I also couldn't believe he would get the names wrong of all things. Did M. Night even doing any research before filming this. Don't waste your time or money on this pile of garbage.

That movie was horrible it made me sooooooo mad they said names wrong, skipped a lot of important information, had horrible actors and actress, mad Appa look scary and ugly. I am a HUGE fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender and during the whole movie i sat there thinking in my head what in the world is this thats not how they found the Avatar thats not what even happen snd why is Aang soo serious hes a 12 year old kid in the cartoon he is a fun goofy kid i mean during the whole movie it was "I will save them" "something is wrong with the fire nation" i mean come on really imma end with this i was highly afended that Zuko was not hot and where was the scar on his face i mean i didnt see squat and by the way don't spend an extra $5.45 to see in 3D its not worth it M. NIght never again you need to quit like now!!!!!!!… Expand

This movie was horrible. No one on the cast could act, or pronounce anything right. The plot itself was taken from season 1 of the cartoon, but the events were so mixed up, jumbled, and changed for the worse. It was like M. Night Shyamalan didn't even watch a single episode before making this movie.

The movie missed more than scenes. The characters' names were mispronounced throughout the film. My god, all you have to do is watch the episodes on streaming Netflix to get the name pronunciation correct! Secondly, all the characters spoke in the same voice as M. Night Shyamalan. There was no character development because the characters were too busy delivering exposition of what they were going to do next like films from the '60s. The television series' dialogue actually relayed the personalities of the characters. The word usage, delivery, etc. was perfect in the series. The pacing of the movie was horrendous! M. Night Shymalan is supposedly making this a trilogy based on the other three books (Water, Earth, and Fire). He could have easily took pivotal scenes from the series that illustrated relationships, character development, and action into a single fail-proof storyline. Instead, he used the series as inspiration to his dull mediocre script writing. What studio executives deemed him worthy to write a movie? All his movies have subpar writing. Someone at Nickelodeon lend this man a writer! Now, let's move onto the casting. How are you going to place Sokka and Katara in an eskimo village, yet make them as white as the whitest people in Denmark? A story about Chinese folklore, which uses Chinese characters throughout the series should be appropriately casted. This isn't Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments and segregation is running rampant throughout the land! M. Night truly left me scratching my head on his casting choices, especially with The Karate Kid (aka The Kung Fu Kid) casting Asian thespians. Directing is a different monster. It is a skill that is only learned with practice. After M. Night Shyamalan has poorly directed previous movies, one would believe a child/teen movie, which has a plethora of resource material, would be easier to manage and direct. I sadly viewed this poor choice of cameras, unbelievable acting, and poor cinematic effects throughout the movie. It was like watching a colorblind child paint by numbers with his feet in a dark room. Now, to the special effects, action sequences, and element bending! This was totally amateur hour at the Apollo. While the bending was horribly used, the martial arts (aka meditative Tai Chi scenes that littered the movie in order to drag it out) showed promise, but eventually let you down when infused into combat. SPOILER ALERT! Why would you cut the one trailer scene that stuck in everyone's head from the movie. Watching Aang bend the elements from the top of temple was awesome. When I thought Hype Williams held the worst movie of all time title with Belly, here comes M. Night Shyamalan with his alchemy to turn an almost perfect animated series into the worst cinematic effort done in mainstream Hollywood. Believe me, mainstream Hollywood continually makes worse and worse efforts. I don't fault the writing team of the Avatar television series for not assisting Mr. Shyamalan, but I do fault Nickelodeon for allowing this debauchery to pass through focus groups and test. I will not continue my critique of this film because this film suffers from more problems than words in a 90-page script. I just two question for all the Hollywood executives out there. How does M. Night Shyamalan get new projects to ruin? Why do the studios respect this obviously arrogant amateur that hasn't learned from his previous mistakes or respect the source material of his movies? I really wanted M. Night Shyamalan to win against the Hollywood machine. However, he's the Icarus of the Industry, and this film was him allowing his own cloudy vision take him too close to the Sun.… Expand

Character names mispronounced, the story drastically altered save for the beginning and the end of the first season, terrible acting, and much much more. The bending in this movie is frantic and long winded compared to the series, taking multiple gestures to move even the smallest amount of an element, and the fire benders can't even generate their own flame. All in all in was just poorly executed from its very creation, I wish I could get my 12 bucks back.… Expand

Well, Metacritc's score is almost spot on. This film has tons of problems. And you can tell this film was rushed so badly and almost no heart was put into it. The characters have little personality, and if you're going to this film to see the cleverness and for all of the great memorable characters, you will be very disappointed. Almost no humor is present, and Sokka doesn't even tell one joke in the entire film or make a sarcastic remark, which is what his whole character is about!! The effects are mediocre at best, and could've been so much better. I don't know why the say some of the names differently, which is stupid. The charcters hardly resemble themselves from the series except Katara and Sokka which made me happy, but then again Sokka isn't funny at all, and all Katara does is cry and protect Aang. I hated all the things they changed in this movie too; it just ruined it and insulted my intelligence.. The only scenes I appreciated and liked isthe beginning in the South Pole, the blue-spirit scenes and the very end. And the action scenes you see in the trailers, is basically all of the action that's in the movie, which just ruins it even more. Shyamalan didn't care about this movie at all or very little. The entire first season crammed into 90 minutes is not enough for this film, and if he cared about it, he would give the fans what they wanted and make it a 2 1/2 hour film with an extended edition for the die-hard fans and actually have character-development and a story that resembles the actually first season by 70% atleast... It just makes me sad that this film was made, it should've never been created in the first place, and did nothing for the fans and it tells you Shyamalan cares more about money than us... I'm so angry; I could've written a screen-play ten times better than this!! And I wish I could direct a new-film just to get it right!!! The only reason it deserves a four which is being nice, is that it looks like some effort was put into it and atleast they got some characters that resembled their animated counterparts and it was somewhat related to Book One and gave me inspiration to write my own screenplay to redo this horrible masterpiece, and making go back to watching and appreciating the animated series even more. Have super low expectations if you see this... Short Review: It's not a good film and it will disappoint many Avatar fans, and the characters have no personalities and the film is way too rushed. Also has lots of stupid changes and Shymalan is a horrible director. Don't see this in the theaters, rent it if you're a fan or you just want to entertain and calm down some kids or just for a good pop-corn film. I would've liked this film more if I didn't see this in the theatres, because I expect such a better experience. Have low expectations in be in a good mood for a better experience. 4/10. Shorter Review: Just rent it if you're a fan with very low expectations. 4/10. I don't have much to say about the acting since they're just kids and haven't really started an acting career yet. And is mostly Shyamalan's fault for not being a better director.… Expand

1) My name is Aang not Oong! Everyone else's name is correct, why not mine? 2) My markings (Arrow) are a lite blue (kind of turqoust) color with no hieroglyphics. And it goes all the way down and around my body (arm and legs). 3) I'm a kid that loves to play around in all the books. I'm not that serious, yet. 4) Sakka, is a comedic strategist who loves to pick on his sister. He is not a serious warrior. 5) Katara, is a strong courageous and inspiring leader, not a needy little girl. 6) The "Fire Nation" wants to take over the world. They don't care about the spirit world. This movie was the worst movie my kids and I saw all year! We walked out very disapointed. My recommendation to all of my friends is to wait for the dvd to see me and not to waste your money! … Expand

The animated version is far and away the pinnacle of its existence. This movie felt far short of that pinnacle. Stiff acting, bad casting and the machinations of M. Night ruined what would have been an epic film. Now, it's just one of those movies used to babysit your nephew on a Saturday night.

Long ago in a forgotten land there were four nations Earth, Air, Fire and Water the four fabled nations lived in peace and harmony with one another that is until the ruthless and power hungry fire nation declared war on the three other nations. Only the fabled AVATAR the master of all four elements could stop them but when he was needed the most he vanished, for a hundred years, the Fire nation ruled thinking that the only threat that had the power to defeat them was long deceased. That is until a young water-bender from the Southern water tribe and he smart mouth brother find a young boy trapped in ice they soon find out to be the new AVATAR a young air-bender named Aang who is the three nations last hope of saving there world from the dominate fire nation. In 1999 a young up and coming director by the name of M. Night Shyamalan directed his first big budget film to critical and commercial success that film is called "The Sixth Sense" which today still stands as the highest grossing horror movie in history grossing 293 million dollars domestically and 672 million dollars making it not only the highest grossing horror film domestically but he highest grossing horror film worldwide a feat that no other film of the genre has been able to surpass to this day. Shyamalan then followed his huge success with the equally impressive "Unbreakable"(2000), Shyamalan's take on the superhero tale and although "Unbreakable" lacked the mind blowing twist ending of "The Sixth Sense" it is still one of his most ingenious and thought provoking works. Then two years later Shyamalan tackled the frequently told tale of visitors from another world with "Signs"(2002) using his signature flare and stark storytelling to create his finest work since his breakout film "The Sixth Sense.â… Expand

Sometimes one goes into a film with some preconceived notions about it due to critics' reactions, and with "The Last Airbender" those notions get re-affirmed after watching the film. This is, surely, the worst film I've seen in the last year. It is impressively bad on so many levels! The screenplay was simply atrocious, with horrible dialogue and plot. Stunningly badly written. Another stunningly bad thing was the acting. Honestly, this had some of the worst acting I've seen on a major motion picture ever. It is TV-action-flick level of badness, which says a lot. The visual effects and art direction might be the highlight of the film, but even those are not that spectacular. At times, the film would remind me of the awkward cinematography of "The Golden Compass" and this feeling that the film is just too theatrical and "set up," instead of feeling more realistic, like other highly visual effect heavy films have managed, such as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Avatar. I could go on and on about how bad the film is. It is a pity that it ended up being so bad, since it was obvious Shyamalan was planning a sequel (or maybe a trilogy - those are popular nowadays, it seems). Something tells me that that (luckily for the audiences) won't be happening any time soon.… Collapse

Awful,just awful. everything from acting,story, cgi, all of it was just awful. the names are wrong,the bios's for the main cast is wrong. In short this movie has nothing to do with the show at all, its like m. Night really hated the show and set out to destroy it and he did a good job of trashing everything that is Avatar.

I took my ten year old daughter to see this. She does Karate and she likes fantasy, explosions and swords. She gives it an 8. For her I think the fact that the acting and screenplay is really cringeworthy in many places eludes her. On the other hand I have to admit to being really bored and just kind of embarassed for the actors. I'm sure many of them have a lot more potential. Some of the special effects and action sequences are really very good, and I can see that Shyamalan had a lot of potential with the intellectual property, but I really think he just couldn't pull it together. Honestly it's like watching a train wreck in 3D animation, but slowed down to 1/60th time. You just want it to be over. If there is an obvious 'reason' for such a flop I think I saw it in the end credits "Written, Directed, and Produced by M. Night Shyamalan". His ego has him wearing one (or two) too many hats. This is a movie that you could wait to see on DVD if you have kids that like the cartoon or the idea, or not at all if you don't.… Expand

Even though I liked the visuals the acting was just horrible and the dialogs, Oh my dear God.
Since the acting is a really important thing in a movie it really irritates you if you can't enjoy a movie because of it. Furthermore, when the acting doesn't kill you, the stupid dialog will. To sum up, a good movie with some "bugs" and if you are a more visual type that doesn't care about the dialog, acting than you will enjoy this movie and if not than I watching this movie would be a sin… Expand

I have never seen the cartoon so I knew nothing about this story before I watched the movie, however, I had read several of the reviews here on metacritic prior to seeing this film (yes, I watched it anyway!). I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised, I fully expected to dis-like this movie and consider it a waste of time but it was much better than most of these reviews would make you believe. Perhaps if I was a fan of the series I would have found more fault with it but I thought that the visuals were awesome at times, I liked the story, it was kind of like Lord of the rings of the "elements world", albeit not nearly as good! I do wish that the movie had been about another half hour in length because it did feel a bit rushed at times as if the story was moving very fast and giving you just the basics. I did not have a big problem with the acting, not Oscar caliber but not bad either. I was partially motivated to see this movie because I have a 3D television, so I bought the 3D blu-ray, It had some of the best 3D visuals that I have seen yet, they really tried to take advantage of the technology and did a great job. If you just want be swept into a mystic fantasy world with a good story and some fantastic visuals I don't think that you would be disappointed. If you are a die-hard fan of the series then I have no idea! I'm looking forward to the next one to see how the story progress's.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As a fan of the series, I would say it deserves nothing more than ZERO. Shyamalan is a great director, but he should at least had taken a look at the entire first season before starting this movie. Iroh don't have his ironical tranquility, Socka and Aang are serious all the time, awful dialogues, Zuko is totally different. Katara started the rebellion with the Earthbenders at that prison(and Aang and Socka weren't taken arrested)... I could continue, but it would take too much. In summary, the movie has nothing to do with the cartoon, and have a lot of mistakes. It is hollow, just a lot of special effects, nothing more.… Expand

I was staring blankly at the screen within a minute and a half. (Thats about when the movie starts). The characters from the start seemed lifeless and not nearly as emotional as the cartoon characters. This carried on all throughout the entire movie, and by god, it was boring. This movie is an insult to the Avatar: The Last Airbender series. Flashy effects do not make a story, and this is a true example of that.… Expand

"The Last Airbender" is not terrible. The story is well put-together and flows well, considering it was all condensed from a whole season from a TV show. The visuals - save for the shameful post-production 3D that makes Clash of the Titans look like Avatar - are also very solid. Peltz's performance is bland, but aside from her, there weren't any huge problems. The screenplay, though, is a mess. Full of cliches and often incomprehensible, the whole plot falls apart by the end.… Expand

One of the worst films you will ever see. Terrible acting, A poor script that made absolutely no sense, and it tried to cram an entire season filled with countless details into a poor 2 hour film. This is absolute trash.

omfg ... this was the worst I saw in 2010, was a total loss of my money at the movies, I'ma fan of the anime which was extracted the script of the movie and I take the disappointment of my life when I saw this **** totally disgusting

Out of all the M. Night Shyamalan films I've seen, this has got to be the worst one that is in need to retire. I do like his 3 movies, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. But his ideas started to get bland, boring, and silly after those 3. But this one just killed it completely, he needs to retire.

I really enjoyed this movie, while it doesn't have the same emotional power that the anime had, and some cheesy moments, it's still a great movie, the characters are extremely well interpreted, I'm also glad they didn't use the Aang and Katara relationship, and I hope they don't, looking forward to the next movie.

Very awkward dialogue and pretty terrible acting, it was good that they atleast kept the story true to the actual cartoon. Aside from the compacted story it was quite lacking in all areas.