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.

Wasn't that bad i thought it was great but they did leave a lot out and acting wasn't that terrible. For all you down raters please go outside and do something else besides bashing movies, stop trying make it seem like it was the worst movie in the world i have seen worse, you people just have no imagination.

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

Lovely like the show, the cgi was the best ive seen since Avatar.

Don't believe those critics. As a big fan of the animated series, I enjoyed the film a log. I would love to the sequels.

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.

This movie is for someone interested in an amazing story! Not just action as it may seem in the trailers.I would say its a drama/action movie. If u want a moving film with a STORY behind it, not just cool action and great acting . I will admit it could have been made allot better, but hey critics chill out it was still amazing . I highly recommend this movie (for reasons listed above).

This movie just blew my fucking mind. My body wasn't ready for the heart pounding excitement.

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.

This is in my top 5 favorite movies. I absolutely loved it. I'm sorry that no one else seems to.

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

Whatever thread of similarity this movie had with the wonderful cartoon series I had fallen in love with was broken by stilted dialogue, incomprehensible storyline, and useless graphics. Don't watch this. It will break a fan's heart, and it will only confuse the uninitiated.

Felt like the Dragon Ball Z movie, remixed with modern effects.

M. Night has taken one of the best story lines and ruined it. Mispronouncing names, choosing kids who CAN'T act, and failing to develop the characters, has proven that he no longer knows what he is doing. Unless you have seen the series, you will have no idea what is going on. I have seen the series and I spent the entire movie filling in the gaps in my head. Someone else needs to take this project over and remake the first one. Poor form M. Night.… Expand

Horrible directing.

I'm giving the last airbender a B- the fight sceens where exciting to watch but the diologe throught the movie was really horrible and character developet was not as good but they did enogh to make a ok movie.

I typically trust Ebert, Travers, and others here who awarded this film such scathing reviews. But for some reason I still felt the need to see this movie, thinking that these critics were sometimes subject to harsh overstatement. Unfortunately, this movie was unfathomably bad, and one of the worst films I've seen since 10,000 BC. Do not waste your money on this. The more who do, the more likely it is that the studio will let him make a follow-up, and that is something that nobody wants.… Expand

M. Night is best at original not putting his artistic spin on an adaption. He white-washed the whole cast not one other leading actors were Asian. Why was Dev Pevel casted let alone considered he doesn't look nothing like prince zuko and didn't attempt to what happen to the hair cut what happen to the burn over his eye. If they do still make chapter two in to a movie I hope it's re-casted w/ possibly with a new director otherwise it's already lost me as a fan!… Expand

With a running time of under 2 hours, the film covers the events of the entire first season... the plot felt really rushed as they tried to relay as much information to the audience as possible, and the kid playing Aang really needs to work on his acting skills to compliment his kung fu... but the film had some great filming, some excellent special effects, and some truly awesome fight scenes. The movie is not completely broken, but everything happens way to fast to really allow for a smooth flow of events. I'm really hoping they break the sequels up into two 2 hour films to allow for more development with the characters and events. I still enjoyed it and think it is worth seeing, but the plot really is way too crammed for a 1 hour and 40 minute film to cover.… Expand

Needless to say, as a fan of the cartoon, I was deeply disappointed. The movie felt rushed & peiced together,there was no character development, the dialouge was horrible, and the acting was literally laughable. I do not understand how M.Knight can take something that was handed to him a a silver platter and mess it up so badly. There is just no reason for this.

everything fun or heartwarming or joyful was bleached, wrung, beaten on a rock and then hung out in the breeze. And then it rained and a volcano erupted and all the ash stuck on. This is the in-flight movie they play on that handbasket to Hell.

Thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I felt the acting was fine, the characters developed, the story believable, some of the visuals quite stunning, and the exposatory dialogue easy to forgive. The casting didn't bother me. I felt each actor was attractive and believable in his or her role. I wasn't keeping score of which characters were cast with actors of which ethnicities. (Why would anyone do that?) I simply felt that it was a talented and appropriate cast. Having not yet seen the animated series, I had no trouble following the story, nor did I feel the script left out anything important. I felt the film had a strong climax that appropriately underscored its theme of "water." This was one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen in years, and I am eagerly anticipating the sequels. The audiences of both of the sold-out shows I attended seemed to enjoy the film as well. There was some applause at the end, and most of the crowd seemed to be talking in positive tones about the film as they left the theater. Thus, the reviews are pretty surprising.… Expand

No surprise the movie sucked given the director at the helm. What is most criminal and continues to be Hollywood's most befuddling mystery: why/how M. Night continues to get projects (to destroy). My kids were doubly disappointed, first by the movie being simply so bad, but second -- and more importantly -- their expectations were crushed given their sheer enjoyment for the animated series. They had such high hopes, and yet I kept warning them that M. Night directing was a very bad sign, he's ruined one movie after another. Daddy was right again.… Expand

My 4 year old loved only as a 4 year old could. Now me as the grown-up I was highly disappointed. I knew that taking such a rich tapistry such as Avatar:The Last Airbender and adapting it for the silverscreen would be a challege. But M. Night gets a big F in writing. First he screws up the entire sub-plot of the series, which is the love story of Aang and Kateria which is one of the most endearing parts of the series. Secondly he ignores important foreshaddowing senerios, and dismisses entire major charatcters. Did anyone else miss the Keoshi warriors or Jung Jung? Both which are important elements the later books. The relationship between Zuko, and Iroh was underdeveloped. And last but not least the timeing of important dioglouge was misplaced. On the good visually the movie (in 2D) was well done, and the costumes were correct. The biggest mistake was letting M. Night write the adaption. A well written story can keep an audience in there seats and interested for .3 or 4 hours at a time, Think of Gahndi, or Lawerance of Arabia. Unfortantely, he tried to put a Persian Miniature on a postage stamp, and failed in his effort. Should the series be continued I recommend letting the orginator write the screen adaption.… Expand

Certainly a flawed and amateurish film, but also certainly much better than the critics are giving it credit for. I wouldn't read too far into the reviews, they're not all wrong mind you, there ARE issues, but decide for yourself. I think most, especially after reading the unjustly harsh reviews, will be surprised. (On a side note, it is much, much better than Shyamalan's last works.)… Expand

Great movie! The only bad thing I can say was maybe they should have made the movie a bit longer. Nice set up, followed the series quite faithfully. Nice changes. Didn't feel like I was getting preached at! Nice family or date night fun.

Wow, after seeing this film, "Jonah Hex" is like a work of art in comparison. $10 says this wins the worst movie award at the Golden Razzies this year. They can retitle the film "The Last Movie M. Knight Will Ever be Allowed to Make.".

Being a huge Avatar fan, I knew that M. Night would need a miracle after seeing the preview in which the main character is a 6 year old, no one else looks anything like what they did in the show, and the fire nation had been transformed into India. The actual movie followed suit, mispronouncing and misrepresenting almost everything I held dear about Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I'm personally boycotting the movie "The Last Airbender". Care to join me anyone? The reason? This morning as I search for movies to see with my kids this weekend, "The Last Airbender" seems like a good choice, but then as I see the casting of actors I'm pissed. An asian theme animated show has made into an ALL white actors movie. Hollywood happened to bypass all talented asian actors!!!. A racist movie. Most of you know that I'm a moive lover, so are my kids and some of you. But this "Last Airbender" has become my last gasp of Airsucker. Feel like being push over, Kenneth… Expand

Jesus people the movie isn't that bad... I enjoyed it - hopefully a sequel is still in works.

This is the worst adaptation of the wonderful film series I have EVER seen. They changed the names, the storyline (completely) and the acting is horrible! Don't see this movie! We cannot support this atrocious adaptation. Every thing is choppy, nothing makes sense, it assumes you have already seen the series. Don't watch. Trust me, if I ate popcorn during the movie, I would';ve thrown up.… Expand

Production was okay. The effects were alright. But the dialog was just awful....every bit of conversation was so awkward, and poorly written! I was cringing inside whenever anyone said anything. The story felt ridiculously rushed I'm pretty sure anyone who hasn't seen the show will be incredibly lost. You do get an idea about the plot, but only through awkward, terrible, forced lines that are....just the worst. I'm rating The Last Airbender a 1, simply for the novelty of the effects and seeing "Ong," "Soaka," and the rest of the gang in live action. I WAS BETRAYED!… Expand

About the only positive thing I can say about the movie is that, visually, they stayed true to the original cartoon series. Otherwise, this was just a trainwreck! Bad acting, bad script, bad editing, bad fight choreography! Avoid this movie and stick with the far superior animated series!

This movie was by far the worst thing i have seen in my life. Horrible acting. No character development. I cant even describe how distorted the story itself was. Save your money and watch the TV series. Don't even bother seeing it in 3D either if you do decide to see it.

Wow, I'm giving this movie a 1 just because the special effects were good, other than that this movie was horrible. I am a huge fan of the animated series and waited a freaking year for this movie to come out and now that it finally has i wish it would have never even happened. The music was good but in the wrong parts the acting was horrible the names weren't even right, the movie just didn't make sense and jumped from scene to scene. I should have known M.K.S would have destroyed this movie, and to top it all off it didn't even have a twist.… Expand

I'm so pissed with Shyamalan. How could he butcher one of the best cartoons of the past decade? There should be a restraining order against him-he can't be within 5 feet of any film studio because almost everything he does turns out to be horrendous egotistic garbage devoid of any emphasis on trying to tell a good story, just trying to tell HIS story. I mean. the series' had amazing story telling potential, which should leave little room for messing up, from the horrible casting to the sloppy 3D....fans of the cartoon are most likely going to be super pissed.… Expand

Though it wasn't perfect, it did a good number of things right in my eyes and since they took time before filming the next, possibly M night will take the criticisms and make the second one longer and attempt to feel less rushed, maybe closer to the show.

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

This movie was hilariously awful. Almost worth seeing just to laugh at. Almost.

I love the original cartoon of Avatar: The Last Airbender. And I am rarely critical of almost any movie I see. But there were several problems I had with this movie 1. The said several of the character's names wrong. Sokka, Aang, Iroh were not said like it is said in the cartoon. 2. Why can the Firebenders not bend fire without fire around them? In the cartoon they didn't have to manipulate fire. They could make it on their own. 3. Why are the characters so serious. In the cartoon they are pretty funny and light hearted. Especially Aang and Sokka. In this movie, there was rarely a comical moment to be found. 4. They rushed the story. If you have not seen the cartoon I could definitely see why someone would be put off by what occurred in the movie. It went by so quickly that it was hard to tell what was going on. It is only an hour and 45 minute movie. They could have extended another 30 minutes and told the story better. (Even though another 30 minutes might have been torture to everyone who thinks the script and acting was horrible.) Overall I think with some new direction this could be a good live action crossover. With a new director and new script writer, I think it would be okay. I still found it mildly enjoyable because I love the cartoon so much, but can easily see why people would be put off by it.… Expand

Just horrible.

The movie was varry cool because it has the first episode and then at the end he fights the fire lord I say it is vary intreating so I would give it an 8.

This movie was a travesty in comparison with the original animated series. Endless streams of exposition (sometimes repeated again in a "voice-over flashback"), wooden, wooden dialogue, and nonexistent 3D. The movie also takes the animated series' progressive handling of gender and race issues and skewers it. Every villain in the movie is a person of color. Every heroic character with a name is white. Every person of color who does a heroic action--aside from Iroh--needs inspiration from a white character before he can take action. In the movie, a woman never gets to show herself the equal or better of a man in any act that both are capable of doing. And adding a CGI dragon and three 3D CGI dewbacks did nothing to cover the massive amounts of boring exposition, genderfail, and racefail.… Expand

Your money would be better spent on highly addictive, life threatening drugs, they would do less damage to your intelligence and self-esteem. Terrible movie, and a failure in every imaginable way.

The movie was nothing like the cartoon. It left out important details and moved to fast for the viewers. For the people who never seen the cartoon will really be lost to what's going on. Also there is no reason why this should be a 3D movie, there were no special effect...M. Night Shyamalan missed the mark on this one.

Awful, and not helped by the amount of people troling. Collin M. - youz trollin. And I take my hat off to you.

They pronounced all the names wrong and it was terrible.

Never watched the cartoon & thought the movie was very entertaining. Wish it was a PG-13 movie so it could have better fights & deaths but this movie does with PG what Star Wars did & entertains its audience. All I see are a bunch of cartoon whiners on here complaining. Hope this movie makes enough to bring at least 2 more movies.

Incredibly frustrating and inexplicable debasement of simply wonderful source material.

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

Very well done for fans of the cartoon, and even people who did not watch the cartoon liked it.

My son wanted to see this movie and both of us enjoyed the movie. I was worried after reading the reviews but I don't agree that this is a bad movie.

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.

If you are a fan of the cartoon you will LOVE IT. If you don't know the cartoon, watch a couple episodes before going. Good action, start of a good story.

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

Really enjoyed it. Keep in mind the first start trek movie. They have to explain a lot, because the magic is the original parts of the story. So yes, fans of the tv show are bored with stories they already know, but what about the people new to the story? Keep in mind all the reviews are from fans of the shows. Of course the movie is going to deviate from the show. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed the movie a lot. My one critisism is that Sokka was not funny enough. They went for goodlooking instead.… Expand

If you liked the Avatar series on Nickelodeon, this is worth seeing. It's a little slow in spots and obviously it's difficult to condense a year of the series into one movie, but I liked it a lot and look forward to Book 2.

ok. I watched the series from start to finish and will eventually have the dvd set. I really dont get the reviews saying its the worst movie of all time. I mean its a nicktoon series. **if you expected lord of the rings then you deserve to be dissapointed** I did think it was too short and certain things were left out. Pronounciation of certain names were a non issue to me. I think people are reading much more into this movie than they should have. Its a childrens cartoon series made into live action movie and M.N.S did a pretty decent job. Yes the acting was a little off but have any of you seen the cartoon? No oscard for the cartoon or movie for sure. Its still a GREAT family movie that me and my niece and nephew enjoyed. **yes it seemed rushed **yes the pronounciation was off (((who cares)) **yes stuff was left out.. ((cant have a 12 hour movie folks)) **yes it was a GREAT MOVIE.… 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.… Collapse

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

Poorly written, rushed plot, horrible dialog, painful acting, amazing effects, ok fight scenes. The "benders" took way to long to get the elements moving. Watch the cartoon series and skip this disaster.

How is it possible that no one has caught on yet? M. Night Shyamalan is a JOKE FILMMAKER! He's a latter day Andy Kauffman. I was shocked that no one seemed to catch on after The Happening. A man slapped a lion in the face! How can people have attempted to take this film seriously? It was obviously a comedy. This film is exactly the same. You can't tell me that it wasn't a joke for him to cast Aasif Mondvi as the heavy, or that the entire cast woodenly reciting terrible and mostly pointless dialog would have passed muster for any major studio film that wasn't intended to be taken with tongue firmly in cheek. Seriously, this movie was a comedy, and the joke was on everyone who tried to take it seriously. One of the more enjoyable movies I've seen this year.… 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

Love the cartoon, loved the movie....bring on chapters 3 & 4!!

But the series was so good, how could this happen.

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.

I enjoyed this movie despite what everyone else is saying about the film, it might not be the best movie to ever hit the screen but i will take this movie any day of the week over sparkling vampires!!!

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.

As a devoted follower of the series, I must ask, "Why is everyone hating M. Night for this?" Granted, the film had B-Movie dialogue and sometimes shaky acting. But all-in-all I found it to be a faithful adaptation of the series. A welcome change to me were correct pronunciations of characters' names. The film was a bit rushed and had lackluster 3-D effects, but I would gladly see it again. I only hope enough people share my opinion that we get a sequel.… Expand

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 dont know what people expect...... You cant fit an entire television series into a feature length movie and if you tried people would complain about how long it was. Sometimes you just have to speed it up a bit. M, I think you did a great job. It was entertaining, didn't take itself to seriously and had pretty good special effects. James you have once again renewed my faith in the move score. This movie is definitely not potential for an academy award but its entertaining and an all around solid flick. Sometimes its just the reviews that ruin the movie.… Expand

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