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

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

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

The movie's effects were awesome, but everything else could have been better. The characters' dialogue was very awkward and lacking that certain feel. I watched some of the cartoon episodes and Aang's character was portrayed differently in the film. Aang, as I recall, was quite carefree and had fun in the cartoon. In the film, however, Aang is very serious and I don't think he smiled once throughout the film. The story did not have good transitions. I mean I could follow what is occurring, but again it could have been better. I was very bored during the film probably because I did not really care for the characters. My friend who had wanted to see the film fell asleep and so did the person sitting on my other side in theaters. Again, the only parts of the film I enjoyed was the effects.… 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.

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.

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

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

Not good, just not good.

ive never seen the cartoon show and didnt even know about it till a year ago and still havent and after seeing this film i doubt i will ever want to. the tv show im sure is better but this film left such a bad taste for this series. well the worst thing about this film is the acting it feels like a middle school play and i feel like thats almost giving this film praise saying that. the worst of it is from the 3 kids whos acting is so bad in this you can bet they will never do films again and if they are lucky may appear on some crappy sci fi channel film or on life time . the plot is poorly told the charicters are about as intresting as waching grass grow . the only good thing this film has is lush back grounds and visaul effects . the fighting is laughable with every one dancing around like abunch of retards trying to hump a door knob. M night shamallamadingdong one again proves he's a **** director and some how got lucky with the 6th sense and unbreakable.. probubly because he had good actors to carry his sorry ass. evade this film like its got herpese.… Expand

I'm being more than a little generous. The movie is the logical extreme of what movies like Avatar have wrought. Excellent aesthetics, absolutely atrocious acting. The movie is a butchering of the cartoon, with horrible, awkward dialogue, a plot consisting mostly of exposition, and flat characters with very little to like.
The sad thing is that the cartoon is one of the best written and intelligent children's shows in recent memory, yet it gets adapted into a horrific film. If you like the cartoon, watch it for a laugh. If you never watched the cartoon, keep this movie off your list.… Expand

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

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

I liked the anime a lot is very good.
compared the movie with the series, the characters are completely different. Aang's personality is not the same. Sokka in the series is very funny. Sokka in the film is so serious that he was not paying attention. very good special effects in the movie.
should not allow Mr. M. Night Shyamalan direct a film.
completely ruined what could be a great movie. was lost what could be a great trilogy.… Expand

I tried to like it, but it is a big letdown compared to the Nickelodeon animated series it is based on. The story was hard to follow and there a lot of changes from the show. It would have been better if they had better actors as well. The character didn't act at all like they did in the show.

Many of the characters names were pronounced wrong. The movie was very serious, when the cartoon was lighthearted. They changed the plot, it was chopped into stupid and very unintelligible pieces, the effects were horrible, the characters looked nothing like the originals. The spirit world looked cheesy, appa and momo looked like scraggly puppets attached to the ceiling with "invisible ropes". If you liked Avatar; The Last Airbender, I highly recomend that you don't watch this. Your high hopes will be crushed. Immediately. Don't watch it and hopefully, they will let someone else make the second (but that probably won't be good either).

Ah well.

-kataangforever1… Expand

It really is the last airbender. Just because of horrible dialogue, boring fights and no humuor it is terrible. Paramount need work to make it better instead of it worse.

I don't watch the series this movie was based on, so this isn't a fan rage review. Just the usual negative review. Just about everything I look for in a film is absent from this major motion crapper. A boring/ uninteresting/ stupid story, horrible acting, and just a feeling of: why should I care syndrome. There's nothing good in this, nothing; perhaps "okay" special effects, but overall nothing. I can't say much about this because it's been a while since I've seen it; several years in fact, and I don't plan on ever seeing this again unless it's a dare.… Expand

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'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

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

Think Dragonball Evolution but WORSE. Nuff said.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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?

Being a huge fan of the animated series on Nickelodeon, I was skeptical when I heard that that a live action movie was in the works, and it seems my skepticism was well placed. Everything I loved about the animation was missing in this film, most notably the personalities of the characters. Where the television cartoon had wonderful character, in this movie they might as well have all been zombies. Horrible acting, overworked dialog and for a movie that was supposedly 3-D, only about 5% of it was visibly so. I had to keep taking off my glasses to see the diffference and honestly it was hard to tell then too... This was the first book in four if they follow the animated program. I won't bother with the other 3 films. I wish now I spent the money to check out 'The Karate Kid' instead.… Expand

I have to hand it to M. Night, he is THE most consistent director in Hollywood... Every film he makes is consistently worse then the last! Check out all his movies on metacritic: 64, 62, 59, 44, 36, 34, 20... in that order!

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.… Expand

Shyamalan tries to gain an audience with a movie that is off of an already successful story. But this doesnt do the show justice at all. As a huge, and I mean huge, fan of the series, this was a big let down. But I'll use the pros and cons method to express my feelings. Pros: Action, Effects. Cons: Laughable Dialogue, Bad Acting (for the most part, Dev Patel did great), Name Changes, Takes itself way too seriously (they're kids, why aren't they having fun? no comedic relief?), Jasper ruined my favorite character of the series. and what gets me angry is that people will think the series is bad. It is not. so overrall, this movie is bad. and it's hard that it's from the guy who directed and wrote The Sixth Sense.… Expand

Good intentions, BAD results. As everybody knows, every movie based on a video-game (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, KOF, etc) or animated series (Dragon Ball: Evolution, The Last Airbender, etc) is a total waste of money. Personally, I'd prefer the crappy animated 3D versions than the Live-action movies.

The collapse of the M. Night Shyamalan project called "The Last Airbender" was previewed since the movie trailers. And be honest, if you'll make a movie based in an awarded cartoon like Avatar: The Legend of Aang, the very first thing to do (as an advice) is to respect the originality of the series, books or video games that you're planning to make. Mr. Shyamalan is a good director but he needs co-work with the nickelodeon producers or a bunch of fans of this animated series.

Greetings.… 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 only reason this movie gets a 2 is because of the speical effects. It doesn't show the good and evil in Zuko, it has poor acting, to many movements before any bending is done (you could get smacked in the face before ang can use any air attacks) and how can Indians be portrayed as the bad guys ? Indians are not evil enough, nor strong. Bad casting, bad scripting and bad acting with good speical effect doesn't make for a good movie… Expand

Great visuals. Decent Story. Horrible dialogue! I would say take the risk just to see the visuals and be submerged in this world but I can't just because the dialogue (and maybe the acting?) is just that bad. There's no justification for the horrible dialogue given how clever, witty, and funny the animated series is. So disappointed.

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

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, 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.

The Last Airbender is an awful movie that everyone should avoid. M. Night Shyamalan let his audience down. The privileged of making a movie comes the responsibility of making a good one - a responsibility to which Shyamalan has fail and should not be allowed to get away with. Such a shame.

Usually I can find some kind of redeeming element from a bad movie and enjoy the flick. I just could not do that with Ava... whoops sorry the Last Airbender. This movie is honestly laughable. Even the fight scenes are terrible, at least with Transformers Revenge of the Fallen the fight scenes were entertaining to watch. I honestly don't think that I've seen pacing this bad in a movie ever. Also the name pronunciations were fine in the TV show, there was absolutely no reason for them to change. I mean changing the way a name sounds is not the end of the world but thats only the surface for the problems with this movie. My number one problem with the film is the acting, absolutely terrible across the board. My second problem is how bad the story is, you can not follow this film for a second. The only reason this movie is getting two stars is because of the films musical score (one point) and the Special effects (another point). I guess what I'm trying to say is this movie is terrible because... it sucks.… Expand

"The Last Airbender", a movie based on the famous TV series for kids, is just simply terrible. The story doesn't make any sense and is chopped into crude pieces. The acting and special effects are terribly illustrated like coloring black ink over a well-done portrait of someone. Man, all I can conclude is RAZZIE BUZZ!!

I am a huge fan of the animated series. I absolutely hated this movie. There is really no similarity between this movie and the series. First, in the series, Aang is a happy-go-lucky kid. In the movie, there is no joy to be found anywhere. Second, bending doesn't require five minutes of dancing before a single move can be made. In the series, a flick of the wrist throws a rock. In the movie, the characters have to go through rigorous dance moves just to levitate some water. Third, the series cannot actually be made into a movie because the movie can't encompass all of the little details the series had to offer. All in all, nothing in this movie lives up to the series.… Expand

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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

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

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.

Horrible directing.

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

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!

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

Just horrible.

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.

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.

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

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Last Airbender is what you might call "a movie you must see because it was an awesome tv show" don't some people realize that most cartoon adaptations don't work? Obviously this one didn't, because of its poorly constructed plot, poor acting, and racism.

In my opinion, this movie is a polished turd. The polishing is the neat look. But if you polish a turd, its still a smelly turd. I can't believe how bad M. Night screwed up. He was good years ago, but now he sucks. If he just directed it and didn't write it, it would be good. But his writing really sucks! Its like a two-year old wrote it!! Im a huge fan of the show, and M.Night's writing really screwed it. First, whats with the wrong pronounciation!! Second, the writing is so rushed that they don't have room for any little millimeter of soul or heart. Finally, there's horrible acting, laughable dialouge, bad 3-D, and dissapointing action. Whether you're a fan of the show or not, skip this movie!!!… Expand

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

Couldn't even sit through it. Just plain terrible. It's disappointing to me especially because the cartoon was so good. Way to ruin it. I didn't think something so bad could be made from this.

I went to see this movie with my friends and it was completely different than any of our expectations. The character's dialog was really wierd and the only good part of the movie were the effects. The story was very boring and was not worth the $12

"Last Airbender was such a rushed messed , it goes to quickly tho the action scenes were pretty neat , it could not save , these terrible performances , Awful script , and Laughable Dialogue ,One of the worst films released this year" .. F

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.

You're better off watching the animated series. There aren't enough characters to describe what is wrong with this movie, but bad acting, bad script and bad special effects just about sums it up. Since The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable it has been going from bad to worse for M. Night Shyamalan.

Gio: I'm gonna see it. Carl: No! Just buy a Madonna album or something. Ugly ugly film. Even racist! Gio: But what about my RT review? Carl: Oh man, you don't need to waste your time reviewing that crap!

If this had been some unknown director's debut film, released with little to no fanfare, it would have just been a bad movie. But because of the director's pedigree (albeit diminished from his first couple of films, but still!), because of the relative popularity of the source material, because of the marketing campaign that drove this film and because of the relatively large sum of money invested into its making, "The Last Airbender" is jaw-droppingly bad. I almost recommend you to watch it, if nothing else so you can truly understand what an awful major motion picture truly is and have a low-point to forever compare all other bad films to.… Expand

How can you begin to describe the many ways in which this film sucks? Never in history of movies has their been a fall as meteoric as M. Night Shyamalan, a director who began the decade being called the new **** and ends it by making The Last Airbender, a movie that is a failure on every level you can think of. The acting is wooden, the casting is offensive (why are all the good guys white, and all the bad guys Asian, when it was clearly the other way around in the show), the effects are horrible, the plot makes no sense, the whimsy or excitement of a fantasy world is completely absent, and above all things, it is mind-numbingly dull.… Expand

I tried to like this movie, I really did. But I just couldn't get around it. I even abandoned all bias from being a big fan of the show it spawned from, but that did little to make this movie any more enjoyable. Focusing on this movie as a standalone entity, the writing was horrible(it sounded like a second grader wrote most of it), the acting(save for Zuko) was bad, and the camerawork was awkward(long, flowing, uninterrupted shots don't lend themselves well to an intense fight scene Shyamalan). The plot struggled to find itself(some parts felt dragged on way too long, others seemed to zip by) and important characters seemed to pop into existence out of nowhere and not be explained until later. All in all, it was just really, really bad. I would not recommend this movie to anyone, especially a fan of the series.… Expand

The story of the Dalai Lama don't need to have fantasy to be good, this movie is simply bored and stupid, like a cartoon it works very good, but in a movie is just boring and pointless

The visual effects and the overall design of the movie are impressive. But it can't fully make up for The Last Airbender's bland acting, horridly written script, absence of character development and short running time. Now, I'm a fan of the animated series of which this movie is based off of, and I must say this was a pretty pathetic excuse for an adaptation. The story that the movie is based on is highly original, spiritual, philosophical, humorous and emotional. But all of that has been taken away and substituted for crap. This film did not live up to it's potential what so ever. 1/ 4 stars.… Expand

M. Night Shyamlan directs an EPIC FAILURE of a TV show. His best was The Sixth Sense, but his film-making skills took a downfall and so far, The Last Airbender is probably his worst. First, the story was too short and skipped to much exposition from the show, there wasn't enough of a conflict, a lack of climatic events, and the conclusion is choppy. Second, EVERY SINGLE actor was miscast and not very firm with their roles, the script suffered from being appalling and mispronounced the characters names, and the art direction lacks enough element-bending. Many movies were adaptated from television shows, but this one suffered from retardation in almost every part of the movie and I am not the one who's racist but especially when Arabs, Indians, and Persians were catastrophically and wrongly depicted as Firebenders.… Expand

This movie just sucked hard at best, but it still a highest grossing film. I hate the transition of story of this movie. The characters aren't characters at all. They're like clever bot speaking to other clever bots. You can't sense the feeling of each character ( except the boy who played aang which is his first time in this business). I hope the sequel to this film is better than this one.

I have watched this movie ONE 'S and never again!!! as a big fan of the avatar series i just wanted to see what this movie is like despite what the critics and everyone else said this movie is HORRIBLE. Uninteresting, bad dialogue, if you haven't seen the series big parts of the plot are missing. WERE THE F**k are the Kyoshi warriors. This movie is terrible. the only thing that's okay are the effects but that is not enough by a long shot.… Expand

I was a huge fan of the original cartoon, in fact it's my favorite TV show. I just don't see how anyone who was a fan of the series could rate this movie any higher than a 1, and how anyone who enjoys movies could rate it higher than a 2. The Last Airbender is the worst movie I have ever seen, and I am making that claim as a disappointed fan and a movie lover. Every aspect of the film that could have gone wrong went horribly wrong. From the atrocious dialogue, to the mediocre story, to the wooden characters, to the awkward cast, to the sloppy special effects, it all worked together to create one massive piece of s%#t. However, the worst part of it all by far was that M. Night Shamalan challenged the ways of the Emmy winning, critically aclaimed show and failed in every single itty-bitty little way I can think of. Now, people who have never seen the incredible TV show may never see it and any chance of it evolving into a live-action movie, which had so much potential to be good, has been extinguished. As a fan, it is a saddening thought.… Expand

Not good, in fact it's one of the worst movies I've seen in years. I hated it! The acting was horrible, basically every actor sucked. The script was poorly written and cheesy. The story jumped around a lot and made very little sense at times, which is strange because I was familiar with the story because I watched a little of the show. The fighting sequences were stupid. Some of the CGI was okay, but not good. I'm now a firm believer that M. Night Shyamalan will never have a comeback as this film is nothing but pure garbage. He can't handle directing a film even with good material being handed down to him. A complete shame and one of the absolute worst films of 2010. A dreadful, excruciating film to watch.… Expand

This has got to be one of the worst movies I watched. And it's so frustrating because I loved the cartoon series! D:

Bad acting, incredibly bad script, bad casting... the only thing good might be the visual effects. But not even that and the fanbase was able to save this from being a huge waste of time.

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

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

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!

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

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