Another Disappointment in film...The Last Airbender :-(

After patiently waiting and extremely eagerly for this movie to hit the big screen, I sat in the theater angry and feeling like my dreams had just been dashed!! I was like a kid in the candy store, but instead of enjoying my candy, somebody stole it right from my hands!!

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements.

Let me first start out by saying I am no expert in the 'Last Airbender' series, however I did get a chance to do some background research before going to see the film. And thank goodness I did because otherwise I would have been totally lost. But then again even if you didn't have any prior knowledge of it, the movie would still suck!

Now that we have picked apart the acting I would be remissed to discuss the casting of the movie. This was probably the biggest flaw of them all considering its basically the opposite of the original series. The fact that the casting consisted of Caucasian actors playing all the good guys in the Asian-influenced Avatar universe triggered numerous negative reactions especially from fans. It actually does a disservice to the film because it changes the authenticity of what it really represents. That was one thing I could not let go while watching the film.

As it pertains to the acting, I was literally cringing in my seat, the acting was horrible. With each line voiced you can't help but wonder where some of these folks got their acting skills. Now I understand that M.Night.Shyamalan was probably trying to introduce some new blood, but this proved not to be a successful change-up. The only actor who seemed to have the best flow was that of Dev Patel (Prince Zuko) he played one great confused "bad guy". To a small degree you actually empathize with his character. He actually emotes true believable feelings. Now he wasn't the most accurate portrayal of "Iroh" visually but at least captured the character's wisdom much better than many of the other actors on board for the movie. However, the worst of them all was the main character Aang (played by newcomer Noah Ringer), lord knows this had to be his first gig.

To be honest, when you boil it down this is really not the type of film that would be Shyamalan's forte' so to speak. He needs to stick to the thought-provoking mystery films that are more up his alley. And leave the mysticism and fantasy alone. And another thing, leave the 3D alone too!! Its not for you!!

My question is "how do you take something that seemed like such a great idea and make it so terrible?" It makes you wonder what could result of the films to follow (FYI...this is not the end). Such a shame that  Shyamalan got completely caught up in the mythology of the world and missed the fact that the CHARACTERS are what make up the cartoon, thus the movie should follow suit. It's so disappointing because this could have really been a great film...SMH!

Rating: 1 star out of 4