Fire Nation should have burned this reel to the ground.

With special effects being done by Industrial Light & Magic — the same people who did visual effects for the “Star Wars” films — it seems obvious that the previews for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” would be visually stunning.

When I first saw the preview for the film and realized that M. Night Shyamalan was writing, directing and producing his first non-original work, I got excited.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Knowing “Avatar” was based on a kid’s television show of the same name, I decided that the movie looked interesting enough to invest my time in watching the show to learn more about it.

The show was decent; the movie was not.

The show is separated into three different books: water, earth and fire. The movie details the events in Book 1, Water, and if successful is the expected start of a trilogy that will see the series to fruition.

The visuals did look promising. With all of the elemental attacks involved in the fight scenes, it could have made for a unique experience in battle. In reality, the techniques seem more like chi, ki, or energy attacks from any martial arts film.

The landscapes were also bland throughout. The locations were supposed to represent four different nations: air, water, earth and fire. 

The glaciers in the water nation will seem exotic, but the forests in the earth nation looked like the film crew just found somewhere off the side of the road to pull over and shoot.

The biggest complaint that can be made against the film is the acting. It is terrible.

There has been controversy around the races chosen to represent each nation, but this seems almost inconsequential at this point. Who cares about the actors’ origin when none of them can act? 

I understand that technically this is a children’s film, but those in charge of casting should still try to bring some depth to the characters’ personalities.

To those who have not seen the show this may not be as much of an issue, but the characters also differed in personalities from their animated counterparts. 

Aang, the main character, is fun-loving but troubled in the show. 

In the movie he just seems like a depressed kid in a cloak. 

A particular pet peeve of mine is the mispronunciation of certain names, but this will not displease those unaware of the alternative pronunciations.

Overall, the story progresses too quickly and focuses on inconsequential fight scenes.

Verdict:

This film was deeply disappointing on all fronts. Underwhelming visually and emotionally, and even though they raised the rating to PG-13 to pander to an older audience, it comes off more childish than the show. 

— Auryn Baruch