Trying to shove an entire season's worth of plot into a film less than two hours? Yeah, like that would work. The action scenes are so poorly staged, it's like M. Night watched Children of Men and failed to realize that choreography is essential to long takes. Bad acting certainly doesn't help. I haven't seen the series but this didn't turn me off to it, since it's obvious even to me how much has been chopped out, and it's not an accurate representation of the original.

A film so bland, so boring and so painful to watch that it seems pointless to rag on The Happening as an awful film. At least that had comedic potential, while this exposition fest feels like a marketing product and not a real film. Now this is how Shyamalan has fallen so badly.

My mother thought it was good!

It isn't a complete waste, but it's not very entertaining or a worthwhile watch. It has moments when it's fun, like when action scenes occur where the actors don't have to dance awkwardly, but apart from those and the occasional breathtaking visuals, there's nothing to like. The dialogue is almost all exposition, the characters are lifeless, and the story doesn't give us much reason to care, even if the dialogue makes it seem like such a reason is there. I wanted a winner so the film would end.

movie for kids till they turn 10

The trajectory of Shyamalan's career is bewildering. Tragic, even. Those responsible for greenlighting this script and approving the cast should be punished severely. You'll find more professional delivery of better written dialogue in most school plays. Night is clearly in way over his head. Which is too bad because the element bending effects don't look half bad. Any potential is obliterated, though, by a nonsensical (but often hilariously overexplained) story and utter directorial ineptitude.

This movie is nowhere near as bad as critics and fans panned it to be. Its definitely aimed towards children, and with child actors can be a bit wooden. The story seems pretty standard and non threatening but in no way was I ever confused as to what was happening or what a characters motivations were. Still for the budget and obvious effort spent in the shots it should have been better.

Holy shit.

The story is so rehashed and plain, and the movie generally lacks in enchantment (this is a big problem, especially considering that it's a fantasy film). The 3D visuals barely justify only watching the giant wave bit. Overall: You require severely limited film experience to enjoy this.

I will give this movie a double digit rating simply for the fact that I am intoxicated and am feeling a bit generous. Awful.

Whitewashed, terrible acting and they mispronounced the names. The names!

What a surprise, Shyamalan made another shitty film. The mythology makes no sense but that's probably not the film's fault and it is also not the biggest of it's problems.

Shyamalan has a go at an old-fashioned Saturday-matinee children's film. No surprises up his sleeve, he infuses it with a commendable fairy-tale earnestness, so that even the naivité has its charm ("It is time to show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs"), and the creatures, the ships, the other special effects are more than acceptable, yet the whole thing feels somehow remote and uncompelling. And the after-the-fact conversion to 3-D is useless.

Aasif Mandvi is the big villain? I can't wait for the sequel when Stephen Colbert replaces him.

This movie invested lots of money into effects i hope they put money towards better actors and script for the sequels.

It's definitely weak and it's mostly because they treat multi dimensional storyline as an abstract. Yet, it's not that bad make me join the latest Shyamalan-bashing trend.

very cool 10 out of 10

The single worst big-budget blockbuster since Batman and Robin. No filmmaker has ever destroyed such great material so thoroughly and effectively as Mr. Shyamalan has here.

Great special effects/3D and occasionally good art design. That's about it on the positive side. I can see where the series would have had its highs and lows (never watched the show, but I get the gist), and this hits none of them. The characters are completely without a personality, and the cookie-cut script with all the traditional cliches does nothing to help that. Also, I'm assuming there are sequels planned given the tease of an ending that only fans could understand, I guess...

Family fantasy about a 12 year-old boy who, as the sole person in the world who can control all the elements, provides hope for freeing the world from the chaos that consumes it. a joyless, soulless, muddled mess... has epic scope and soaring ambitions, exotic locations and a cast of thousands, but manages to get everything wrong on every level.... The script is so incomprehensible, it's often difficult to follow.

I agree the film crammed one TV season into a 104 minute film. I did think the "bending" in looked pretty cool. Overall, the characters or the story wasn't really interesting and/or developed very well.

Rather silly for the man who created Unbreakable and The Village, but it works in terms of visual elegance and action.

Everyone, just go watch the show. Seriously. This movie was just horrible in every way possible and almost ruined my love for the animated series I grew to love so dearly.

Shyamalan shows us that he can create a mysterious atmosphere, but that he fails, time after time, to keep his audience fascinated and the pace going. His style is somewhat messy, which makes it sometimes annoying to watch. If you want something decent to watch, watch the tv series.

It's far better than I expected.

Just watch the cartoon. They're all on Instant Download on NetFlix anyway and are far superior to this.....and funnier.

Not good but not the pit of despair described elsewhere. A reasonable fantasy plot although deeply under-developed. Influenced heavily by Buddhism and relying heavily on CGI and special effects this doesn't have enough substance to carry it. Some reasonable characatured pantomime villains but not even that can salvage it..Don't hold your breath for a sequel.

once you accept the childish dialogue and rather not so good acting. It is really not that of a terrible movie. Hey... come on... I'm pretty sure this movie was not intended for a adult movie experience! And the SFX is very good and convincing... but the film music score by James Newton Howard is absolutely majestic - this movie would be nothing if it wasn't for that awesome score!!!

God awful. I didn't even fork the money over to see this; I watched it online. Thanks Shamallama for taking a gigantic shit on one of the best animated series of all time.

ger; [Die Legende von Aang; The Legend of Aang]; der avatar hält das gleichgewicht zwischen den elementen, doch er verschwindet für 100 jahre und kehr danach zurück und muss die feuermenschen bekämpfen.; (nett, aber ohne ende da als fortsetzungsfilm konzipiert);

Not as bad as its reputation suggests. This does a nice job capturing much of the source material's look, but spends far too little on developing the characters. It should have been an hour longer.

I'm a huge Shyamalan fan but this was terrible at so many levels. I've never watched the TV-Series but the story sounded good yet the movie feels so rushed at all times and the characters are terribly underdeveloped (maybe with the exception of Toub and Patel who act defiantely against a horrible script). The special effects look totally out of place, the sets look cheap and the action scenes are laughingly bad. The only saving graces are the two mentioned actors and the beautiful score by JNH