Now 'Avatar' is one of those shows I've watched from start to finish multiple times. I own most of the series on DVD and I even cried during the finale. So... this "review" might be a bit harsh, but I'm going to try to be fair.

The movie blows. I mean... it really does. Its over acted and under acted in the same breath, the CGI is craptastic, the plot is horrible and basically its a lot of wind up for nothing. But here's a fancy list:

• Pronunciation. Many characters names have been changed Suddenly Sokka (Sock-A) in the show is Soak-A in the movie. Aang (A-ng) is now (a-ng), I don't even remember how they butchered Iroh but it didn't even sound like the same name anymore. Yet... Zuko was Zuko, Katara was Katara, Zhao was Zhao. And they said Avatar funny too...
• Choppiness. I figure this comes from taking a whole season (roughly 11 hours) and squishing it into movie form. But... we've seen this done before, right? They squish books into movies the whole time and win awards for it... so its should be possible. The movie is SO choppy. There's a constant jump of HERE to THERE with little explanation.
• Source of Ignition. In the movie version Firebenders need a source to firebend. Kinda like how Katara has to carry around water so she can waterbend. But... they use giant campfires/bonfires/cannonballfirethings to get there fire from so why don't the Earthbenders or Waterbenders simply just put the fire out...?
• Kids. The kids get a lot of screen time but so does Zhao and Fire Lord Ozai and Zuko and Iroh and random flashbacks and random flashes of the Spirit World... which means the Kids don't really get a lot of screen time. There's really NO bonding between the main threesome. Even Sokka and Yue get more time to bond then the kids do.
• The Spirit World. Aang goes maybe three or four times into the Spirit World (which is shown as him going into the Avatar State) and he kinda wanders around through a Twilight!Blue world and talks to a dragon who tells him to GTFO the genocide of his race and fucking waterbend already. And... the mythology of the Spirit World seems all odd. But that probably has a lot to do with the script.
• The Air Nomads. Aang has A LOT of grief over the loss of his people. Understandable, but his loss is SO big that the goofy kid that Aang is is only shown in flashbacks which basically makes him seem like a giant frowny wuss through the whole movie.
• Bending. There's SO much wind up before the bending in this movie its like a constant battle of this... but without Indiana Jones.
• The effects. Are crap.
• The actors. Are...white first of all but we'll get to this next. They could be good actors, really there's potential in all of them. But what they've been given to work with makes them seem like they're doing a speech about why smoking is bad in health class.
• Ethnicity. In the show its pretty obvious that: The Earth Kingdom is a kinda!China, the Water Tribes are kinda!Inuit, the Air Nomads are kinda!Tibetan and the Fire Nation is kinda!Japanese/Indian. In the movie its pretty obvious that: The Earth Kingdom is ASIAN and the Water Tribes are WHITES AND MAYBE SOME ESKIMOS and the Air Nomads are MIXED UP SHIT, YO and the Fire Nation is BROWN PEOPLE, MAYBE SOME INDIANS AND TERRORISTS AND THOSE GUYS FROM INDIANA JONES MOVIES, THE FIRST ONE... I THINK. Yes its a more... diverse world but one that makes people of 'ethnicity' either conquered, dead, or evil.

It could have been a good movie and I think if you change TWO things the next movie in the trilogy would be better. One: Find a new director. Two: Find a new screenwriter. When writing the next script don't just pick and choose parts of episodes you like. Make the cohesive story that is about first and formost Aang and Katara and Sokka and Toph. Then you can go on to focus on Iroh and Zuko. I actually did like the balance between A and B but there was this pesky C (Zhao and Fire Lord Ozai) that kept popping up. The next movie won't need stuff like an introduction to Ty Lee and Mai, having them pop up will be the best explanation of all. You won't need to do the Guru episode or Lake Logai. And I know cutting stuff seems like its doing a disservice to the show but making a film worth the budget and ticket price is WORTH IT. I can't tell you how important that is. I'm here for a good movie, not a to the line, faithful rendition. I don't want to be force feed the same material, I've got the show, if I want to watch that I will.

I feel like M. Night really was the downfall. And I feel betrayed because I went into this movie after hearing years of interviews saying how much he LOVED the series and yet... all of these changes DID NOT help. You can change things in an adaptation, I'm all for that but only if it WORKS. And it didn't. I would rather have sat through an 11 hour movie that was a shot for shot recreation of the show then have to sit through that 1 hour 30 minute monstrosity again. But here's the kicker... it let off on such a GOOD note. A note where M. Night is in his element.... the TWIST. You get to see the PERFECT girl playing Azula, sitting there smirking and even my mother (who is unfamiliar with the show) said to me "Oh she's crazy." So I'm hesitant to tell you not to see it because I want to see the second one, I want to see Azula in all of her glory. I just want a new director and a new screenwriter.

So...uh those were my thoughts.