God what a shitload of a film.  Awkward, childish dialogue, practically no comic relief, and the three main characters were the only white people in the film.  I was giving Shaymalan the benefit of the doubt on that last issue, and hoping that the casting choices were made because the actors were absolutely perfect for the roles, but what the fuck?  Noah whats-his-name as Aang, I will admit, was a good choice, and in the previews he actually looked a little racially ambiguous to me.  And in the carton Aang is significantly lighter skinned than any of the other chracteres.  But the actors playing Katara and especially Sokka...!  SURELY there were Asians who auditioned for those parts who were better actors than them, especially Jackson Rathbone.  Just...ugh.  He has no sense of comic timing whatsoever, and that's basically the purpose of his character, to be the comic relief.  And then there was the huge juxtaposition of having every other person in their village Asian, even their grandmother!  And once I realized he was the same guy who played Jasper in Twilight, I couldn't stop seeing him as that character.

But now that I've thought it over a bit more, I think the biggest crime MNS is guilty of is sucking the film completely dry of the humor that was one of the trademarks of the cartoon.  Not only Sokka, but Uncle Iroh too, and Aang had this goofy aspect to his personality.  He had his dark moments when he felt guitly for abandoning the world and responsible for the death of his people, but he was still just a kid, albeit one with amazing powers, and he acted like one for the most part.

The whole thing was just a huge fail on every level imaginable, except for special effects.  The special effects were fucking awesome.  But clearly, fucking awesome special effects do not a good film make.  At least I didn't spend the extra money to see it in 3D.  Then I really would be pissed.