by Ken San Nicolas

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Genre: Adventure

Starring: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Dev Patel, Jackson Rathbone

If someone asked me on Monday which of the two new releases this week I would give a higher review to, I'd bet most of my paycheck that M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" would be better than the Twilight Saga's "Eclipse". Oh boy was I wrong.

Shyamalan and Airbender fans skip this paragraph because you don't want to see what I'm going to write. "The Last Airbender" is the worst movie that Shyamalan has ever made. To be honest, that says quite a bit considering the only verifiable hit that Shyamalan ever made was "Sixth Sense", and all his later hits never lived up to the bar set by their predecessor. Right now "The Last Airbender" has a 07% approval rating on www.rottentomatoes.com. That is downright horrible, but as a critic, I don't let the reviews of my peers affect how I rate a movie. However, I thoroughly support the response that this movie has received. Its horrible!

In the world of "The Last Airbender" the world has four "clans", each clan bonded with a natural force. These "benders" have the ability to control the four elements - fire, water, air and earth. There is a kid, the prophecized Avatar, who has the ability to bend all four elements and restore the balance in the world. However, the people of the fire tribe want to control the world and will stop at nothing to prevent the Avatar from restoring said balance.

Adults who have no idea what this TV-to-movie conversion is about, here's the premise in a nutshell - Fire people want to rule world; small monk kid has ability to stop them but doesn't know how to use fire, water or earth; water Eskimos help monk kid; fire prince wants monk kid so fire king will like him; something about a fish; monk kid learns water; kids applaud, parents look pissed.

Seriously, that's the movie! The script is so rudimentary that it's an insult not only to the adult audience but to the younger viewers as well. The concept has great potential, it just seems as if Shyamalan skimps on the depth. The characters never face issues or respond in a way that would promote their development - instead Shyamalan relies fully on dialogue to explain changes in character. Let me give you a quick example - Which would you prefer to illustrate a character being sad? A) A character crying and mourning over a dead body or B) One that says, "I am really sad." Ok, maybe it isn't that lame but it is pretty close to that.

I'm not a fan of the Avatar televised series, but I know it is very popular. However, what is emulated on the big screen looks little like what is portrayed in the television series. Now, call me a hater but that seems like a pretty major flaw. At least "The A-Team" had main characters who looked like their original cast counterparts - with the exception of Ang, "The Last Airbender" looks nothing like the TV show. Especially since the television series reflect a certain cultural environment, it's unfortunate that much of the show's culture was lost when it made the cut to film.

The action is poor as well. I'm not sure how it is done in the cartoon, but the movie action sequences are less than stellar. Once again the concept is cool, but the application is very poor. Typically, when the benders fight, they stand around and do tai chi for 30 seconds and finally the element they control flies towards their assailant. Do you see the impracticality here? The rest of the army is fighting with spears and hand to hand, and the three or four benders in your army are doing tai chi for half a minute just so a gallon of water or a fireball can hit one guy? How inefficient and ineffective! But maybe that's just my business side talking.

To top off the 96 minutes of fail that is "The Last Airbender", is the fact that the movie did its 3D elements in post production. Like "Clash of the Titans", this effect is minimal at best and thoroughly unnecessary. This blatant characteristic for the sake of generating more revenue, totally disgusts me. Watch it in 2D if you dare watch it. Not because I think you'll enjoy it more, but because it will be cheaper and you are getting ripped off already watching it.

I've never been a fan of Shyamalan's work. I think sometimes it's too artsy or tries to be smarter than the audience too often. But, at least he's trying to create value and originality in the plots. "The Last Airbender" however, is a 100% sell out. A director trying to make a quick buck by carelessly tossing a children's favorite to the big screen. Creative critics in defense of the film will probably make some off-tangent comparison to current world events like, "Oh the Fire people represent the growing presence of India and the Water people represent the United States and its capitalist structure and the Avatar represents Obama" or something totally weird like that. I'm here to tell you to stray away from the lies. This movie is total crap.

1 out of 5 stars.