Nope, it was a questionable call, and I'm the only person I know that doesn't absolutely hate the change. M. Night did it to kind of take the series back to it's Easter theme. All of the original pronunciations are Americanized while the movie pronunciations are Eastern.

Oh alright, thanks for clearing that up lol. My assumptions usually tend to be kind of off o_0

Yea for some reason, as I think about it more and more, I don't think the pronunciations were that bad. Of course it would just sound very odd to ATLA watchers and fans.

I am just going to go watch it and laugh at shammallemons failure.... kinda like how I laughed at the failure that was the dragonball movie.

I'd buy that explanation, if it weren't for the fact that nearly every other Eastern theme was ignored or butchered.

This is how I feel from what I have seen already. D:

okay, okay, best part. Those 6 earthbenders do like 12 different moves, and it's all for one little pebble. I laughed so hard at that.

For me, the movie was so bad it wrapped around and became epic hilariousness. To me, it was like Ember Island Players, only not as funny--well, on purpose anyhoot. I was laughing more at it than with it, like I was when I watched EIP.

but hey, that's just my two cents. The bending was sorta cool, except for the speed. I kept thinking in Smash Bros. terms [seeing as Tenoko's a Nintendo gamer ^^] and kept thinking that the benders all woulda gotten combo'd so easily. THAT was how the FN pwned then, seeing as their source of fire had to be external now =P

~Tenoko~

I too saw that the movie, and I too did not like it. The only thing I wish M Night Shamalaheyho did, was to make the movie longer. If he added another half an hour, I think that maybe he could have screwed up the loose screws, because the entire movie felt so rushed.

<spoiler..ish>

Like the relationship between Sokka and Yue. Us, the fans, know that Sokka was totally in love with Yue in the anime, but in the movie, they were barely shown together, so when Yue finally died, it was more like a, "Oh.. okay." moment. When Yue gave her life to the Moon spirit in the anime, it was heart touching. In the movie, pfft.

</end>

okay, the characters in the movie had no souls. They were some of the flattest characters I've ever seen in a movie. There was no depth, no emotion, no, well...ANYTHING! i felt as if the characters were more like props than anything. The emotion took a backseat to the fancy bending effects (which annoyed me anyways because it was overkill). Sure, the bending is important. But that isn't the ONLY thing the story of Avatar focuses on. So why does the show do it 10000000 times better than the movie? Because the characters actually have FEELINGS! They have backstories, struggles they must overcome, etc. I FEEL for the characters because they seem like actual people! Am i the only one who cried when Iroh sang his song in Tales of Ba Sing Se? That killed me!
I did not feel for ANY of the characters in the movie. Acutally... i cant even call them characters. Puppets is a more appropriate word.
I was especially disappointed in "Ong"s character. He was much too serious to be a 12 year old avatar. He was too accepting of his fate. Aang didn't fully accept his duties until way into the show. And because Ong was serious and focused, that left Katara with nothing. Katara was the sensible one, Not Aang! So i felt as if Katara was just simply there, along for the ride...
Oh jeez. Sorry guys. Just needed to vent. This movie really rubs me the wrong way and i have so many issues with it. I could go on forever....
but i wont i promise ;D

Ok, I just saw the film last night, and I must say I wasn't terribly impressed, but then again I didn't have huge expectations for it anyway. The main thing to keep in mind with this film is that it's not a direct interpretation of the show, but is more of a re-imagining of the core idea in Avatar. For example, rather than using the mythology created by the show's original creators, Shyamalan instead focuses on Eastern Mythology, on which the show's idea is based on. This fact alone explains some of the inconsistencies between the movie and show.

< POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD >

For example, this change in focus explains Aang's (or Ong's, whatever floats your boat) change in personality. Shaolin monks were incredibly focused and calm and, for lack of a better description, accepting of the fate that befell them. This would explain Aang's demeanor, being very unemotional and quiet, and ultimately taking his fate as the Avatar in a sense of responsibility, instead of being the fun-loving and happy boy that we see him as in the show. This also explains the long motions required to bend. It has it roots in several forms of martial arts, such as Tae Kwon Do, in the practicing of what we now know as "forms", a set of preplanned moves and steps that were used to train the body, but also to generate the body's chi and channel it into their attacks. So, to apply this to the film, Benders use these "forms" to generate the chi necessary to move their element. The tidbit of the Firebenders being unable to create flame is supported by this, as it would require a large amount of chi to create something like that, hence why a master like Iroh would be one of the few who could it, and why the other soldiers were terrified when they saw it.

< END SPOILERS >

I'm not saying that you have to understand Eastern culture to enjoy the film, and I'm not saying that the movie doesn't have its flaws. The plot is very rushed, and there are lot of things left unexplained. The characters are a tad bit bland, and you aren't given much time to connect with them or delve into their personality. On the plus side, the core idea is still there, most of the characters kept at least some of their original personality, and the special effects were actually decent for a Nickelodeon movie.

In my opinion, I think this first film was an experiment for Shyamalan, so that he could find out just what he could do with the idea, and see what the audience did and did not like. Now, with the first film out of the way, there's plenty of room for an improvement. He now knows what can be done with the idea, so I hope and believe that the next film will be much better than the first. But that's just my opinion.

Okay, I watched it last week with my sister and a few other girls. The other girls had never seen the show and were constantly asking me questions! Don't forget the show completely because then you will have no idea what's going on. I hated the bending...

SPOILER

There's a scene where Iroh is firebending and they all freak out because "He's making fire from nothing!"

The water bending was okay I guess, but it always splashed everywhere.
The acting and how much they crammed in are tied for worst in my mind. The acting is self-explanatory. They crammed in a season of the show into a 2 hour movie? All you see of them is the serious side, and not the fun, goofy side, and that was one of the best parts of the show for me. It showed that even when life sucked, you can be happy. Anyway, that's my opinion, and I know that last sentence was cheesy....

I haven't seen it, i've heard about how bad it is. I'm not expecting great things obviously, but if I may try to help some of you guys.

The common complaint i've seen is the "Characters Weren't Fleshed Out" or "Lacked Soul" arguement, well until i've seen it I may be out of place, BUT

Stupid Tab button

What i've noticed is that when you have something like Avatar which had 15 to 20 episodes into season one for everyone to get to know each character individually, you don't get that in a movie.

I don't know how long this movie was but truth be told without 3 hours I don't think anyone could have given Sokka and Katara as much time to develop as a whole 30 minute episode for you understand what fuels them. That's just what i've noticed of series to movie. We already have a source to pull from, so it's kinda unrealistic to think they could do as well with 2 or less hours of film to flesh out 5 characters who will be important in the 2nd one. That's just including Aang, Katara, Sokka, Iroh, and Zuko.

That was indeed one of the movie's biggest flaws--the characters were too rushed. after learning what the pronunciations changes were, they all made sense except Agni-Kee.

the a and i together would still make the "aye" sound.

but ye. it was not nearly as bad as critics said it was. it was just fun to make fun of.

~Tenoko~

Well thats good to hear cause graphically it looked like they did a good job. I do have below average expectations, but you've raised them to average cause one review I saw said that ATLA made DB Evolution look like an epic movie, and i was like aww crap!

I agree with Tenoko. It wasn't as bad as some say, in my opinion. The critics are free to have their own opinions, just like everyone else. I just think the movie was... off.

@wei: the movie definitely did have some perks. I thought the scenery was beautiful, personally, as well as the music. Some things we can blame on Shamalamadingdong, others we can't. it was inevitably going to be rushed, because trying to cram 440 minutes [22 minutes x 20 episodes] into 104 is going to have to cut over 75% of material. The biggest flaw the the movie had was that the characters were flat and kinda just hanging there floating in whateverland. no development.

bending in my opinion, actually brought about practicality. firebenders needing an external source gave a legit drive for Sozin's Comet. instead of just "wow more fire", now it's "no source needed. burn baby burn."

Sure it's a concept worthy of taunting, but even the long bending moves made a little sense here and there.

so it wasn't by any means a very accurate depiction of the show, but it did have a cool interetsting insights. and cool music--and great scenery.

I gave it a slightly below average rating of 43% myself. [give or take a few]. it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. It was just off.

~Tenoko~

Well that makes me feel better, but I always frown upon anything less then 120 minutes run time. I can't stand 1 1/2 hr movies, I don't pay a ton for movie theatres for anything less then 2 hrs...disappointing especially for my boy M. Night...i've liked most of his movies minus the crazy people in the woods, and I haven't seen The Happening. Signs, Lady in the Water, and Unbreakable i've thoroughly enjoyed.

It's 1 hour and 45 minutes so not much after 1 1/2 hours, and granted, i thought the movie could have used an extra half and hour at least.

I'm very adament about my 2 hours :-D How many GREAT movies do you know at 1 1/2 hrs? 1 hr and 50 minutes ok...but 2 hours is a perfect amount of time to get everything you need done...however this movie should have easily been 2 hrs 15 minutes if it were up to me.