M. Night Shyamalan has taken an awesome cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and turned it into an expensive mess.

From Roger Ebert’s scathing half a star review of the film – “The animation of the Nickelodeon TV series drew on the bright colors and “clear line” style of such masters as Miyazaki, and was a pleasure to observe….As “The Last Airbender” bores and alienates its audiences, consider the opportunities missed here. (1) This material should have become an A-list animated film. (2) It was a blunder jumping aboard the 3D bandwagon with phony 3D retro-fitted to a 2D film. (3) If it had to be live action, better special effects artists should have been found. It’s not as if films like “2012” and “Knowing” didn’t contain “real life” illusions as spectacular as anything called for in “The Last Airbender.” I close with the hope that the title proves prophetic.”

Here’s the real deal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8qzQk4JDVY