The Avatar!

Bad Avatar!

Avatar (2010): Dumb Movie about newagey blue critters in a hallucinogenic jungle exploited for their outofstockium or hardtofindium or whatever it was called.

Good Avatar!

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2006): Super cool Nickelodeon action/adventure cartoon series/trilogy that flips Japanese/Chinese culture/mythology on it's proverbial head/ass. Beautifully rendered by an indie Korean animation studio, visually stunning action sequences choreographed by a sifu master (using five distinct styles of martial arts), funny, gripping, complicated, spiritual, compelling, heart-wrenching, well written. Intended to captivate kids, obsessed over by adults. The series was an intricately put together 61 22-minute episodes, and ties up so gorgeously that a box of kleenexes for a) tears and b) jizz is strongly recommended.

One of my favorite action sequences from season 3.

The Avatar cartoon series was finished before Jim Cameron's Avatar was being filmed. However, by the time Nickelodeon was ready to do an Avatar movie for real, Cameron's film was in production, and with a court-order the Nickelodeon was forced to call the film anything but The Avatar.

M. Night Shyalamalamadingdong was a fan of the Avatar cartoon and got dibs on writing and directing the film. You might remember him from his first good film, the Sixth Sense, followed by a string of poorly written WTFs. From the trailers, I can tell that much of the story has been lost and doctored for Hollywood. And even with the expected trilogy that this franchise will dish out, there is no way in hell that anyone could take a movie and recreate the magic, humor and complexity of the original series that took more than 22 hours to play out.

But am I gonna see the movie? Hell yes. All 3 films. The Airbender movie will likely be a blockbuster and take folks by surprise... I've never seen a story that's been told quite like this one, and its a fun world to dwell in and ponder. Just know that there is something way better that precedes what yr about to be spoon-fed Shyamalamadingdong style.

All three Last Airbender trailers: