Writer/director M Night Shyamalan's once glorious reputation is tarnished further by this tediously juvenile fantasy adventure in which the Fire Nation and its vengeful Prince Zuko (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) want to rule Air, Water and Earth. But will young Avatar Aang (Noah Ringer) fulfil his destiny as controller of all four elements and return harmony to the universe? Based on a popular American animé series, this often incomprehensible, potted live-action update is so overloaded with CGI animation, the conversion almost feels redundant. A mix of hackneyed Tolkien fantasy, Brothers Grimm fairy tale and Old Testament cliché is evident in the heavily subplotted story, and the blanket banality is increased by Shyamalan's completely bland direction and wooden performances by his child stars. A few epic vistas and images are spectacular - notably the tsunami wall of water holding the Fire Nation's ships at bay - but most of the elemental "bending" is poorly conceived and unexciting, especially in the 3D repackaging.

The story follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.