First is the bad acting and dialogue, Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, and Jackson Rathbone as Sokka present the worst of it.
Second is the pacing. While it is expected that the story be distilled since its being adapted from an entire television season, most of the film feels rushed and makes an overuse of exposition instead of showing what has occured. This also leaves little room for characterization. If the run time had been extended by 30-60 minutes this may have been fixed somewhat as well as allowed for a few of the things that had been cut.
Some of the alterations to the story make no sense. Example, the Earthbender internment camp is on land instead of a mining rig leaving one to wonder why they don't rebel before the arrival of Aang.
The CGI portrayal of bending, Appa, and Momo is actually good, however unlike the series in which bending of the elements was synced up with characters movements, most of the film has the characters performing martial arts like motions for several seconds before their element actually does anything. In several places it seems like bending should be occurring when it isn't, such as the scenes where Katara and Aang are apparently performing bending katas (always next to sources of water no less) without actually bending.
And finally a number of major characters and elements from the series have been cut, including:
King Bumi and Omashu
Suki, the Kyoshi Warriors, and Kyoshi Island (A statue of Avatar Kyoshi is shown and named.)
The Mechanist (The Northern Air Temple is present.)
Jet and the Freedom Fighters
Aang's temporary fusion with La, the Ocean spirit, to repel the Fire Nation from the Norther Water Tribe Capital (Instead Aang creates a very large wall of water which merely causes the Fire Nation fleet to retreat instead of destroying much of it. Zhao is drowned on screen by a quartet of Waterbenders instead of La dragging him into the ocean.)
Avatar Roku in Spirit Form (A statue of him is shown and a spirit dragon is present which may be Roku's dragon, Fang.)
Katara's Healing abilities
Much of the characterization of the series (Aang's cheerful demeanor is missing through much of the film. Sokka's intelligence and humor aren't shown. Katara's strong will is absent and her abilities as a Waterbender are lessened.)
A Poorly Done Adaptation
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
First is the bad acting and dialogue, Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, and Jackson Rathbone as Sokka present the worst of it.
Second is the pacing. While it is expected that the story be distilled since its being adapted from an entire television season, most of the film feels rushed and makes an overuse of exposition instead of showing what has occured. This also leaves little room for characterization. If the run time had been extended by 30-60 minutes this may have been fixed somewhat as well as allowed for a few of the things that had been cut.
Some of the alterations to the story make no sense. Example, the Earthbender internment camp is on land instead of a mining rig leaving one to wonder why they don't rebel before the arrival of Aang.
The CGI portrayal of bending, Appa, and Momo is actually good, however unlike the series in which bending of the elements was synced up with characters movements, most of the film has the characters performing martial arts like motions for several seconds before their element actually does anything. In several places it seems like bending should be occurring when it isn't, such as the scenes where Katara and Aang are apparently performing bending katas (always next to sources of water no less) without actually bending.
And finally a number of major characters and elements from the series have been cut, including: