History YMMV / TheLastAirbender

* FanNickname: Some people have taken to calling this movie's version of Princess Yue "[[UnfortunateCharacterDesign Penis Hair]]".

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Long before the movie was anything more than a casting list and a few trailers, fans complained about changes to the source material. One of the biggest examples from the movie once it finally came out was the changes to the characters' names, which Shyamalan opted for to make them match more their etymologies than the Anglicized pronunciations used in the cartoon. This despite the fact that certain characters, such as Katara and Sokka, were given a RaceLift and were no longer Asian. Needless to say, fans were not pleased.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Long before the movie was anything more than a casting list and a few trailers, fans complained about changes to the source material. One of the biggest examples from the movie once it finally came out was the changes to the characters' names, which Shyamalan opted for to make them match more their etymologies than the Anglicized pronunciations used in the cartoon (this despite the fact that certain characters, such as Katara and Sokka, were given a RaceLift and were no longer Asian). Fans were not pleased.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Long before the movie was anything more than a casting list and a few trailers, fans complained about changes to the source material. One of the biggest examples from the movie once it finally came out was the changes to the characters' names, which Shyamalan opted for to make them match more their etymologies than the Anglicized pronunciations used in the cartoon. Fans were not pleased.

* TheScrappy:
** Katara's live-action incarnation had far fewer fans than her cartoon counterpart, mainly for hardly being like Katara is in the cartoon and her actress having a severe case of DullSurprise. It also doesn't help that the script removed many of her strong CharacterDevelopment moments and gave most of the rest to Aang.
** The live-action version of Sokka, or "Soaka" as the movie insists on calling him, is also not very well-liked. Mainly for stripping him from all of his PluckyComicRelief traits, effectively turning him into a FlatCharacter who also suffers from DullSurprise. His somewhat [[WTHCostumingDepartment bland and inaccurate character design]] doesn't help.

** [[AmbitionIsEvil Commander Zhao]] is an ambitious Fire Nation militant who seeks the [[FinalSolution utter annihilation]] of the Northern Water Tribe. After failing in his plan to imprison the young Avatar, Aang, for the rest of his life, Zhao uses knowledge gleamed from the Great Library to scheme an affront against the Spirit World itself. Zhao goes behind Fire Lord Ozai's back and tries to assassinate Zuko to eliminate him as a rival, before invading the Northern Water Tribe with intent to kill the entire population. To further his goals, Zhao ruthlessly murders the Moon Spirit--lethally wounding Princess Yue in the process--and is uncaring to the broader effects of destruction that such an outrage against the spirits would cause, so long as it weakens the Water Tribe enough for his genocide to be carried out.

** Probably the ultimate example is the [[FanNickname Pebble]] [[MemeticMutation Dance]]: As the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RpgbZcHk_A Earthbender prisoners stage their revolt]], six Earthbenders move in precise choreography, stomping the earth and releasing a [[ScreamingWarrior mighty battle cry]] … and a tiny rock barely bigger than a football floats by very, ''very'' slowly. A ''seventh'' Earthbender then launches it at a guard. The dancing Earthbenders were actually responsible for making a previous earth wall to block a fire blast, but the scene was so poorly shot it looks like they're taking all this effort to bend a single small rock. And to make matters even worse, because the whole scene is shot with a single camera, [[TheOner with no jump cuts]], the audience can see a large number of [[MookChivalry mooks standing in the background, not doing anything and waiting for their turn to join the fight while their friends are getting knocked senseless.]]

* MemeticMutation: Many, mostly related to [[Narm/TheLastAirbender how awkward and amusingly bad everything is.]]

* {{Narm}}: [[Narm/TheLastAirbender Has its own page.]]

* OffendingTheCreatorsOwn: Some people criticized the film because the good guys are played mostly by light-skinned actors, but the villainous Fire Nation is given a RaceLift from a FantasyCounterpartCulture of Japan to being played by a wide variety of darker-skinned actors, including Indians and Polynesians. Director Creator/MNightShyamalan is Indian and even gave himself a CreatorCameo as a Fire Nation {{mook}}.[[labelnote:Note]]Although as noted in the Misblamed section, Shyamalan had very little control over the casting process and had to abide by Paramount’s decisions.[[/labelnote]]

* SignatureScene: The Earthbender [[LockingMacgyverInTheStoreCupboard prison]], because it's a perfect showcase of the film's … [[PlotHole problematic]] {{adaptation|alWimp}} of the show. The Pebble Dance in particular went into {{memetic|Mutation}}.

** The debate over the movie casting was so intense that entire forums were divided over it, with those supporting the casting and those against it both being banned for their opinions. Protesters considered those who supported the casting as blind and shrugging off a big issue, while those that eagerly anticipated the movie regardless thought the protesters were [[NoTrueScotsman not "true" fans.]]

** [[UsefulNotes/NintendoDS DS]] version only: [[EvilOverlord Fire Lord Ozai]] is the tyrannical ruler of the Fire Nation, and Zuko's [[AbusiveParents abusive father]]. Ruling the land with an iron fist, Ozai has Earthbenders imprisoned and Airbenders killed when he hears of the Avatar's return. Previously willing to allow an entire battalion of his own troops to be sacrificed to take out some Earthbenders, Ozai challenged Zuko to a fight as punishment for speaking out, scarring the boy to teach him respect. Ordering the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe and all the deaths that follow, Ozai seeks to [[OffingTheOffspring have Zuko killed]] when he rescues Aang from Zhao's prison, viewing him as a traitor.

* WTHCastingAgency: The casting of all the main characters was near-universally met with this reaction, with certain examples standing out:
** Aasif Mandvi as the villainous Commander Zhao. Mandvi is a primarily comedic actor best known for his work on ''Series/TheDailyShow''. Shockingly enough though, he ended up being one of the most faithful characters to the source material.
** Creator/NicolaPeltz and Jackson Rathbone as Katara and Sokka, given that most viewers of the cartoon viewed the blue-eyed, tan-skinned characters as Asian or Native American. Many years later, it came to light that Peltz received the part as a gesture to her billionaire father, which required Sokka to be cast with an actor who looked like her. Puzzlingly, the filmmakers went ahead and cast uniformly Asian and Inuit actors as Waterbender tribe extras, making the main characters look out of place in their own tribe.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Creator/FrancisGuinan as Pakku was noted by several reviewers to be the one actor to escape the film with his dignity intact, having put real effort and emotion into his scant screen time in stark contrast to everyone else.
** Creator/SeychelleGabriel's performance as Yue also was moderately well received by fans, and Bryan and Mike would later cast her as Asami Sato in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''.
** Even though his portrayal may not have been entirely accurate to the character he was playing, most critics noted that Shaun Toub as Iroh was one of the few cast members who put effort into their performance.
** In just the few seconds she's on-screen, Creator/SummerBishil (Azula) left enough of a good impression that fans felt sorry for her for not getting the chance to actually show what she would've done with the role.

* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Shaun Toub and Dev Patel as General Iroh and Prince Zuko were noted to be amongst the better parts of the film for having genuinely emotional moments and for being faithful enough to the animated series.

* NeverLiveItDown: Katara is known for two not so great things. The first is the [[AdaptationalWimp terrible effort]] she put up against Zuko in the FinalBattle. The second is how ridiculous it is that despite all the time she was with Aang beforehand, it took all the way until the group had traveled to the Southern Air Temple for her to ''finally'' ask Aang what his name is.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: The spinoff comic for the movie, ''Manga/ZukosStory'', was actually regarded as a pretty decent read. Part of this is because its writers went out of their way to include references to the animated series.

** Cliff Curtis later joined the sequels to ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', the film which gained the ire of ''Last Airbender'' fans for preventing ''The Legend of Korra'' (and this film itself, but not too many people cared about that) from using the word in its title.