History YMMV / TheLastAirbender

** The actors are often criticized for mispronouncing the characters' names, with this being ascribed to them not being familiar with the source material (Nicola Peltz was in fact a long-time fan of the cartoon). This decision ''was'' made by Shaymalan, who felt that the original pronunciation was wrong, and that he was being true to the Asian roots of the names.

** It's common to criticize the actors for mispronouncing the characters' names, with this being ascribed to them not being familiar with the source material (Nicola Peltz was in fact a long-time fan of the cartoon). This decision ''was'' made by Shaymalan, who felt that the original pronunciation was wrong, and that he was being true to the Asian roots of the names.

* MisBlamed: Creator/MNightShyamalan was certainly not blameless in the quality of the final product, but it is now known that a lot of ExecutiveMeddling robbed Shyamalan of [[https://www.mnightfans.com/the-true-story-of-the-last-airbender-revealed/ a lot of the control he had on set]], including much of the editing that led to the film being deemed an incoherent mess in theaters. Shyamalan, either out of pride or because his contract demanded, preferred to take full responsibility instead of admitting that he did not have total creative control over his film. Just a few examples of the issues he ran into:
** Paramount didn’t want to wait a year to let the show wrap up before they started filming, so there was a fair amount of writing in the dark. Shyamalan's original script, that was thrown out, is reported to more or less have stuck plot by plot to the show. The ghostwriter of the final script accidentally backed them into a huge corner plot-wise for the rest of the series. Specifically, Aang running away because he was told the Avatar couldn’t have kids; Zuko’s whole character arc depends on him being the direct descendant of an Avatar.
** The studio blew most of the budget filming the opening sequence in the Southern Water Tribe on location in Greenland. This caused the rest of the movie to be filmed inside and not look nearly as good by comparison. They then realized that they couldn't use as many practical effects as they had thought they could, adding to the budget woes.
** Shyamalan didn’t actually want to cast white actors to play Katara and Sokka. Katara’s actress was cast because Paramount owed her father a favor. Other actors in the Northern Water Tribe were thus cast to match her appearance.
** The studio also mandated that the runtime be under 100 minutes, making a lot of it incoherent. The short run time was mandated because they needed to rush to get it converted to 3D in time to meet the lucrative Independence Day weekend release. They also would have likely run out of money to convert the original cut of the movie.

** Seychelle Gabriel'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''.

* 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 pronunciation changes, which Shyamalan deliberately included to make the character names sound closer to their "correct" Asian pronunciations (even though most of the names were made up) than the Americanized pronunciations from the cartoon. Fans were not pleased.

* MisBlamed: Creator/MNightShyamalan was certainly not blameless in the quality of the final product, but it is now known that a lot of ExecutiveMeddling robbed Shyamalan of a lot of the control he had on set, including much of the editing that led to the film being deemed an incoherent mess in theaters. Just a few examples of the issues he ran into:

** Many fans of the [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender original Nickelodeon series]] blame Shyamalan for everything bad related to this film, especially the controversial - and full of UnfortunateImplications - casting; however there [[https://www.mnightfans.com/the-true-story-of-the-last-airbender-revealed/ are testimonials on the Internet]] that indicate that many of the most unpopular decisions were the product of executive interference. And that Shyamalan, perhaps out of pride, preferred to take full responsibility instead of admitting that he did not have total creative control over his film. Other people indicate that Hollywood has a [[YellowFace long history of systematically excluding Asian actors]], so it is unfair to blame everything on Shyamalan.

** Firebending only being able to manipulate preexisting flames ([[spoiler:except in special circumstances]]). People either considered it [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks a nonsensical change that severely underpowers firebending]], or felt that it now fits with the other three bending types in that it doesn't create the bendable element, only manipulating what already exists. [[note]]This is despite Iroh having explained in the show's first season that firebenders bend their body's heat into fire.[[/note]]

** "Bring me... all your elderly!" Zuko mistakenly assumes that the Avatar is a man in his 80s, but it sounds like he has a fetish for elderly people,

* ScapegoatCreator: Many fans of the [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender original Nickelodeon series]] blame Shyamalan for everything bad related to this film, especially the controversial - and full of UnfortunateImplications - casting; however there [[https://www.mnightfans.com/the-true-story-of-the-last-airbender-revealed/ are testimonials on the Internet]] that indicate that many of the most unpopular decisions were the product of executive interference. And that Shyamalan, perhaps out of pride, preferred to take full responsibility instead of admitting that he did not have total creative control over his film. Other people indicate that Hollywood has a [[YellowFace long history of systematically excluding Asian actors]], so it is unfair to blame everything on Shyamalan.

* IdiotPlot: Firebenders having to firebend from a source causes this; due to either not thinking it through in the production stages, or just running out of budget, no Firebender carries around so much as a box of matches to start fires with, meaning they only ever firebend when a fire just happens to be nearby. Likewise, since Firebenders are idiots who don't know what a lighter is, the other nations are ''also'' idiots who never think to put out any fires they just happen to have nearby -- such as the many lanterns in the Southern Water Tribe -- because then the Firebenders wouldn't have anything to bend, and we wouldn't get any bending fight scenes.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Many people were thrilled for a live action ''Avatar'' film. When it came out, they were enraged and saddened at the mess that was produced.

** Nicola Peltz 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.

** Aasif Mandvi as 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.

* HamAndCheese: Aasif Mandvi plays Zhao pretty similarly to how he plays himself on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', only, well, evil.

* 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.
** Aasif Mandvi as Commander Zhao also puts in one of the movie's better performances.

* IdiotPlot: Firebenders having to firebend from a source causes this; due to either not thinking it through in the production stages, or just running out of budget, no firebender carries around so much as a box of matches to start fires with, meaning they only ever firebend when a fire just happens to be nearby. Likewise, since Firebenders are idiots who don't know what a lighter is, the other nations are ''also'' idiots who never think to put out any fires they just happen to have nearby -- such as the many lanterns in the Southern Water Tribe -- because then the Firebenders wouldn't have anything to bend, and we wouldn't get any bending fight scenes.

** Yue's scenes were apparently filmed long enough after Seychelle Gabriel had her hair dyed white that her brown roots are clearly visible. And they forgot to do her eyebrows.

** Creator/MNightShyamalan, who has yet to distance himself from the spectacular failure of this film on top of his [[Film/TheVillage previous]] [[Film/LadyInTheWater three]] [[Film/TheHappening outings]]. Likewise, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} and Creator/{{Paramount}} have not been allowed to forget that they paid for it.

* UnfortunateCharacterDesign: [[http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/aerieel/26055487/4497/4497_original.jpg Yue's hair style didn't fare well in the transition from cartoon to live action]], as from the back caused many to claim it resembles a penis.

** Firebending only being able to manipulate preexisting flames ([[spoiler:except in special circumstances]]). People were either upset that [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks it's a nonsensical change that severely under powers firebending]], or felt that it now fits with the other three bending types in that it doesn't create the bendable element, only manipulating what already exists. [[note]]This is despite Iroh having explained in the show's first season that firebenders bend their body's heat into fire.[[/note]]

** Firebending only being able to manipulate preexisting flames ([[spoiler:except in special circumstances]]). People were either upset that [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks it's not the same as in the show]], or felt that it now fits with the other three bending types in that it doesn't create the bendable element, only manipulating what already exists. [[note]]This is despite Iroh having explained in the show's first season that firebenders bend their body's heat into fire.[[/note]]

* FanPreferredCouple: The Zuko/Katara pairing was the preferred ship of the fandom for the original series and this is also true for the movie. However, even many of those who had only seen the movie gravitated towards Zuko/Katara because of their fight at the North Pole and the lack of any Katara/Aang teasing (as Aang is unable to have any romantic attachments).

** Played straight with Creator/MNightShyamalan, who has yet to distance himself from the spectacular failure of this film on top of his [[Film/TheVillage previous]] [[Film/LadyInTheWater three]] [[Film/TheHappening outings]]. Likewise, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} and Creator/{{Paramount}} have not been allowed to forget that they paid for it.