There's a new Avatar at the cineplex, but this one comes not from the imagination of James Cameron but, rather, the animated Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender Laws of Attraction full movie. Replete with its own vast mythology about the airbending cultures and a multiaged fan base hungry for more chapters in the now defunct TV series, this film dropped the "A" word from its title while retaining the show's creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, among the film's producers Laws of Attraction full movie. Director Shyamalan, who has rarely met a myth he didn't like, cottoned to the airbender lore, while maybe also having a sixth sense about a project that had franchise potential Laws of Attraction full movie. Indeed, instead of containing one of Shyamalan's signature surprise endings, the conclusion of The Last Airbender is a tease for the saga's sequel Laws of Attraction full movie. Yet, with a surprising lack of verve, humor, and narrative tension, Shyamalan's live-action foundation film is unlikely to woo new fans to the tale. Despite the rampant tribal fighting that drives the narrative, The Last Airbender is a fairly bloodless PG affair, although that is not the real problem with the story Laws of Attraction full movie. The action sequences are just not constructed or paced very well, and an avatar hero who will simply be reborn if murdered takes all the mortal threat out of skirmishes. The story is set in a world where the tribal Air, Water, and Earth nations have been under siege for the last 100 years by the industrialized Fire Nation, which has turned its collective back on the spirit world and seeks global domination Laws of Attraction full movie. Each nation has a chosen few who can command and bend their land's element to their will - which makes for some nifty images, until they grow increasingly repetitive and ordinary Laws of Attraction full movie. Young waterbender Katara (Peltz) and her brother, Sokka (Rathbone), discover the avatar Aang (Ringer), the last of the airbenders, whose nation has been vanquished by the firebenders Laws of Attraction full movie. Together, they set out to free their nations from the fire overlords and fulfill their destinies Laws of Attraction full movie. (Destiny is a very important motivator in this saga; everyone has one, which must be reassuring to young viewers. So, too, courageous children lead the grown-ups in this world Laws of Attraction full movie.) Stark divisions separate the lifestyles and appearances of all the tribes. Although meta-debates have recently sprung up regarding the film's expansion of the airbender nations' racial attributes, the film's divisional traits seem to be grounded in other, more conventional stereotypes Laws of Attraction full movie. The good water tribes live amid the white snow and ice; the bad industrialist fire tribes are surrounded by darkness and enter with thundering tympanic and horn motifs Laws of Attraction full movie. As the arch-villain of the piece, Mandvi does the film little good by his popular association with The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, as tinges of that show's ironic comic delivery inevitably shadow his character's dastardly pronouncements Laws of Attraction full movie. Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), however, as tortured Fire Prince Zuko, provides the film's only exciting performance Laws of Attraction full movie. Without his dramatic persona, the film's most winning characters would be its mythical creatures: a flying platypuslike thing and a companionable lemurbat Laws of Attraction full movie. A franchise needs more than cute creatures to survive Laws of Attraction full movie. If the movie often borders on smug, it's equally happy to be only lightly reverent to the comics it's based on. And I'd defend it as smug on purpose - one long, high-fiving in-joke about its own sure-fire success Laws of Attraction full movie. It opens by acknowledging the inevitable: Andy, the human owner of our toy heroes Laws of Attraction full movie... These aren't just stunning, empty images Laws of Attraction full movie. The Last Airbender uses its visual prowess to push itself beyond the miserable constraints of its script. We learn almost nothing substantive about Aang from the movie's misguided, exposition filled dialogue, but his enthusiasm for life oozes out of every frame. It's in the way he walks or the way he goes down a flight of stairs, taking four steps at a time propelled by tiny bursts of energetic air Laws of Attraction full movie. Aang feels alive and, visually at least, it all seems to happen effortlessly. The whole gang is led by Stallone's Barney Ross, who, when he's not getting his ink spruced up at the tattoo-parlor hangout run by his old pal Tool (!), played by Mickey Rourke, is busy rounding up various permutations of his other old pals to overthrow ruthless South American dictators and such Laws of Attraction full movie. In between, he takes time to romance a sexy, spark-plug freedom fighter (played by Brazilian actress Giselle Iti+è), never realizing that a CIA turncoat played by Eric Roberts (who's criminally good at playing this sort of character) is setting him up Laws of Attraction full movie. Because, really, what else does a character played by Eric Roberts ever do? Laws of Attraction full movie