For someone that watched the movie before seeing the cartoon, I thought it was great. I took it upon myself to watch the cartoon all the way through quickly afterwards and I can see why a lot of avid Airbender fans wouldn't like it. However, there were a lot of good effects in the movie and good acting (though some of the casting was poor). I loved the guy they picked as Uncle even tho he looked nothing like the cartoon version of himself. Anyway.... I guess since I saw the movie first I have a better appreciation for it and I may just go see it again.

I had been a fan of the cartoon as well as my boyfriend. We own the series and then recently went to watch it. I can understand both sides of the critique. However, they actually followed the plot line of the first book fairly well. They left out several explanations and big events and certainly depth in character involvement and relations. The effects were good. The character cast I think was well chosen, even though it was white-washed. The dialogue seemed forced and rushed, and in some cases...awkward. The only other thing that bothered me was the pronunciation of several characters. If they had seen the series they should have know how to pronounce Uncle Iroh, Sokka, and Aang. Those irked me. Uncle Iroh didn't have the funny disposition or obvious enjoyment for tea. They kind of hinted but not obviously so. That's about all I can say. Keeping out of mind that I had seen the series as I watched it- it was all right.

The thing that bothered by with the pronunciations was that I know he was taking into consideration of what the names would sound like pertaining to other cultures, but it is and AMERICAN cartoon created by and AMERICAN. There was no need for that. The dialogue was awkward throughout the entire movie. I could have written a better script, lol. And I could not even tell if the acting was good or bad, since the dialogue was so bad to begin with. I'm sure if the actors had been given better lines and gotten into their characters a little more, it would have went over much better.
It certainly stayed true to the martial arts styles, but really. It took 10 seconds and some crazy choreographed moves to make some water splashes. Not to mention, what was up with all water "spheres"? Water is supposed to be an element of flowing energy, they even said so in the movie.
And I understand that he was trying to divided the nations up by ethnicity, but the fire nation should definitely have been Chinese, seeing as based on the show, their culture, including clothing and buildings and traditions, and their position as far as the war, is based solely on Chinese culture, not to mention even tying up to some actual history in China.
And in all honesty, Katara and Sokka should not have been lighter skinned than Aang of all people, though that really did not bother me a whole lot.

I will agree, they followed the story well enough, though explanation was horrible. They jumped from one place to the next, and quite choppily might I add. Someone who was not familiar with the cartoon I suspect would have been utterly confused.

Though one thing I did actually like was how firebenders needed a source for their fire. It makes more sense. In the cartoon, all the other nations needed a source to draw energy from. But the firebenders could create fire from the air. That's one plus there.

The thing that probably bothered me the most though was the Firelord. They showed him several times in the movie. NO NO NO NO. That was a main suspense in the cartoon, all through the first and second season. No one knew what he looked like. I was watching the movie, and all of the sudden this guy pops up on the screen and mentions something about his son Zuko. And I thought to myself, "THAT IS NOT THE FIRELORD. I DON'T THINK SO." That and Aang's character. I totally love seriousness. The darker and more serious it is, usually the more I enjoy it. But Aang was WAY TO SERIOUS. AANG. He is only 12. He is supposed to be bubbly and fun.

And Iroh's character. Eh, why did they mess so much with him. If there was any character to like, it was him. Everyone who watched the cartoon loved Iroh, and his character. In the movie? Not so much. There was some nourishment from him to Zuko, but not enough. He was not enough of a fatherly figure. But I did like how he made his own fire in the end. That showed how powerful a bender a really was.

Oh, I was definitely looking forward to Koh the Face Stealer. I was somewhat disappointed.

That is a very good explanation. At least you can state what you liked and didn't like. Mostly I just see people, especially critics, that just say "Oh this is bad". I agree with everything you mentioned. My friends and I were saying that he tried to use the pronunciation as it would sound in culture, but we did say "It was written and made by an AMERICAN."
Lovely explanation, thank you.