If I know nothing about The Last Airbender and never saw the cartoon. Will I like the movie for what it is?

So, I just saw an episode of the cartoon called "The Ember Island Players", towards the end of the last season. In it, the heroes go watch a play about themselves, and it pretty much goes over the entire show in less than a half-hour's time. Have you guys seen it? I'm willing to bet the play is better than the movie.

@ Vanquish - According to my wife's employees, no. They've never seen the show but still thought it was ridiculous.

@ Dray - Eh, it was more of a joke than anything. It was purposefully suppose to be really really bland, poorly acted, and just plain bad. Though if someone told me I had to watch one or the other, I'd watch the in-show play as it's only a few minutes.

Well of course it was purposelly bad. That doesn't make it worse, though.

Just finished watching the show, by the way. Very satisfying ending, with only one loose end left untied.

Question: How could the movie be purposelly bad? A bad movie is a bad movie, imo. I honestly wanted to walk out of the theater 1/4 way into the movie. If it wasn't for the CG, it could've been a TV movie (and a bad one at that). It's a shame that it didn't do the cartoon any justice.

What is so bad about it outside of any descrepancies with the cartoon? Does it help to see it in 3D?

Navane - Lantis was saying the play in the episode Dray referenced was purposefully bad, not the movie. It is quite bad on its own completely earnest terms.

Bo - It is poorly made in every respect. Even the direction, from a director whose worst movies always managed to have a strong sense of aesthetic and stylistic know-how, was uncommonly tame and ham-handed, and the 3D, well apart from saving any bit of it, was so poorly done one can only hope it will function as a nail in the coffin of the witless marketing ploy 3D continues to prove itself to be.

The discrepancies with the show are that the show had interesting characters, lively dialogue, a fairly involving story arc, and an unusually well-crafted world to work with, none of which the film could be bothered to achieve.

It should have been an animated feature.

Better idea: it should have been its own story, instead of trying to re-tell the story the cartoon did.

I hear it'll be followed up by a sequel or two, likely skimming over the plots of the second and third seasons of the show. At this thought, I say: what's the point? If all it's going to do is copy the story of the recent cartoon, you'd have a much more satisfactory experience just watching the cartoon.

Yes, everyone... above all else do yourself the favor of watching the series in lue of the movie.