There's an old saying in writing: show, don't tell.
This film takes that idea, kicks it in the nuts, stabs it in the ribs with a rusty shiv, then lights its carcass on fire and wears the charred skin like a suit so that the image and smell linger long after you stop watching.
If that wasn't bad enough to make for a truly bad film, the acting is about as good as an episode of Saturday Night Live where the actors are reading their lines from a poster board just off-screen. I get that they're children for the most part, and that they are driving the entire plot through close-ups and conversation, but if you're going to make a fantasy movie, the actors are going to have to pull off some seriously weird lines. It's just part of the job.
I'd summarize the plot for you, but since the actors spend 100% of their on-screen time doing that, I don't want to rob them of their only useful job in this pile of loosely coiled, steaming excrement. Besides, I don't care enough. Not about the characters. Not about the story. Just not at all.
Make no mistake, this is not a "good" bad movie. This here is just a plain, old-fashioned, horrible film. After watching these people talk to one another about things for over an hour (and then narrate to "mix it up" a little), I wanted to punch the population of the world in the face for going to see this movie to the extent that they did. Shame on you, worldwide film-going audiences. Shame on you.
But I made it through. With the help of some severe inebriation, I braved the excruciating exposition and total lack of any character doing anything that might get the viewer to the next plot-point. Honestly, I don't recommend the level of annihilation that this film requires. There may not be enough intoxicating substances to last us as a society if too many people try to endure all 100+ minutes of this apathetic talk-a-thon.
What I do know (because it was said so many times) is that if you kill the Avatar, he'll just be reborn again. Maybe they should have killed him. That way he might have been reborn into a decent movie.
