M Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender has been leeched of all personality and given a hack-blockbuster burnish. Any computer could have directed this mythological mishmash about a reincarnated boy named Aang (Noah Ringer) and his fairytale quest to master the sorta-martial art called bending (just strike a lot of fancy, Far East-flavoured poses, and control over the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – is yours).

It’s a hell of a party trick, though Shyamalan visualises Aang’s otherworldly powers with dull detachment. The camera swoops and the music blares, but we may as well be watching a tolerant parent filming his son’s karate class demonstration. Only Slumdog Millionaire’s Dev Patel, as the prince of the villainous Fire nation, truly gets jiggy with the fantasy. Everyone else stares off into green-screen space and waits for
lunch to be called. A cliff-hanger ending, meanwhile, portends a series of sequels (this is but ‘Book One’). We smell a Golden Compass.