After 2008's "The Happening" it was clear M. Night Shyamalan needed a little reining in; maybe a Harry Potter movie or a Bond flick, something that would be difficult for him to put his smug stamp on yet would still showcase his obvious knack for narrative. His latest is "The Last Airbender," an effects-heavy 3D fantasy based on an animated Nickelodeon series and, in that predictably cocky Shyamalan fashion, clearly constructed with an eye toward a sequel or two. The good news is "The Last Airbender" shows no trace of Shyamalan's presence, not even his now-expected Hitchcockian cameo. The bad news? Let's just say he might want to postpone storyboarding all further chapters indefinitely.

"The Last Airbender" begins with the rescue of the weirdly tattooed Aang (Noah Ringer), who we learn is the only remaining survivor of the Air Nation as well as the Avatar, meaning he alone has the ability to control - or "bend" - the four classical elements: Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. But Aang never completed his training, and "The Last Airbender" tags along as Aang, traveling under the protection of Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) and the waterbending Katara (Nicola Peltz), learns to harness his powers and stave off the warmongering Fire Nation, whose numbers include the troubled Prince Zuko (Dev Patel, "Slumdog Millionaire"). Cue big battles, endless explanations, and the heavy-handed morality about good versus evil that kids' films rarely treat with anything resembling a shade of gray.

Bending the elements until one produces a bolt of fire or an ice cage seems to involve tai chi, $280 million worth of special effects, and post-production 3D that is as indistinguishable as it is unnecessary. (Seriously, I resent the creeping invasiveness of 3D technology, and adding it after filming just smacks of a desire for money rather than a reverence for the art form.) The fight scenes are sorta cool thanks to the 12-year-old Ringer, a Taekwondo champ clearly not hired for his acting skills. Then again, no one else performs with any understanding of real human emotion either save Patel, whose complicated Zuko deserved much more exploration... that's if anyone will care enough for another installment.