Avatar: The Last Airbender on the big screen

I never really got into watching Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender so I've no concrete idea as to how the story goes.

I am quite aware that it has a following though - made up of both kids and adults - whether they're fans of cartoons in general or not.

Now the news of Avatar: The Last Airbender being remade for the big screen has been creating a buzz especially because it'll be in live action. There are no news about who will play the different characters, but the movie is set to be released on July 2, 2010.

What makes it even more intriguing is the fact that it's M. Night Shyalaman who will be adapting the story for the live action movie. The title too has been reduced to just The Last Airbender so that it won't be confused with James Cameron's AVATAR movie.

Shyalaman recently had an interview with Empire and discusses what attracted him to the series and the difficulties of putting into live action the philosophy involved in Avatar: The Last Airbender as well as the action scenes in it:

“Obviously [there will be] some breathtaking visual effects,” the director says. “Just imagine if you saw a little girl bending water out of a glass into the air as an extension of her own personal discipline. It’s three movies about the hero learning three elements. Live action.”

“It’s daunting on the level of not doing it properly,” he admits. “It can’t be special effects for the sake of special effects, it has to be [that you use] take seven because the girl breathes properly on take seven. I have to tell the animators that. Everything, has to have that detail. I can’t leave it. I have to make sure that I make it the same kind of storytelling, but with just one more tool.”

Any thoughts on this?