Miscellaneous: Airbender Up to Par?

I've been watching the trailers, pause, repeat, rewind, rewind more, play, pause, play, pause, rewind...you get the picture. So do I like what I see?

I've been skeptical from the beginning. Avatar: The Last Airbender is the most awesome cartoon/anime. My family loves it because besides being intense, full of life lessons, and solid, it is also damned funny. We have watched every episode so many times it is too hard to count and have the entire set on DVD. We've watched the specials and the special pop up episodes they've been recently airing on NickToons to coincide with the movie's release on July 1.

The skepticism hinges on what seems to be a dark portrayal of the movie. We love the funny and feel the funny is going to be absent from the movies. We aren't completely thrilled with the casting either. They should look like the cartoon versions. Period. We just watched another trailer and all of us, even A and M, were complaining about their computer generated Appa.

So I'm worried about the movie, which is in three parts the same as the cartoon. I'm worried that I'll be severely disappointed. My only hope is that it will get some people interested in seeing the original.

Six days.

UPDATE: I watched NickToons Airbender Revealed and I'm so bummed. Shyamalan changed the pronounciation of Aang's name (claiming to make it sound more Asian), changed firebending(!), and left the Kyoshi warriors on the cutting room floor.

Although Shyamalan recognized the need for funny in the movie, he includes it more at the beginning claiming the movie just went in a serious direction.

Lastly, the reviews are horrible. Some saying even people who know about the show are confused. Some describing how the 3D makes the movie hard to see because it's so dark. Now I'm debating if I should even shell over the dough to see it. :(