I like the animated series, but aside from the visuals and special effects I have my doubts about how this will turn out. Kids having to play characters that (frequently) exhibit the emotional maturity of adults rarely ends up well.

I do wish that they had made a bigger effort to include Asian actors. Not even including the animation, the series was clearly modeled around the cultures of various people we would classify as Asian or being of Asian-descent (like the Eskimos of the Water Nation).

On the other hand, I think the outrage is a bit overblown. Moviemakers have a responsibility to make money and find the best talent available that is also interested in the project. They have no obligation to spend years and dollars scouring the earth or to disregard available talent in favor of promoting social diversity. People are spouting all kinds of judgements without even knowing the demographics of the people that auditioned. If finding a quality young actor is already difficult, finding a quality young Asian actor to do an English-language film is clearly moreso, not because they don't exist (and yes, it would have been nice had this project found some) but simply because of a smaller pool to draw from.

I also find it interesting that people are outraged over the selection of actors but never once have I heard people calling the creators of the series scum for being white men looking to cash in on an American fad/obsession by imitating an Eastern anime series. White people get criticized all the time for stealing all kinds of other stuff from Asian culture--food, tattoos, movies (even George Lucas has been criticized for stealing from Kurosawa), etc.--but somehow this series got a pass.