VLC won't open a restored .avi file

[bettei]

I deleted some digital camera video clips from my computer and was able to restore them to "MY Pictures". However, since I restored them, my Media Player won't open them, saying it is an unknown source file.

I wanted to use them to make a slide show, and tried opening them with that program too, but it won't open them either. It says it is an unsupported .avi.

Is there any other way or program I could use to try to open these files? They appear as windows media logo in the thumbnails, but nothing will open the darn things. Very frustrating, so I would appreciate any advice you would have.