The Last Airbender

[sindatur]

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Movie 1: Water)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxbHooiZRGE

I'm looking forward to it. I heard alot about the Nickelodean Series, and found it for less than $15.00 a season (3 Seasons), so I picked it up a year ago (Maybe a bit more than that)I was really impressed by the story arc progression, and how it felt planned out every step. Just pulled out S1 Ep1 for my second viewing to prepare for the movie. Movie 1 is Water (Season 1), which was 20 episodes of the NICK Series. (In case anyone doesn't know the NICK Series is Anime, the Movie is Live action, and planned to be a Trilogy, 1 movie per season. It's a Quest for knowledge through the 4 Kingdoms Earth, Fire Water, and Air. For Fans of the series, it seems very true to the spirit and look, for folks who don't like "cartoons" the Live Action movie rivals other special effects.

M.Knight Shayamalan Made it.

[[Syl]]

Looking forward to it, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Rigel]

I just started watching the Nick series, and am now totally stoked for this movie. It's funny, too, because I was just thinking the other day about how I don't get excited about movies coming out anymore... maybe we're just going through a dearth of the good ones?

[dANdeLION]

I know nothing about this movie, other than the preview I saw when seeing Iron Man 2. It looked pretty interesting to me, as did the Spielberg one they showed called 'Super 8'.

[Fist and Faith]

Hoping to finally see this in a few hours.

[[Syl]]

We saw it on Friday. It was... alright. It's a faithful translation (other than the name pronunciation changes). The characters and the story are right, if rather limited. It's fun to see bending outside of animation, though they don't have it quite right - too much build-up.

The biggest problem is that it's just too short. I know it's hard to convince the studio when you're primary audience is the kiddies, but it needed an extra 30-45 mins. Several times it resorts to explaining in monologue. Telling rather than showing in a movie is just a capital sin. I have to imagine it would really suck for those who didn't already know the story.

Not a single cabbage cart to be found. Very little humor. The best side of Ang, his clever boyishness, never really comes out. Sokka never has his ego deflated and ends up looking much more capable than he ever did until Book 4. Little character development between Ang and Kitara is going to make events in the later books hard to swallow.

Iroh steals the show. While looking nothing like Uncle Iroh and sounding nothing like Mako (RIP), I still think he did a great job of presenting the character believably. Aasif Mandvi not so much. I just couldn't get past his Daily Show persona, even though I know he's done well on Broadway (there was actually a picture of him in Oklahoma! in my Drama Appreciation text) and other productions.

All in all, not bad. It's just not necessary. Maybe it will improve for book II. Hard not to unless they really screw up Toph.

[sindatur]

Syl, Book 4? Did you mean the third season/Book, or was there something beyond the initial 3 seasons/books I'm not aware of?

[Menolly]

For those of us not familiar with the Nickleodeon series/DVDs, is there any chance of following the story and enjoying the movie on its own? Such as I am doing not knowing the comic series for X-men or Ironman, for example? Beorn wants to see this, and I am considering tagging along. But I honestly know nothing regarding this series.

[Rigel]

Syl, Book 4? Did you mean the third season/Book, or was there something beyond the initial 3 seasons/books I'm not aware of?

Yes, please tell! If there's more that I missed, I'm extremely interested in seeing it!

As far as the movie goes, I was really looking forward to it, but now I'm afraid to go see it...

Capone says M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER is a hate crime against those who love movies!!!!
MASSAWYRM calls THE LAST AIRBENDER a crapbending mess
'I Would Try Harder To Make A Better Headline For My LAST AIRBENDER Review If The Movie Was Any Good', Says The Enemy…
If It Bends, It's Funny! If It Breaks, It's Mr. Beaks's THE LAST AIRBENDER Review!
Harry doesn't hate THE LAST AIRBENDER, he pities it.

I'm intelligent to know that I might disagree with these reviews... but I also recognize their criticism of M. Night's films as being fairly spot on, which leads me to believe that their criticism of this one could be accurate as well.

I won't know until I see it, but now I'm seriously considering waiting for the DVD. Of course, that might discourage the studio from doing the sequels... or it might encourage them to change directors.

[[Syl]]

Book 3, sorry.

Menolly, I don't think I'd recommend it.

[Menolly]

Thanks Syl.

[dlbpharmd]

Agree with Syl, the movie was too short. I kept noticing things that were different from the 'toon, and it bugged me. I think what bothered me more than anything else was how all the characters were Americanized.

That said, the last 30 minutes were awesome.

[Fist and Faith]

Although I liked the look of the cartoon a lot, and thought the concept was cool, I really only ever saw a handful of episodes. So I wasn't bothered by any differences between the cartoon and the movie. I thought the movie was great! I did remember one particular episode that was largely put into the movie.

The effects are, or course, awesome. Like Syl said, the build-up is sometimes too long. You'd think someone would shoot them with an arrow, or just come up and punch them, before they got it going. But whatever. It was great to see!

I didn't have a problem with the story. I only knew the general concept of it. They either managed to put enough of it into the movie or change it, but the movie made sense to me.

And, as is often said, movies aren't always supposed to be a condensed version of the show/cartoon/whatever. They can be new versions. Whatever the case, I had a great time!

[sgt.null]

the houston chronicle gave it zero stars. they gave heathcliffe and marmaduke a half star each.

i love m. night but wasn't looking forward to a movie he didn't write.

for thos ewho saw it - can you tell m night directed it?

[aliantha]

I saw it today and really liked it.

I've only seen parts of a few of the TV episodes (over the kids' shoulders) and never really understood the relationships between all the characters. The movie explained all of it for me. Menolly, I don't think you'd have any trouble picking up what you need to know, despite not having seen the TV show.

I know that some fans have hated the casting in terms of the actors' ethnicity. But with no preconceived notions about how it "should have been", I didn't have a problem with it.

Looking forward to the next movie.

Sarge, I don't believe I've seen many of M. Night's movies, and the ones I've read reviews of (mainly "The Lady in the Water"), the critics seem to have loathed.

[Fist and Faith]

I'm not good with recognizing a director's presence. Time was you could tell a Spielberg movie by the look of the storm clouds. Other than that, I'm just not perceptive in these ways. It often turns out I like this or that director's movies. Ron Howard is a great example. But it's usually after I've seen and liked it that I learn who the director is, and say, "Oh wow, another of his movies that I like!" I have never been watching a movie and thought, "Ah, Ron Howard must be directing this, because..."

M Night's are always entertaining enough, although Sixth Sense is the only one I've ever really cared to watch more than once. (Damn! Just remembered I still haven't ever seen The Village.) But TLA is not typical for him, since it's based on something that's pretty well fleshed out already.

[sindatur]

I'm not good with recognizing a director's presence. Time was you could tell a Spielberg movie by the look of the storm clouds. Other than that, I'm just not perceptive in these ways. It often turns out I like this or that director's movies. Ron Howard is a great example. But it's usually after I've seen and liked it that I learn who the director is, and say, "Oh wow, another of his movies that I like!" I have never been watching a movie and thought, "Ah, Ron Howard must be directing this, because..."

M Night's are always entertaining enough, although Sixth Sense is the only one I've ever really cared to watch more than once. (Damn! Just remembered I still haven't ever seen The Village.) But TLA is not typical for him, since it's based on something that's pretty well fleshed out already.

If you do decide to watch The Village, don't believe the trailers, don't go in expecting a Horror flick, you'll be sadly disappointed. I think I might've actually enjoyed the Village if it wasn't for the misdirected marketing, it's a mystery, with a bit of creepy suspense.

I'll probably wait for The Last Airbender to come out on DVD, and I'll concentrate on forgetting what I know, and enjoy it as it's own entity, sounds like it's fairly enjoyable that way, and not enjoyable for folks expecting it to be complimentary to the Series.

[Zarathustra]

Capone says M. Night Shyamalan's THE LAST AIRBENDER is a hate crime against those who love movies!!!!
MASSAWYRM calls THE LAST AIRBENDER a crapbending mess
'I Would Try Harder To Make A Better Headline For My LAST AIRBENDER Review If The Movie Was Any Good', Says The Enemy…
If It Bends, It's Funny! If It Breaks, It's Mr. Beaks's THE LAST AIRBENDER Review!
Harry doesn't hate THE LAST AIRBENDER, he pities it.

And I was hoping that the infamous M.Knight "twist" would be that this movie didn't suck. How disappointing.

[stonemaybe]

When I saw the title of this film, for some reason I thought it was about air-guitarists!

Obviously, I was wrong.

[sindatur]

When I saw the title of this film, for some reason I thought it was about air-guitarists!

Obviously, I was wrong.

LOL, nice one. Actually, that's exactly why it's called simply "The Last Airbender". The Animated Series is called "Avatar: The Last Airbender". They dropped the "Avatar" part so it wouldn't be confused as a sequel to James Cameron's "Avatar"