Movie Review: "The Last Airbender"

[jpskewedthrone]

So, pbray and I went to see The Last Airbender this afternoon. This was not on our "must see" list for the summer (I'm dying to see Inception), but since it was like 100 degree out and neither of us have AC, we decided the movie price might be worth the cost of two hours of air conditioning.

It wasn't.

The movie sucked like you cannot even believe and I'm not even certain I can competently describe it. The acting was bad, starting with the first lines of the movie. The writing was bad, which was not a surprise since, as I discovered at the end of the movie, it was written by M. Night himself. I had gone into the movie thinking that someone ELSE had written this one and so there was hope that M. Night hadn't screwed it up. He did. The plot was horrible and had HUGE GAPING plot holes. And all of this came together in a convergence of sheer stupidity that I nearly walked out of. I only stayed for the AC and the many, many snide comments Patricia and I made to each other throughout the movie.

I think the major problem (besides having M. Night attached to it; why do they keep giving this guy money?) was that it didn't know what it wanted to be. Is it targeted toward the kids? Adults? Somewhere inbetween? I can see some of the horribleness coming from the desire to appeal to the kid market. But then they also seemed to want the adults to take the plot seriously, and in that there was epic fail. NONE of the kids could act. There were brief sparks or moments where I thought we saw the REAL character, the one that was supposed to be on the screen, but they were rare. The only actor who was actually good was the guy who played the uncle. HE was good. And his character should have gotten more screen time, since he became important to the plot AND was attached to the most interesting character out of the entire ensemble: the banished prince.

Aside from those two, everything else sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked. There are obviously supposed to be two sequels to this movie HOWEVER if there are, if the studio actually decides to fork over more money to this thing, they ABSOLUTELY MUST get someone different to write and direct them. If they don't, there is NO WAY I'll be dragged to the theater to see them.

Not even to escape 100 degree heat.

Comments

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

I've never seen any of the cartoons (they're on our Netflix Instant view queue) but the first things I heard about this movie was how the main chars were 'whitewashed', ie, only one was actually, possibly, of the actual ethnicity of the original cartoon char. (And that the 'bad guys' were all people of color.}:/)

That's sad.

Now, as more people on my LJ friends list or my Twitter list see it, the more BAD reviews I see and hear about. Even Ebert bombed the 3d version.

Generally, we go see a movie even if the critics bomb it, because we end up liking it. But after seeing yet another bad review from someone I 'know', I'm inclined to think we need to pass on this one.

In my opinion, M. Night has gone down hill drastically since 'Lady In The Water'. Hubby says it started before that, but, well, we don't agree on everything. Heh. (We made the mistake of seeing 'The Happening' IN the theater. Yeah, that was a big mistake. )

[theguindo]

I'm a fan of the cartoon and was following the casting drama from the beginning. They originally cast Jesse McCartney as Zuko, can you believe it? (He got kicked after an interview revealed that he had absolutely no idea what the source material was even about.)

I haven't seen the film yet, but the whitewashing alone makes me want to boycott. I knew it was going to be awful the minute they put M. Night's name on it, and I've got some vindictive pleasure in knowing I was right 8|

If I were you, I wouldn't pay to see it.

Watch the animated series though; that's worth it.

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

We definately plan on watching the cartoon. We have all seasons currently available in our Netflix.}:P It's just a matter of getting the time to sit down and watch TV, lol.

[keireland.livejournal.com]

The episodes are only about 20 mins long each. 20 eps per season. Real easy to slip it into your schedule if you skip the intro and ending credits. :)

[ebenstone.livejournal.com]

Watch the TV show..please...I haven't seen the movie and I won't...instead I'll rewatch the series.

[meijhen.livejournal.com]

We saw it on Friday night, and I completely agree.

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

No, seriously -- what'd you think?

[music-lover3.livejournal.com]

Just saw it today, and I actually liked it. But then I've never watched the show, so I'm not sure how it compares. I did see some problems with the movie, but otherwise I liked it. I'm hoping things will get better for the second movie.

[1hope1dream.livejournal.com]

...

You mean they're CONTINUING this travesty? *sigh* Seriously, if you get the chance, watch the actual animated series. It's awesome.

[thelauderdale.livejournal.com]

After all of this, I sincerely doubt it. (That they'll continue, I mean. The series is, of course, excellence incarnate.)

[celestinenox]

Wow. It's really amusing me after all the drama back and forth on both sides of the debate (you know which one), that basically everyone hates it anyway.

[tygerversionx.livejournal.com]

The cartoon series is awesome, and as an adult (ahem...chronologically, at least) I found a lot to appeal to both the kid "woo, cool powers!" in me AND the adult "wow, they're drawing on actual martial arts forms?" in me.

The ending of the series was something of a let-down ... possibly simply because I was sorry it ENDED.

I've been dreading the movie ever since I heard M. Night Shamalama-dingdong was involved. I may ignore its existence completely.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing--I read some of your comments aloud an now my partner is agreeing that we should not see this.

The cartoon was as well-done as you describe the movie to be bad. I recommend Netflixing it, or I'd be happy to loan you the DVDs if you're going to New York Comic Con in October.

[shard-baenre.livejournal.com]

The worst part of this travesty is that it had a built in audience. I realize that adapting the cartoon to live-action was going to be a challenge, especially given the sheer goings-on that happened in the series, but there is a way to tell the story for this medium.

I figured I was never going to see it anyway because of the white-washing, which missed the entire point of the series: harmony from disparate things. I really had high hopes for this and I wanted it to succeed. I enjoyed 'Unbreakable' and "Sixth Sense' so I was hoping that by adapting someone else's work, he'd get his mojo (or something) back. But no, 'twas not to be! Thanks for the review!

[(Anonymous)]

Dido to many of the comments. I am halfway through the cartoon and it is pretty good. I wanted to see the movie until all these horrible reviews came out. For fun, I would recommend reading the blurbs on Rotten Tomatoes. They are excellent in their creativity of bashing this movie.

CSH

[elven-wolf.livejournal.com]

I commend you for trying, though. I've learned to stay AWAY from anything M. Night related. I gave him the benefit of the doubt even after being less than impressed by The Sixth Sense, but I wish I could scrub Signs out of my brain.

[1hope1dream.livejournal.com]

The only movie M. Night did that I liked was The Sixth Sense. We haven't gone to see this because of how horrible the reviews from fans of the series were. Now I'm definitely not going. I LOVE the series. it's 3 seasons and it aired on Nickelodeon. I'm not a huge fan of most American made cartoons. In fact, I'm not a fan of most American television period. I like anime, though, and Avatar is similar in tone and feel to some of the anime I've seen.

I highly recommend getting your hands on the animated series. And I'm sorry you had to go through such a terrible ordeal...*shudders* There's a reason we decided not to spend our money on that movie.

[cscottd.livejournal.com]

M. Night's films seem to be getting steadily worse...

I liked The Sixth Sense. I enjoyed Unbreakable too (although I didn't think it was quite as good). Signs made me roll my eyes. The Village was worse. The Happening was truly, truly awful (the only way I could watch it was with RiffTrax).

EDIT: I forgot Lady in the Water, which was, to be honest, pretty forgettable. It wasn't as bad as The Happening though (*shudder*).

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

S'ok, I forgot about 'The Village'. Ugh.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

The uncle is my favorite character from the series. I've only watched the series in bits and pieces and the uncle doesn't seem to be a major character or very well-explained there either. He steals the episode every time he appears, though.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

He's an extremely important character, but you get more of him and his backstory in Season 2 (which is also when the other family member, Azula, shows up). In Season 1, he seems to mainly be a standoffish mentor who really just wants to enjoy retirement, but by the end he's a major player and the focus of what was arguably the most emotional scene of the series entire run. (They did have to take him off-stage for a little while when his voice actor died.)

From what I've heard of this film, they did touch on all the major notes (specific events) but put the wrong spin on just about all of them (getting rid of all the humor, which wasn't silly in the show, it showed that although these kids were forced to deal with adult responsibilities they were still kids, and so the humor became poignant; giving all of the girl's triumphant moments to boys -- battles, heroic speeches -- and writing her as losing fights that she'd won in the series; letting all the major happenings be covered by voiceover; toning down the impact of the violence.)

[branna.livejournal.com]

And of course, in the full series, there were multiple kick-ass female characters, not just one...

Once I knew about the whitewashing I knew that I wouldn't be seeing the movie, but this confirms all of my worst expectations for the film.

[keireland.livejournal.com]

Voice overs...
novelists can't get away with doing that kind of "Telling not Showing". How can a movie?

And Katara's awesome.
It's Sokka that has some trouble at the beginning.
Additionally - the humor was what made the more angsty parts (like when Aang finds his mentor's bones) more tear-jerking.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

The only saving grace was that it was someone else's source material that M. Night destroyed. Can you imagine the horror you would feel if you learned he wanted to option one of your novels?

Film option=awesome. M. Night in charge and planning to write screenplay=change your name and move out of the country.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

OMG, don't even go there.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I ought to mail a copy of TST to his agent....

[domynoe.livejournal.com]

A lot of people are staying away from the movie for at least the first 2 weeks in protest of the whitewashing of the characters and the muck up of the plot. I read another review recently that also thoroughly trashed it, and apparently M. Night didn't even fall into the "great special effects make a great movie trap"—he just made a really bad movie.

I've heard so much bad about this movie, I don't plan to see it. Not even when it's free in the On Demand menu. :P

[shekkara.livejournal.com]

With an 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, M. Night Shyamalan would have to pay me to go see his movie.

[elfmama.livejournal.com]

It is so sad that this movie was so awful because the series is the best thing on TV, full of whacky humor and fantastic fight scenes.

I hate to cut down kids but- why, oh why would a director pick a kid who can't act?? I read that the kid who played Ang was chosen for his martial arts skills- he'd never acted, and it showed. I didn't know a fight scene could be so drawn out and dull.

[keireland.livejournal.com]

Shamalan frakked up the Bending too by emphasizing the kata rather than the natural talent the Benders _have_. Which was why the fight scenes were so boring.

[keireland.livejournal.com]

IF Shamalan had stuck with some of the original plot and dialogue from the cartoon, the movie would have been good for both adults AND children without any problem.
the REAL issue was the fact that this movie wasn't written for anyone who hasn't seen the cartoon, nor anyone who HAS! it was just confusing. And stupid.

and Iroh IS frakkin awesome.

[isleburroughs.livejournal.com]

I love martial arts movies. Thanks for saving me tons of money! I won't even buy or rent it.