The Last Airbender

[TYFIGHTER]

...I don't even know where to start. The movie was one of the worst I've seen in a long time. I cannot describe how disappointed I am! Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favorite series of all time. The show was absolutely brilliant! The fighting, the comedy, the drama, the story... everything in the show was perfect!

However, the movie got NONE of that right. There is ZERO character development. The story is butchered so much that you will have absolutely no idea what anyone's motives or reasons for things are. There is not one funny line in the movie... Not even an attempt at a funny line! It tries to be so serious! The fighting wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. And the CG was hit and miss. Sometimes it looked really good, and other times it looked like a mediocre indie film. UGH! Seriously, I don't think you were ever told Katara's name until the scene where she fights Zuko at the Spirit Oasis near the very end. That's how crappy and random the movie was.

To say I am disappointed would be an understatement. M. Night Shyamalan needs to die for this one. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go watch my DVDs of the show and try to remove that steaming pile of crap from my memory.

[vivi]

Wow, and I thought from the commercials that the movie looked pretty good. Thanks for the warning

[NY Gamer]

I called this! The teaser trailer last year, the new commercials, some previews... Oh Man, LAB Zuko did not look like Avatar Zuko for jack! It even sounded awkward, not the usual Avatar style deals... M. NIGHT SHAMWOW, YOU FAIL! ^(-_-)^

[gtt]

as soon as they announced "Live Action" and "m night shamalamadingdong" I knew it would be crap. And apparently it's at 8% on rotten tomatoes. Pretty terrible. I just hope it doesn't turn viacom off the animate property.

Seriously, this movie cost something like 280 million between shooting budget and marketing. They should have given the animation guys a fifth of that and we could have gotten new animated stuff which was good. instead of this abortion of a movie.


oh, and they changed the pronunciation of alot of the names in the movie. They must have never watched even a single episode. That's the sort of thing that only exists to piss off existing fans of the property, what was the point?

[Devil_Rising]

lol......

Well, unlike the popular internet meme-friendly opinion, I happen to like M. Night Shyamalan. Matter of fact, Unbreakable still to this day (not Sixth Sense), is his best film.
Yes, I even liked The Village and Lady in the Water, as I was able to appreciate them for what they were, and not for what people seemed to think they should be (I.E. another Sixth Sense).

Having said that, I'm a huge fan of the Avatar cartoon, and while I'm extremely disappointed about some of the casting choices and what I've heard about mispronounced names from the book, from what I've heard it does otherwise stay pretty close to the show, which is more than I can say for a lot of Hollywood adaptations. Fact is, as much as I like Night, they should have cast someone who was a huge fan of the show to do a live action film. Then again, they almost NEVER do that in Hollywood, so I really don't blame him.

I haven't seen it yet, and though I've already seen tons of negativity towards it, I will judge for myself when I do go see it. Mind you, the same movie-going public who adores garbage (IMO) like Kill Bill, Sin City, 300, Twilight, the God-awful Tim Burton adaptations (Wonka, Wonderland), etc., tends to dump on some movies that I actually like. So we'll see. It honestly can't be worse than Transformers. That as pretty awful.

I have a feeling as a movie, I'll at least think it's decent. At the least. But maybe as an Avatar fan, I already know they were going to change s**t like they always inexplicably do, so I was already disappointed like a year ago. So we'll see. You may be right. It may be terrible.

But I also think that a lot of hate was already heaped on this movie the moment it was announced, because a lot of people seem to irrationally hate M. Night. He's actually a good director (most days). People just seem to really hate that he doesn't just do Sixth Sense pt. 2 every time. That movie is actually terribly over-rated, so I don't know why people act like he did this amazing piece of film, and then went downhill. I personally have always felt his later work, like Unbreakable and Signs, were far better.

[TYFIGHTER]

oh, and they changed the pronunciation of alot of the names in the movie. They must have never watched even a single episode. That's the sort of thing that only exists to piss off existing fans of the property, what was the point?

That pissed me off SO much! It's Aang, not "Ahng", and Sokka Not "Sohka", and Iroh not "Eeroh". Oh and when they would say "Ahvatar". Seriously, could that movie have been any stupider? They say it was to sound more Chinese or something like that, but it was just so stupid.

[Facepalm]

Okay, I haven't seen the movie (or any trailers except for the teaser) and I really love the series. I also really love Shyamalan. He's a great writer-director and understands the medium of film extremely well. And he gets way too much crap from people who dont approach his work with an open mind.

All I'm hearing from reviews of the TLA is "Omfg, it is a disgrace to the TV show."
This is a stupid complaint. You can't ask someone to recreate the TV show. One, because the TV show already exists, so there's no point retelling that same narrative exactly the way it was in the show. Why would you want two versions of the same thing?
Also, the movie is 2 hours. The first season is 10 hours. If you know this going in, how could you have any expectations of the movie being completely faithful to the show?

To be honest, I find adaptations that stick closest to the source material to be the worst kind of adaptation. And I still hold out hope for The Last Airbender. The Happening may have been sloppy, but for critics like Ebert to list The Village on his Worst Of list for that year, it shows that Shyamalan's talent is largely unappreciated and quite possibly is again with this movie.

[gtt]

Okay, I haven't seen the movie (or any trailers except for the teaser) and I really love the series. I also really love Shyamalan. He's a great writer-director and understands the medium of film extremely well. And he gets way too much crap from people who dont approach his work with an open mind.

All I'm hearing from reviews of the TLA is "Omfg, it is a disgrace to the TV show."
This is a stupid complaint. You can't ask someone to recreate the TV show. One, because the TV show already exists, so there's no point retelling that same narrative exactly the way it was in the show. Why would you want two versions of the same thing?
Also, the movie is 2 hours. The first season is 10 hours. If you know this going in, how could you have any expectations of the movie being completely faithful to the show?

To be honest, I find adaptations that stick closest to the source material to be the worst kind of adaptation. And I still hold out hope for The Last Airbender. The Happening may have been sloppy, but for critics like Ebert to list The Village on his Worst Of list for that year, it shows that Shyamalan's talent is largely unappreciated and quite possibly is again with this movie.

It's bad. really bad. astonishingly bad. not just because of it's deviation from the show(but seriously, only fans of the show are going to know you fucked the names up, why fuck them up?) the acting is terrible, the casting is terrible, the cg looks like crap in a number of spots.

[Ezekiel Rage]

I stopped watching his movies after Signs. He just has no clue what he is doing. His pacing is bad, his directing is boring and his narrative structure is just plain broken.
Sixth Sense was mediocre, Unbreakable was merely okay and everything else was idiotic...

[mariomaniac45213]

...I don't even know where to start. The movie was one of the worst I've seen in a long time. I cannot describe how disappointed I am! Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favorite series of all time. The show was absolutely brilliant! The fighting, the comedy, the drama, the story... everything in the show was perfect!

However, the movie got NONE of that right. There is ZERO character development. The story is butchered so much that you will have absolutely no idea what anyone's motives or reasons for things are. There is not one funny line in the movie... Not even an attempt at a funny line! It tries to be so serious! The fighting wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. And the CG was hit and miss. Sometimes it looked really good, and other times it looked like a mediocre indie film. UGH! Seriously, I don't think you were ever told Katara's name until the scene where she fights Zuko at the Spirit Oasis near the very end. That's how crappy and random the movie was.

To say I am disappointed would be an understatement. M. Night Shyamalan needs to die for this one. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go watch my DVDs of the show and try to remove that steaming pile of crap from my memory.

now that's one epic description. Anyway never cared for the show. (it bored me) while the movie looked interesting from the trailers and commercials. Now I know it sucks balls. Thanks Tyfighter for saving me the time and money.

[vivi]

Devil, i can see where you're coming from with all people see in his movies. However, after the sixth sense which got amazing reviews because nobody had ever directed a movie of the sort, people will obviously say if he made another movie with a twist ending it is just another sixth sense without the good plot. But I do disagree with the Lady in the Water saying its good, that movie was god awful. The movie really made me want to hit myself violently. The Happening had a cool idea and all, but the movie was just so mediocre its overwhelms the theme of the movie. And I thought unbreakable was a great movie.

[Devil_Rising]

Well folks. I went and saw it today. And to be quite honest, it was pretty good.

Yes, that's right, I said it was pretty good.

It could have been a lot better. I certainly would have made it much closer to the show (casting, pronunciation) if I had made it myself. I also would have made it at least half an hour longer to give it slower pacing and fit a bit more in.

But it really wasn't terrible at all. I don't think I trust sites like Rotten Tomatoes, which gave this movie an aggregate score of 6%, when it also gave a piece of steaming s**t movie like Crank 2, literally the only movie I've ever seen that gets worse and worse as it goes along, a 62% score. That right there invalidates pro critics to me.

Like I said this movie could have, and perhaps should have been much better than it is. But having said that, it was worth watching, even as a fan of the show (which again, I am). I understand some of the complaints, but I've seen terrible movies. I've watched Uwe Boll at work. This was not terrible.

[Eternal Rain]

Devil, i can see where you're coming from with all people see in his movies. However, after the sixth sense which got amazing reviews because nobody had ever directed a movie of the sort, people will obviously say if he made another movie with a twist ending it is just another sixth sense without the good plot. But I do disagree with the Lady in the Water saying its good, that movie was god awful. The movie really made me want to hit myself violently. The Happening had a cool idea and all, but the movie was just so mediocre its overwhelms the theme of the movie. And I thought unbreakable was a great movie.

He admitted "The Happening" was made that way on purpose. He wanted an excuse to make an R rated movie so he figured he'd just make a B-movie project just for fun. To me it's one of those "it's so average, yet has a charm to it" kind of films.

As for "The Last Airbender," as a fan of the show I'm not entirely certain what to think based off of what I've seen from trailers and whatnot. From what I hear, though, I'm already not liking the way they changed the pronounciations, and would it have killed the casting director to hire some Asian people for a movie that's based on a show that's based on Asian mythologies?

Eh, can't really give much of a "valid" opinion since I haven't seen it. At this point, though, I'm probably gonna wait for it to come on TV in a year or two (no doubt Nickelodeon will show it eventually in the future). For now I'd rather just go back and watch the entirety of the cartoon for 2 reasons (1. I loved it, and it's been forever since I last watched it, and 2... I has a confessions to makes, I never watched season 3 *avoids bullets*).

[Facepalm]

It's bad. really bad. astonishingly bad. not just because of it's deviation from the show(but seriously, only fans of the show are going to know you f*** the names up, why f*** them up?) the acting is terrible, the casting is terrible, the cg looks like crap in a number of spots.

Damn. My faith just got diminished quite a lot. Well, the unusual casting was always going to be either an overwhelming success or a dismal failure. And it surprises me that you say there is bad CG. Night has a very strong track record with using CG extremely well and sparingly.

Also, for anyone claiming that Shyamalan is a hack that relies on a trademark plot twist for his movies, please note that TWO of his nine movies have plot twists (Sixth Sense and The Village).

[Devil_Rising]

Three actually. Unbreakable had one right at the end too.

Regardless, I think he's a good director most days, and The Last Airbender, while flawed, was a decent film that I'd like to see improved sequels to.

[TYFIGHTER]

Well folks. I went and saw it today. And to be quite honest, it was pretty good.

Yes, that's right, I said it was pretty good.

It could have been a lot better. I certainly would have made it much closer to the show (casting, pronunciation) if I had made it myself. I also would have made it at least half an hour longer to give it slower pacing and fit a bit more in.

But it really wasn't terrible at all. I don't think I trust sites like Rotten Tomatoes, which gave this movie an aggregate score of 6%, when it also gave a piece of steaming s**t movie like Crank 2, literally the only movie I've ever seen that gets worse and worse as it goes along, a 62% score. That right there invalidates pro critics to me.

Like I said this movie could have, and perhaps should have been much better than it is. But having said that, it was worth watching, even as a fan of the show (which again, I am). I understand some of the complaints, but I've seen terrible movies. I've watched Uwe Boll at work. This was not terrible.

Well everyone has their own opinion... but I honestly have no idea how you could have liked the movie. I was a HUGE fan of the show and went into the theater thinking I was going to watch an amazing adaptation of the show. Unfortunately, while everyone was cheering (which I started lol) at the beginning when "Book 1: Water" appeared on screen... Everyone literally booed when the credits began to roll.

I think you're just trying to convince yourself the movie wasn't bad because you love the show so much. But dude, face it. Nothing about that movie was good.

[Devil_Rising]

No. I'm not trying to convince myself of anything.

I went in with tempered expectations to begin with. I knew that he had changed the pronunciation of a few words, and I knew about the casting, neither of which I can say I really like. I also knew that it wasn't going to be Lord of the Rings amazing, or maybe not even Harry Potter good.

I said that it could have been better, and certainly it could have. But I'm not convincing myself of anything. I watched what I thought was a decent film. Flawed, yes. Terrible, no. I wish it HAD been better, I certainly would have preferred it be more like the show. What fan wouldn't? But at the end of the day, it was still a decent film.

Perhaps it's just that I've seen so many of the franchises I loved so much, such as, say, X-Men, Fantastic Four, the Sword of Truth series (via that GOD AWFUL Legend of the Seeker show), etc. etc. butchered beyond belief. I've seen SO many crappy ass adaptations, it's not funny. That new "Clash of the Titans" for example, was terrible, and doesn't hold even the tiniest candle to the "cheesy" 1981 original film. Similar statements could be made about the recent remake/adaptations of, just to name a few, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Time Machine, Planet of the Apes, etc., all classic sci fi films that I grew up loving. Or how about growing up a huge Godzilla fan, and then having to sit through that trash that was the 1998 American-made "Godzilla"?

The Last Airbender is certainly not the movie I WISH it had been. But it was far more faithful to it's source material than a majority of s**ty Hollywood adaptations I have had to try and stomach. A LOT of things I loved have been ruined by Hollywood. This wasn't ruined. It was just not given the treatment it fully deserves. But as I said, it's not terrible, at least not to me, by any stretch of the imagination. With few exceptions, I sat through most of the movie, and was able to enjoy it for what it was, and appreciated how much it DID stick to the show, instead of focusing on all the omissions and changes. Maybe that's just me, but let me tell you, if anyone is critical of Hollywood adaptations that SUCK, it's me. And I didn't really think THIS particular movie sucked. Not great. But I'd give it 3 stars out of 5, sure.

[InvalidRobot]

M. Night is a bloody joke of a director, and why they gave this show to him I will never understand. He has no experience in child like fantasy films, and of course he would kill the personality of the characters & humor (he's not funny himself)!

I do find Unbreakable to be highly underrated (it's ssssoooo good), but the day I found out he was going to be directing one of the best cartoon series I've ever had the pleasure of watching, I knew it was going to be crap.

I love how my own daughter (who loves the show as well), can watch the trailer and notice how poorly it is. I REALLY hope this film does terrible in theaters, because one of two things could happen. They will dump M. Night as the director, or they will just forget the fact they ever allowed such crap to be created and never make another one.

[Facepalm]

Three actually. Unbreakable had one right at the end too.

I know what you mean, but Unbreakable has more of a revelation. I don't think it really changes the overall plot, it serves as a plot point. But it's semantics really.

M. Night is a bloody joke of a director, and why they gave this show to him I will never understand. He has no experience in child like fantasy films, and of course he would kill the personality of the characters & humor (he's not funny himself)!

Gotta disagree. He has plenty of experience at writing/directing movies from a child's perspective, as well as high concept fantasy. And I also think that he has a great sense of humour in his writing. I don't know, I guess we look for different things.

I went in with tempered expectations to begin with. I knew that he had changed the pronunciation of a few words, and I knew about the casting, neither of which I can say I really like. I also knew that it wasn't going to be Lord of the Rings amazing, or maybe not even Harry Potter good.

I dont care for the Lord of the Rings movies and I downright hate the Harry Potter movies. So is there a chance that I'll appreciate The Last Airbender. It's frustrating that I have to ask, because the movie doesn't come out here in Australia until September!

[AndyTheZombie]

It actually looks pretty good. I never watched the cartoon. But it looks like there taking the source material seriously unlike the Dragon ball movie Lol.

[gtt]

It actually looks pretty good. I never watched the cartoon. But it looks like there taking the source material seriously unlike the Dragon ball movie Lol.

yea they took it so seriously they changed the personalities of several characters and decided to randomly pronouce names differently.

[Zidane]

M Night did write Stewart Little, so you can't say that he has no talent for writing children's movies.