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Avatar: The Last
Airbender
was a great animated
series on
Nickelodeon. The
animated series had
more heart and fun
to it than any other
animated series had
or has had on the
network. The show
was lined out to
last four
seasons/books. All
four of the seasons
were outstanding and
a blast to watch-
including the
marvelous conclusion
to the show. Like a
lot of the show’s
fan-base when I
found out that a
movie was coming I
was definitely
excited… when I
found out that M.
Night Shyamalan was
directing… I was
scared that he was
going to botch a
great story. He
started out doing
great work, but his
recent work is…
different. The final
product of M.
Night’s Shyamalan’s
take on the Avatar
series isn’t totally
destroyed…. But it’s
definitely botched
enough to where one
can wonder if
they’ll make a
second movie.
In
The
Last Airbender
the
story is taken from
the first
season/book of the
series. The world
had lived in peace
with four nations of
people- Earth, Wind,
Fire, and Air. The
four nations each
possess a unique
ability to control
their elements and
they call the
ability bending.
Only one person can
bend all four
elements and that
person is also in
charge of
controlling the
balance and the
peace between the
four nations- the
Avatar. The Avatar
is born into a
different nation
every time he/she/it
is reborn, but for
100 years- the
Avatar hasn’t been
seen or heard from
and the Fire Nation
is threatening to
take over and
control the rest of
the world. Enter
Sokka and Kitara-
two young siblings
from the Southern
Water Tribe. Katara
is the little sister
of the two and she
is also the only
person in the
Southern Water Tribe
capable of bending.
Sokka is the older
brother of Katara
and he’s a young
warrior/hunter with
no bending skills.
The two mistakenly
open a glacier they
find while looking
for food and encased
in the glacier is
Aang- a young Air
Bender and also- the
Avatar. From there
the three become
friends and go on a
mission to teach
Aang to master the
other three elements
so he can take on
the head of the Fire
Nation and restore
balance to the
world. This movie
doesn’t go that far
though- it just
extends to trio
venturing north to
the Northern Water
Tribe so Aang can
learn bending from
the tribe and aide
them in fighting off
a Fire Nation
invasion.
The story is fine-
mainly because the
premise of the story
is fine. M. Night
Shyamalan did a good
enough job
translating the big
picture of the first
season into the
film. Just like with
the last three
Shyamalan films
before this though-
everything is fine
except for some
weird choices that
he made- that let’s
be honest- he didn’t
have to. He changed
the pronunciation of
the main character
from Ang (like Tang
without the t) to
Aang (like Gong
without the G.) that
weird decision
immediately
ostracized a large
group of fans from
the series. He then
did some interesting
cast decisions.
Instead of just
casting good actors
for parts, he casted
based on skin
color/ethnicity for
the four tribes. In
preproduction this
had to be a
difficult decision
for the producers
and for Shyamalan,
and maybe if he did
completely cast
parts based on
acting skills etc.
we would have griped
that all of the
people from the four
nations have no link
or they all look the
same- but I think
that he made the
wrong decision with
his route for
casting. If there’s
one thing that
everyone needs to
learn from
Christopher Nolan’s
take on Batman- it’s
that you cast the
part for the skill
first and then you
worry about
everything else
after that.
Shyamalan is great
behind the camera
and the set design
and special effects
for the movie are
brilliant.
Everything looks
fantastic. It seems
like a small part of
the movie when you
compare that against
some of the problems
that The Last
Airbender has but it
can’t be understated
that Shyamalan did
produce something
that looked
fantastic here- it
just couldn’t
overcome some of
it’s other problems.
The
Blu-ray of this disc
is great. The sound
and the picture are
fantastic with no
problems on either
front and the extra
features provided on
the Blu-ray are
outstanding and not
to be missed by fans
of the film or by
fans of the series.
There are several
great looks at the
making of the film,
but there’s also
some great material
with the creator’s
of the show Michael
Dante DiMartino and
Bryan Koneitzko
talking about the
source material and
the film’s
adaptation to the
big screen. Gag
reels and deleted
scenes and
commentary also just
scratch the surface
of bonus material on
The
Last Airbender.
The
Last Airbender
wasn’t a terrible
movie from M. Knight
Shamalan. He
basically had
everything right
with the story and
with his film, but a
few weird decisions
bring it down.
That’s what
Shyamalan’s movies
are after
Signs.
They look and sound
great- they’re even
enjoyable- but one
or two weird
decisions instantly
bring them down.
That happened with
his last few movies
towards the end- he
made the weird
decisions with
The
Last Airbender
at
the start of it and
it and ended up
dooming what could
have been a great
movie. Because of
these weird choices
the fan base of the
show never fully
latched on to it,
and there might not
be a sequel to it.
Still,
The
Last Airbender
is a
good movie for fans
of the show and
basically kids 13
and under. Some
decisions went awry
but the end product
is a decent
action/adventure
movie.
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