I'm not going to lie to you guys, I hated this film. The Last Airbender by M. Night. Shyamalan is absolutely an atrocious movie with horrible acting, jumbled up dialogue, terrible plot choice. Now for those of you who didn't know, the film is based on the universally acclaimed cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. The cartoon itself was one of the best cartoons in history. The movie however, ruined many elements that made the cartoon so appealing, and for fans seemed like a slap in the face.
First off, lets talk about casting for the characters. Aang (or Uhng in the film) is supposed to be a joyful, playful kid who also has a serious and wise side to him. In the film, the actor Noah Ringer portrays Aang as a serious, depressing person who I'm pretty sure didn't even smile once in the film. Here's some pictures to explain:
It gets even worse from here, Sokka (or Soak-uh in the film) is a sarcastic and humorous warrior in the cartoon. He was "portrayed" in the film by Jackson Rathbone who does the absolute worst acting job I have ever seen. Sokka is the most depressing monotone person in the Four Nations.
Third, I get that Shyamalan is Indian and all, but seriously? Pretty much the entire Fire Nation is Indian, and characters like Ozai and Zhao who are supposed to invoke fear really just seem miscasted. I get trying to make the film racially diverse and all, but you cast the best fit for the character, not try to force in a terrible choice just because you want to.
Next, I'll talk to you about the terrible delivery of dialogue, and just the absurdity of the dialogue itself. Many of the actors in the film seem to be off in their timing and delivery is just terrible as no one shows emotion besides Dev Patel (who just yells pretty much the entire movie).
Finally, lets look into the plot of the movie. The film is based on the first season of the cartoon which is bascially 20 episodes. The film left out many key plot points and overemphasized others, such as the exclusion of the Kyoshi Warriors and King Bumi who are integral parts of the cartoon. Even just doing a montage of the travels of Team Avatar would have done the left out characters more justice than having a quarter of the film about the Blue Spirit and the Avatar in prison.
Overall, this is a horrible film that I would definitely not recommend you see if you are a fan of the cartoon or if you aren't. I recommend watching the cartoon instead as that is a very good TV show.
Watch this instead!
Link for Show (Netflix Instant Stream):
Rating: 0.5/5
