The Last Airbender
or the movie that should have been called AVATAR

Let me say that I went to an afternoon showing at one of the higher-priced 3D showings, and the theater was pleasantly packed. I enjoyed the movie. I felt that they tried too hard to include many of the scenes from the cartoon. Having seen the cartoon, I understood and enjoyed it. The same with my 10 year old son. However, for someone coming in fresh the movie might have seemed a little disjointed. It would have been a much better movie if it would have simply focused on some threads.

1) The Ang/Zuko relationship could have helped if it were actually developed. They showed it well, but did not actually bring it out.

2) I liked in the cartoon how Katara gets annoyed that Ang learns water bending so quickly when she had been studying it for years before he started. None of that gets brought out in the movie.

3) The cartoon does a wonderful job of showing that Ang is still a child. That does not come out so well in the movie.

4) Abu is done wonderfully. Whatever mix of techniques they used for him did their job magnificently. Thoroughly enjoyed his presence.

5) The little dance/kata techniques used for bending is handled well.

6) The spirit scenes are nicely done, but do nothing to advance the story. What the spirits tell Ang was pretty obvious. They could have been left out.

Note that some of the story points were a little dumb, but they were story points in the cartoon as well. However, the cartoon is able to spend time on singular events to give them the proper setting and meaning. I say again that the movie should have set its focus a little more narrow and told a singular story instead of trying to capsulate an entire season.

I give the movie 3 stars out of 5. The 3D was basically worthless, as the grand scope of Ang's story causes most scenes to be only foreground and background.

This movie has gotten negative reviews all over the place.. Do you think it is because they did not see and understand the cartoon first? I have not seen the cartoon.. So would I enjoy it?

-Steve

Steve wrote:

This movie has gotten negative reviews all over the place.. Do you think it is because they did not see and understand the cartoon first? I have not seen the cartoon.. So would I enjoy it? -Steve

I really do not know if you would. It depends upon why you went to see it. Truthfully, you might be enchanted with the world and overall story, only feeling something was lost in the movie itself. You might catch the tale being told, only wondering why those characters and why were they developed so poorly. The movie does not suck, just does not a clearly defined singular tale that can propel a newbie viewer along. At least, such is my opinion.

That's disappointing to hear, but I will still see the movie. Thanks for the review Terish!