The Last Airbender

[jacobed]

It definitely would have helped the character progression and if added they would have helped the movie feel a lot more complete. Sure the acting would have probably still been not good but thats to be expected with inexperienced actors.

 

[Project862006]

yeah and trust me propel would of overlooked the acting and some dialogue if the movie was'nt so rushed and the characters were more developed

 

[Tony Stark]

Just took my son to it last night. Better than I expected, but it's still not very good. The big problem is the acting is absolutely horrible. They even got one of the rejects from twilight in the cast.

Visually, I thought the film looked great. I never saw the TV show, so I have nothing to compare to, but I thought the effects and cinematography were excellent.

So really this film fails because of the acting/script writing.

4/10

 

[mr. peasant]

You incorrectly assume that the setting and characters traits are exclusive, when they are not. You claim that Middle-Earth was about white people who just so happen to be on adventures. Fair enough, but you give no justification for this, which makes it hard to refute, but also makes it an utterly lacking argument. It may as well be so, but it is also in a setting that is very European inspired, therefore meaning that the "white people" are not just on adventures, but in fact inhabiting a setting that fits with their traits aka; white people, white setting, regardless of fantasy devices it is obviously inspired by real ones.

My justification was that Tolkien himself has stated that his intent was to create an English mythology that would eventually explain the origins of English history and culture. This can be found in 'The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien' (Carpenter, 1981) and is mentioned in the Wikipedia article for 'The Silmarillion'.

No it does not necessarily show that. Regardless of how well-recieved the show is, and how much effort was put into it, it is still a show predominantly for children/teens and uses many devices that are common in such. Things like the entire plot of The Great Divide, dressing as the enemy effectively despite obviously not looking so and the "hears part of the conversation and runs away" from Bato of the Water Tribe are just some of the devices you would find in other children shows. This isn't a criticism of course, I find Avatar is much better for not being a grim, gritty adult's cartoon or comic.

I don't see how that plays an effect. The fact remains that in the cartoon, race is not seen as an issue and does not adhere to their real life counterparts. Demanding that the movie does this while exempting the cartoon would be a double standard. And it is for this reason that I frequently argue against critics of race-changing; that they are often inconsistent in the cases that they argue (e.g. where was the uproar when Disney created a red-headed Hercules?).

 

[Fanticon]

Just took my son to it last night. Better than I expected, but it's still not very good. The big problem is the acting is absolutely horrible. They even got one of the rejects from twilight in the cast.

Visually, I thought the film looked great. I never saw the TV show, so I have nothing to compare to, but I thought the effects and cinematography were excellent.

So really this film fails because of the acting/script writing.

4/10

so did your son like it?

 

[jacobed]

yeah and trust me propel would of overlooked the acting and some dialogue if the movie was'nt so rushed and the characters were more developed

I agree 100%

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I don't understand the complaints about the acting. The acting works for me for the most part (except for Zhao). It is the script that is the big problem.

 

[Timstuff]

Some people are easily ******** about stuff, that's why. Like I said before, if Katara were cast with an Inuit actress, but she was fat and ugly, these same people would still be complaining because at the end of the day what they are mad about is not just race. They are mad because they have a specific mental image of how a character should look, and when they see something that doesn't match it they get very irritated. It's not really any different from the fanboys who make crappy manips of Christian Bale wearing gray tights, except that they're 10x more bitter about it.

 

[san15]

Some people are easily ******** about stuff, that's why. Like I said before, if Katara were cast with an Inuit actress, but she was fat and ugly, these same people would still be complaining because at the end of the day what they are mad about is not just race. They are mad because they have a specific mental image of how a character should look, and when they see something that doesn't match it they get very irritated. It's not really any different from the fanboys who make crappy manips of Christian Bale wearing gray tights, except that they're 10x more bitter about it.

They would never cast a fat and ugly Katara, because fat and ugly people don’t find a lot of work in show business.The movie is based on the cartoon show. Thus, most fans SHOULD already have a specific mental image of how the characters should look.

 

[Ghostvirus]

Looks like the movie is doing pretty well at the BO. I really hope Shams get to finish these three movies.

Seeing all these fanchildren whine & cry is just brilliant.

 

[Doc Ock]

so did your son like it?

You know what, thats a good question! Kids are part of the audience too, and I bet tons of kids are just loving the movie!

 

[jacobed]

I went with my cousin and he's about 12 I think. He watched the full series when it was on tv and he loved the movie.

 

[ironwez20]

I hope he doesnt finish this francise it was bad. And he said he was going to make it darker? Seriously he made this one dark and the characters were all dpressing aside from zuko who did awesome. I hope around 6yrs they make a remake and bring in a director that knows what he's doing.

 

[craigdbfan]

Looks like the movie is doing pretty well at the BO. I really hope Shams get to finish these three movies.

Seeing all these fanchildren whine & cry is just brilliant.

Its a a terrible movie as a standalone, even with the adaptation aspect not considered.

I wouldn't of have wanted to see any more films if this was my introduction to A:TLA.

 

[Alchemyst]

So I've finally watched it, I won't say the movie was terrible, but it wasn't that good. The acting wasnt that great, the kid who played Aang did ok, I guess given he probably didn't have alot to work with. I honestly thought that Prince Zuko was one of the better characters. This is coming from someone who has yet to watch the cartoon, so alot of the characters were new to me. The effects seemed cool, but it was still missing something. I would assume if ur using an element or energy, it takes some sort of strain on you given the fact that ur manipulating something that isn't a part of you. IMO it seemed like they were throwing stuff with no effort, if M. Night has a shot at doing a sequel, he's gonna have alot of work to do in order to fix the multiple errors with this film

 

[hobo123]

Although i thought the movie was awful, i got interested in the cartoon so i started watching it a few days ago and i just finished watching the first season (which i loved) and now the movie seems even more awful to me. i mean first, i honestly dont care about the race change but couldnt they atleast find better actors, they were nothing like their characters, the playful/childish characteristic of Aang was nowhere to be seen in the movie, Zhao was ridiculously miscast (not once in the movie i felt this guy is dangerous to the protagonists), Shaun Toub was nothing like Iroh, looks-wise or acting-wise. and finally the biggest mistake of this movie was Fire Lord Ozai, this is guy is the "Lord Voldemort" of this trilogy, they once again terribly miscasted, he shouldnt have even been in this movie, cliff curtis, is that best actor they could get.

This movie was a horrible adaptation and most importantly, an awful movie.

btw did anybody else think Shaun Toub looked more like The Warden from the "Imprisoned" episode than Iroh

 

[jacobed]

I loved Toub as Iroh. The only real difference is that he isn't fat which I'm fine with. I thought Cliff plays a good politican side of Ozai but I don't know if he'll be able to handle it when it comes to the physical aspects and he doesn't look threatening at all. Zhao was so horribly casted that there is no way you can even try and defend it. Not once did I think this guy would kill anyone, he was just a huge pansy the whole film.

 

[Octoberist]

I don't understand the complaints about the acting. The acting works for me for the most part (except for Zhao). It is the script that is the big problem.

It's a problem because the WEIGHT of the movie is on the kids. While they can be tolerated, they are the anchor of the movie, and the mediators between our world and theirs. When they are not convincing at all, it's all fail because you don't have a friggin' connection.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

It's a problem because the WEIGHT of the movie is on the kids. While they can be tolerated, they are the anchor of the movie, and the mediators between our world and theirs. When they are not convincing at all, it's all fail because you don't have a friggin' connection.

Your asking them to connect with a script a great actor would have trouble working with. Scenes call for great emotion weight without any setup. Why is Katara crying, Zuko angry, Sokka serious? The film literally skips the character beats for any of their words or actions to make sense and thus have meaning.

It gets even worse when it the kid actors are given what feels like stage directions for dialogue.

How most of them played it was fine if you ask me. It was what they were asked to do that was the major problem in the end.

 

[Timstuff]

Your asking them to connect with a script a great actor would have trouble working with. Scenes call for great emotion weight without any setup. Why is Katara crying, Zuko angry, Sokka serious? The film literally skips the character beats for any of their words or actions to make sense and thus have meaning.

It gets even worse when it the kid actors are given what feels like stage directions for dialogue.

How most of them played it was fine if you ask me. It was what they were asked to do that was the major problem in the end.

We're missing 20% of the film's original runtime. That included Sokka's humor and Katara's non-crying scenes, so it could have included some non-angry moments for Zuko as well. However, Zuko was pretty pissy in the first season of the cartoon anyway.

 

[gregtestagent]

Originally Posted by louiebling$ View Post
You know something that has never been adressed before?

Firebenders could bender Fire but also and become Masters and reach a New Level

Fire<Lighting

Earth <Metal/Meteor

Water<Blood

So what do the Airbenders do that's equivalent?

Sound bending? They could create sonic blasts and awesome stuff like that.

I can't think of an alternate power for airbending, but I did think of a technique. It's deadly and kinda too gross for nick. I'm sure they did explore the idea to bloodbending to the fullest extent, but decided exploding people's veins or other bloody techniques would be too violent for a kids show. Airbending the air in and out of someone's body could have some gruesome effects. The most obvious attack spot on an enemy would be the lungs. Oxygen is concentrated throughout the bloodstream as well. I'd like to see a more adult version of the avatar universe. Where fighting almost always ended in death.

 

[Ghostvirus]

Just finally saw The Last Airbender. The Haters should stay as far away from commenting, making, writing, just basically doing anything related to story telling. The people are some of the most ignorant I have witnessed.

If Shayamalan gets kicked of this series because of these low lifes. Then I wish nothing less than for Brett Ratner to replace him. The haters deserve it.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

You didn't even describe one good thing about the film and yet are complaining about how others viewed it. That is rich.

 

[Ghostvirus]

*sigh* Fine.

I am not good with long reviews but I will try to break it down. It will be a few days.

 

[Octoberist]

I do not wish M. Night ill, but he needs to wake up.