For starters, I’ve been anticipating this movie for about a year now. As a preface, I’ve been following the Avatar series since it first came out and, as many fans would agree, was incredible (and what made it even more incredible was the mere fact an American company, Nickelodeon nonetheless, was able to come up with it). Avatar incorporated traditional and very real martial arts into a “cartoon” and was (as a kung fu student myself) extremely accurate. I remember one day watching a re-run of one of the episode’s in the third book and thinking to myself, I just learned that exact move in class today. A friend and I learned the “Dragon Dance” for our performance video, though it was just for laughs, it was so much fun thinking we could do what Zuko and Aang could do. Speaking of the characters, they’re simply remarkable. They’re lovable, ‘hateable’, mysterious, unforgettable, and yet they’re just drawings.
But enough about my way too obvious love of the show, how about the movie? From the very beginning of the movie, the very first scene, I could tell something was off. It may have just been the theater I went to, and there’s a 99% chance that it was, the words were so blurry, they were almost illegible. The intro was almost exactly the same as the show, except re worded differently. Who would of thought? Now, I knew before I walked into the theater, and tried to prepare myself, that Sokka would not be funny, Zuko was casted horribly, they pronounced Aang’s name like “Ung”, and a few other little facts here and there. They condensed a lot of the beginning (which was expected because they had to fit an entire season into a two hour film). But honestly, the movie was horrible. It took every ounce of strength not to walk out of the theater in the first 20 minutes. I know that sounds dramatic, but I seriously questioned it. The acting was truly a nightmare. It was Noah Ringer’s (aka Aang) first acting gig, so I can accept that his acting skills aren’t up to prime. Plus who am to judge? I actually really liked him as Aang, though I thought he could have been a bit more “cheery”, his martial arts skills were extremely impressive! I said prior that the casting to Zuko was a bad choice; I still pretty much stand by that. Zuko is supposed to be quiet and, occasionally foolish with decision making, but in the movie Zuko seemed fairly level headed, like he knew what he was doing. He was also very outspoken. They originally were going to cast Jessie McCartney as Zuko, but later decided against it. I don’t think McCartney would’ve been a better actor, Dev Patel is actually very good, but I think he appealed to the role of Zuko a lot more.
Inaccuracy: A key player in why this movie was crap. The Air Temples? According to the movie, the sanctuary where the statues of past Avatars reside is located in the Northern air temple. In actuality Aang, Katara, and Sokka, stumble upon it in the Southern air temple within the first few episodes. This is where they find Momo, it’s how Aang entered the “avatar state” for the first time. In the movie, they ignore all of this and decide that they’re going to use the statues as a lure for the Fire Nation to capture Aang. The Fire Nation Soldiers were hiding behind the statues and were able to catch Aang. They then bring Aang somewhere within the Northern air temple and hold him captive. Zuko, disguised as the “blue spirit”, then releases Aang and drags him away so that he may bring him back to his father instead of the Fire Nation Army. None of this actually happens in the show. At least not in the sequence, and in many cases not at all. There is a point when Zuko dresses as the “blue spirit” and frees Aang, but it certainly does not happen when or how they described it in the movie. But this is just one point, what happened to the Kiyoshi Warriors? Oh, they don’t exist. Which means Sokka doesn’t have a girl friend, it means Azula and her gang never infiltrate Ba Sing Se. It means Aang and Zuko would never escape The Boiling Rock -The Fire Nation’s top security prison-, and many battles would be lost. The special effects could have been remarkable. Avatar (The one by James Cameron) had a basic plot, nothing inconceivable, but the effects and design were impeccable. “The Last Air Bender” could have done that, even though they’re plot was twisted and inaccurate; they could have gained it back with the bending effects. But they were no more than average. The fighting scenes were interesting to watch, to see the elements in full effect of live action, but it didn’t “put you there”. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t even begin to imagine that it was “real”. The bending was awkward as well. Fire benders had to have fire to fire bend (Except for Iroh, who could somehow magically make fire shoot out of his arms) I seriously question the judgment of the director, who claims he knows “everything there is to know about Avatar” It’s ironic because that statement is a joke, except the movie (which is supposed to be intense yet have elements of comedy) is lacking any ounce of humor what-so-ever. Then there are the small things, like pronunciation.
Uncle Iroh (Eye-Row). In the movie it’s (Ear-Row)
Sokka (Sa-Ka). In the movie it’s (Sow-Ka)
Aang (well it’s pretty much how it looks). In the movie it’s (Ong)
Agni Kai (Ag-knee-Kie). In the movie it’s (Ag-Knee-Kee). It sounds a lot different, trust me.
I’m writing this on the first day it came out, and every review on the internet right now is completely and utterly negative.
I could go on, because I tend to make my arguments extremely excessive, but I’ll stop for your sake. I’m no professional critic, and who am I to judge the actors or producers, because honestly I probably would have done a 100 times worse job then they did. Avatar was just not meant to be live action (like many anime <--- hence the term “anime”) It was also not meant to be directed by the chosen director. I was thinking throughout the movie that this looked fan-made, something you would see on YouTube.