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The Last Airbender
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I first watched Avatar: the Last Airbender when I was in high school. It was something I had heard about a little, but had never bothered to look into. My cousins really loved the cartoon and, since they were all at least five years younger than me, I assumed it was just some colorful thing to entertain kids. Now, please do not understand; I enjoy many things that seem better suited for a young audience (Sailor Moon, stuffed animals, etc.). This just happened to be something I saw nothing of anywhere I went, and the only descriptions I heard came from my young cousins. Yes, the fighting and magical powers sounded fun, but lots of kids' shows have those things without being as good as I want them to be. I have also been known to be stubborn about trying new things, especially when I do not know anything about them. So, I just never looked into it. The one time I happened to see a minute of it on TV, it was a part from episode 3 when two of the characters were squabbling, so I changed the channel. That is, I never looked into it until my cousins happened to pull out their DVD copy of the last four episodes of the first season. My sister and I watched maybe two episodes with them and were so impressed that we asked to borrow the DVD when it was time to go home. We happily watched the season finale episodes, then went online to dig up the rest and get caught up.
SPOILERS
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Avatar: the Last Airbender is something that lots of people talk about. (When I was younger that did not seem to be the case, but I also did not have a very strong online presence or awareness.) It has been hyped up so much that I have had friends I knew would love it spend months hmming about whether or not it would be any good. In the end, anybody who likes fantasy or war stories or superheroes or comedy or lots of character development will almost definitely like this show. Nostalgia Critic on YouTube (a middle-aged man) once ranked the top and bottom 10 episodes while acknowledging that even the worst episode is still decently entertaining despite not really bringing anything to the overall story. (That epsiode is also considered something of an outlyer.) Considering that there are three seasons and one of the lead actors passed away at an unfortunate time, this is a truly amazing accomplishment for any show, let alone a kids' cartoon. There is not just one type of humor, love, action, or revenge. And the music and voice acting are really good.
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Here is a plot summary (SPOILS EVERYTHING):
There are four types of bending: water, earth, fire, and air. Each talent (expressed through various forms of martial arts) is passed down through one of the four nations: Water Tribe, Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and Air Nomads. Peace is kept by a special person who is reincarnated continuously, possesses all four types of bending, and acts as the bridge to the spirit world: the Avatar. Unfortunately, the Fire Lord (ruler of the Fire Nation) decided that he knew better how to rule the world than any of the other rulers and waged a war on everyone after leaving the Avatar (part of the Fire Nation back then) to die. This ended up being an oversight because the Avatar is always reincarnated into the cycle, meaning that he/she will appear again as a baby, this time in the homes of the Air Nomads. Thus, the Fire Lord harnessed the power of a passing fiery comet to destroy all the Air Nomads at once.
Fire Lord Sozin's portrait from the palace, which features a depiction of the comet that became known as "Sozin's Comet." He grew up with Roku, the last Avatar, but eventually betrayed him because he thought that he could make the world better by ruling it while Roku was determined to keep peace.
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One hundred years later, Katara and her older brother Sokka ("saw-caw") are members of the dwindling Southern Water Tribe who live similarly to Inuit peoples in the South Pole, dressing in heavy furs and living in skin huts. Due to the war started by the Fire Nation, Katara is the only remaining water bender and Sokka is the only young man left in the whole tribe. While out fishing, they stumble across a boy named Aang (rhymes with "gang") dressed as a monk and a legendary, extinct sky bison called Apa frozen in a huge, unnaturally round block of ice. It turns out that Aang is not only the last surviving airbender, but also the Avatar. He ran away from home for fear of being treated as an outsider now that everyone knew he was the Avatar, and froze his bison and himself in the ice after getting caught in a storm. He never knew about the growing unrest between the nations that was happening while he was growing up, or about the war that started in the hundred years since he froze himself.
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The first season (Water) chronicles Aang, Katara, and Sokka's adventures as they travel from the South Pole to the North Pole in order to find Aang a water bending teacher to put him on the right path towards mastering his many powers. Meanwhile, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation hunts for them with the help of his mentor: Iroh, his elderly uncle. We learn about Aang and Zuko simultaneously, and we see that Zuko's terribly scarred face is the result of a fight he had with his father after insisting that a troop of soldier not be sacrificed for the good of the war. At the end of the season, our heroes thwart the Fire Nation's attempt to bring down the Northern Water Tribe's fortress and weaken them by killing the moon spirit. This is mostly accomplished due to the fact that there is something called the Avatar State that allows Aang to tap into the shared experience of all his past lives. However, if he is killed in this state, the Avatar will cease to be reincarnated.
Aang battles Prince Zuko. Although Zuko hunts for the Avatar endlessly, that was not always his objective. After his fight with his father, he was told that the only way to restore his princely honor was the capture the Avatar for the sake of the war effort. By the time Aang is unfrozen, Zuko has been searching for about two years. He travels with his uncle Iroh, who is actually the Fire Lord's older brother. He was once the famed "Dragon of the West" general who nearly brought down the Earth Kingdom's capital fortress, but abadoned the effort when he learned of the death of his son. Giving up his title of heir to the throne, it seems that Iroh went out to discover himself. Throughout the series we learn that he only stays in the Fire Nation to protect Zuko, that he harbors the secret location of the last dragons in the world, and that he is part of a secret society of talented individuals that eventually helps the Avatar in the war.
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The second season (Earth) focuses on the team's journey through the Earth Kingdom, as well as Zuko and Iroh's exile there where they try to reinvent themselves as peasants after failing to capture the Avatar. Aang finds an earth bending teacher in the form of blind girl Toph, who mastered her skills after spending time underground with badger-moles. (All the animals are a little odd.) They spend time in the capital of the Earth Kingdom where the social classes are separated by large walls and they are carefully watched by servants of the secret service who have taken over rule from the emperor. This season reveals that the true enemy was never Prince Zuko, but his immensely talented and borderline psychotic sister Prince Azula who chases them with blue-burning fire and her two skilled childhood friends. She finds her way into the capital as well and takes over the secret service, winning the Earth Kingdom for her father the Fire Lord after a hundred years of failure. For a moment we think that Zuko might join with our heroes for the good of the world, but instead he betrays them and his caring uncle to reclaim his honor alongside his sister. The ending battle leaves Aang terribly hurt after Azula shoots him with a lightning attack.
Princess Azula fights with hotter burning blue fire, since she grew up as a child prodigy and can fight with advanced techniques. While her brother Zuko's fire bending mentor is their washed up uncle, hers are elderly twin sister priestesses. She has always been the favorite child, due to her talent, but consistently manipulates others to get what she wants. The two friends she travels with do so because they are scared of her, and eventually they betray her when they build up the courage to.
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Season three (Fire) follows Aang, Katara, and Sokka on their journey to find a definitive way to stop the Fire Nation. First they organize a huge attack on the Fire Nation's capital city on the day of an eclipse (weakening fire benders) that would allow Aang to confront the Fire Lord and bring balance to the world. Unfortunately, Princess Azula heard rumors about their plans while they were in the Earth Kingdom and the plan is a huge failure. The adults surrender themselves, forcing all the young friends from across the series to flee together to one of the abandoned Air Nomad temples to regroup. Simultaneously we experience Prince Zuko's decision to turn his back on his family entirely, choosing his gut instinct above his need to feel honorable as a prince. This decision is prompted by his love for his uncle (who we have long since discovered is on the Avatar's side), especially after Zuko learns that his missing mother was the daughter of the previous Avatar. The season finale comes when the same comet that helped bring about the end of the Air Nomads returns after a hundred years and the Fire Lord plans to use it on the Earth Kingdom. With the help of Sokka and friends, Aang confronts the Fire Lord after months of struggling over the dilemma of how to defeat him without killing him the way everyone has been telling him to. After a vicious battle, Aang brings the Fire Lord to his knees and taps into a deep place of spiritual power to take away the evil man's fire bending, leaving him helpless and ready for imprisonment. Meanwhile, Azula is defeated by Zuko and Katara. The confusion within him that Zuko eventually comes to peace with and allows him to make close friends is what undoes his sister Azula's mind, allowing them to bring the powerful bender down. The series ends on a happy note, but with Zuko seeking information about his missing mother.
The first pictures shows Aang in the Avatar State, which is usually accompanied by an unbeatable wrath. However, Aang is able to master his powers once he finds peace within himself after learning that he might not have to kill the Fire Lord like everyone thought. As a monk, he feels it would harm his soul to kill another living being. By the time he faces the Fire Lord, he has both learned to harness the intensity of the Avatar State and learned something referred to as "energy bending," which allows him to take away the Fire Lord's bending altogether as a gretaer punishment than death for someone so prideful.
(Pictures found on Google Images)
A lot of the show's charm comes from not only the characters, but from their surroundings. Each nation has its own culture (clothing, traditions, etc.) and the show acknowledges that our main character Aang is a bit behind the times due to his long stay in the iceberg despite being only twelve years old. The animals are interesting. The existence of the spirit world comes into play without being suffocating, staying mysterious enough that we enjoy it rather than being riddled with questions. There is humor when it is needed, yet more difficult emotions are never avoided. I have talked to people who felt that the finale episodes were some of the worst episodes, but in most cases people agree the finale episodes were the very best. Personally, I feel that that says a lot about the show, that it ends on its strongest note. (Or, if you disagree, that there are plenty of other episodes to watch.)
Fire Lord Zuko and Air Nomad Aang addresses members of all four nations in the first time of peace in one hundred years. Unfortunately, we know from the following comic books that Aang and Zuko have disagreements in the coming years about what that peace should look like, but they start out on the right foot.
The group relax in the Earth Kingdom together at the very end. Sokka is drawing, Katara watches Zuko and Sokka's girlfriends play a game, Zuko is serving tea to Toph, Aang is playing with his lemur-bat, and Uncle Iroh is playing music.
(Picture found on Google Images)
There is, of course, a lot more to the show than that, but hopefully that gets across some of the main themes that make it so good. There are amazing fights, fun dialogue, stunning fantasy visuals, and so many bright colors.
In 2010, the famous director of The Sixth Sense M. Night Shyamalan took on the monumental challenge of recreating Avatar: the Last Airbender as a live action Hollywood movie. This announcement was met with mixed feelings since this director has done one or two truly remarkable movies, and many other bizarre or boring ones. The live action movie would be called The Last Airbender, presumably to avoid uninitiated audiences from mixing it up with James Cameron's movie Avatar, which is a very good science fiction story. When I first heard about this new movie, I was skeptical, but the teaser poster was promising. A characteristic aesthetic of the show is that the Air Nomads have blue arrow tattoos on their bald heads, hands, and feet. The teaser poster showed a boy with a bald head who had these arrow tattoos, but with much more detail than the show. I thought that maybe it would a good adaptation if the costume department had taken the time to design the main character's tattoos so intricately.
The first teaser image I saw for the movie only had Aang on it, but this one shows how pretty his arrow tattoo was.
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I saw The Last Airbender in theater because a friend wanted my sister and me to come along. When we walked out of the theater afterward, I did not know how to feel. This was before my college film classes, so I had little experience with analyzing movies. Still, I could not help but feel more disappointed than I had thought I would. Now, several years and viewings later, I can explain why. And it is not just because I like the show better. There are some serious issues. (Apologies to anyone who really enjoyed the movie. As someone who laughs a lot during The Master of Disguise, I am not here to spoil your fun.)
(Picture found on Google Images)
The Story
From early on it is clear that The Last Airbender is meant to be The Last Airbender: Book Water. (I did not know that going in.) The story is only taken from the first season of the show. While it seems like a smart idea to only do one movie per season, rather than try and cover everything, this actually ruins the pacing of the film. You can too easily tell which episodes were pulled to create the story. You see the first episode with discoveries about Aang, then the second episode where they visit an empty temple, later when they experience the earth bending prison, one part where Aang is captured and saved by Zuko (for the purpose of capturing Aang himself later), and the finale. All of these scenarios have very little to do with each other because they happen while the heroes are flying from (literally) one end of the world to the other. Perhaps a miniseries would have worked better, or a whole TV show like Once Upon a Time. Or maybe they should have just written a new script using the pieces of the show while making something new. Instead, everything new comes from the weird details. Aang does not introduce himself until the group has flown together to a separate part of the world. And the whole thing ends with the brief, teaser introduction of Princess Azula, so clearly the plan was to cover the whole series eventually, but unfortunately for the writers that is probably not going to happen. (Please see the section on the actor choices for more thoughts on this.)
Zuko encounters the Avatar in the Southern Water Tribe. If you look closely, you can see Zuko's facial scar around his eye and above his ear.
(Picture found on Google Images)
The part of the movie that I had the hardest time deciding how to feel about it is the finale battle, and I think I have figured out why. This battle is a combination of what is good and bad about the movie's plot. In the show, Aang defeats the Fire Nation's army by going into the powerful Avatar State, creating a watery beast, and pushing back the invasion fleet with the moon spirit's blessing. The only character we are pretty sure dies is General Zhao (see more in the characters section below), Zuko's main rival throughout season one. In the movie, on the other hand, Aang simply goes into the Avatar State to give a show of force, holding up a huge wall of water to demonstrate what he could do to the navy fleet instead of actually doing it. They retreat. However, General Zhao is still killed. This scene is interesting because it shows what the movie was going for (a more serious story about a power struggle) and what it was also trying to be (a faithful adaptation of the show). While I do not hate the ending fight, it shows the mixed personality a little bit, perhaps even a glimpse of what could have been so good about the film. The main characters do not talk; they act. The best actors (Zuko, Iroh, and Zhao) interact. The effects are amazing and get the point across. Basically, the ending scene should have been the model for the film. Instead, it feels like a cheat because so many other things are hard to sit through and the audience does not even get an epic water monster battle at the end.
Something else that is kind of unclear is whether or not Aang is the one who kills General Zhao in the film. In the TV series, his Avatar State seems merged with the vengeful power of the moon spirit, who holds a grudge against Zhao. In the movie, however, the show of power is not meant to be about vengence but mercy. So, if that is the case and Aang is the sort who would prefer never to kill anyone, who kills Zhao? I suppose it is just the moon spirit, but I still think the whole this is a bit confusing.
(Picture found on Google Images)
The Characters
One of the show's greatest strengths was its ability to introduce so many characters with so many talents without making it feel like too much. You enjoy Toph's path to learning how to bend not just rock, but metal. You think Sokka is funny as well as awkward, so you are glad to see him grow as a person, get the girl, learn how to sword fight, and be useful to the team as the lead planner despite not having any bending powers. Princess Azula's sidekicks have cool talents, Sokka's main girlfriend is a warrior, and really all the side characters get the spotlight now and then. In the movie, on the other hand, a lot of that is missing. Sokka (now pronounced "so-caw") is a killjoy, rather than funny. Katara and her narration are just boring. And the actor for Aang (now pronounced so that it rhymes with gong) sounds like he's reading off of queue cards. All of this together, along with clunky dialogue that gives pure exposition rather than characterization, makes the whole movie drag by slowly.
The only characters with any energy, intensity, or likeability are Zuko (whose scar is barely noticeable) and Iroh. Rather than being a fat guy, Uncle Iroh is a serious older man with dreadlocks. This, to me, seemed like an interesting change that represents what the movie could have been: original and serious while still hailing back to the show. He and Zuko have something of a connection, and some proper dialogue, but it is always cut short.
Zuko and Iroh
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A character that is really done an injustice is the Fire Lord, and not because the actor is bad. (The actor actually seems fine, just not all that intimidating.) In the show he is kept in shadow for a long time because that is how both Zuko and Aang perceive him: a dark, looming figure in their lives, determining their fate. Even when he is shown more, his voice is very intimidating (played by the brilliant Mark Hamil) and he looms just as much as he did before. We are all scared of him now, too, because we know that our heroes are scared of him. In the movie he is revealed without any sort of interesting introduction. He is basically there for exposition, since the general with him is more important during the first season as the enemy who wants to kill the moon spirit. He, like Zuko and Iroh, is handled pretty well, especially when he is on screen with the two of them.
Fire Lord Ozai speaks with General Zhao, who is Zuko's primary enemy throughout the first season.
(Picture found on Google Images)
A good example of the issues with the characterization is Sokka's relationship with Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe in season one. In the show it is a tragic romance because first she is has an arranged engagement to one of the warriors and then because she must sacrifice herself to take the place of the slayed moon spirit. First they are friends, then they have chemistry, and in the end they kiss in a final goodbye before they even had the chance to be together. They laugh, they cry, they get along. In the movie, they make eye contact and Katara's narration tells us that they get along, but the only conversations we witness are pure exposition with nothing else thrown in.
Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, who becomes the replacement moon spirit, and Sokka. In the show, this is meant to be Sokka's first big romance, although his long term girlfriend Suki is introduced prior to this. The tragedy around the loss of Yue keeps him from whole-heartedly loving Suki later on, until he feels he can let go and not let anyone down. In the movie, we do not meet Suki and Sokka barely spends any time with Yue. Princess Yue's arranged fiance also makes no appearance. If their chemistry was stronger on screen, I would forgive all those things, but it really seems like these two actors had no idea how to interact with each other. It's worse than a Disney channel romance.
(Picture found on Google Images)
The Names
I am not going to spend a lot of time on this. I understand why they made the name pronunciation changes, but I do not think it was really necessary. From what I can tell, they were trying to pronounce them more like they would be in the countries that inspired them. For example, Sokka's name is based on the Japanese phrase "sou ka", which is pronounced "so-caw" but is changed to "saw-caw" for the show. The same goes for Uncle Iroh's name ("eye-row"), who becomes "ee-row." And again with Aang (rhymes with "gang" become rhymes with "gong"). It is not such a huge deal, but it is a reminder that the writers' attention may have been on all the wrong details.
The Super Powers
Within the TV show, the fight sequences are all high energy, varied, and endlessly creative. You can see the characters working through strategies as they fight, trying new things all the time. You really get a sense of power from everyone, including the inexperienced characters. In the movie, on the other hand, you rarely experience any of that. There are three main problems: (1) the fire benders, (2) the earth benders, and (3) the speed, skill, and energy of the martial arts.
(1) The glaring problem: the fire benders cannot create their own fire. While this might seem like an interesting weakness, it does make it a little hard to believe that they took over the world with their fire power. They always have to have a lit lamp or candle or something nearby. In the show the fire benders are scary, and Aang's own fire bending is scary, because they simply combust the air around them. In the show, they are the only benders who create their own element, while the others must have water, earth, or air there for them to fight. This adds to their intimidation factor and the movie lacks it completely, instead trying to convince us that their military prowess has been good enough to get them this far. Perhaps the writers were trying to level the playing field, but fire just is not as itimidating if you can just blow out the candle or torch nearby to render your attacker weaponless. Even though you could argue there is a similar problem with water, you cannot snuff out water. The show even addresses this fact by showing what a waterbender prison looks like: completely dried out with all the waterbenders' hands bound away from their bodies when they received drinks. Firebenders are always the scariest, but not always the hardest to defeat.
Here we see a firebender drawing the flames out of a torch pot and sending them at an earthbender. The earthbender is bringing up a wall of dirt as a shield. The next picture is of Zuko fighting his sister Azula. You can clearly see the fire combusting infront of his fist. Terrifyingly, powerful firebenders in the show can also create, harness, and shoot lightning at each other.
(Picture found on Google Images)
(2) One of the most infamous scenes from The Last Airbender comes towards the middle when Aang, Sokka, and Katara are in an earth bender prison being guarded by fire benders. In the TV show, this prison is on a metal ship in the middle of the ocean so that the earth benders cannot access any rocks to attack their captors with. In the movie, they are just kept in a ravine of some kind surrounded by dirt. Despite having everything they need there to defeat the fire bender guards (who, keep in mind, cannot make their own fire in the movie), their spirits are broken somehow. Aang (rather than Katara) rallies them and they break out...in the most boring way possible. About six earth benders work together to slowly levitate a rock into one of the guards, all stomping their feet and doing their martial arts. It really looks like the actors were told it would be a great show of force, then the move team ran out of money to create the rest of the CGI needed for a landslide or anything. It is just a rock that flies at a guy, then Aang does a lot of the rest.
Here we see a group of about five men doing their martial arts dance to pick up the large rock you can see floating in the middle of the screen. Then, as it floats to the right, another man makes another martial arts move that sends the rock into the chest of the enemy. The second pictures shows that one earthbender in the show can clearly do this on his own.
(Picture found on Google Images)
(3) There are movies like Hero that feature lots of exciting live action martial arts and fighting with color and variety. People leap about, fly through the air, launch weapons at each other, and so on. Avatar: the Last Airbender has great martial arts like this, and all of it is varied and based off of different styles. Each movement of the characters' bodies brings about movement in their element. Katara moves her arms and the water flows. Aang swings his staff and a whirlwind starts. Zuko lunges and kicks fire into his enemies' faces. The audience feels elated, joyful, and excited as they watch the bending. In the movie, however, the bending takes a backseat to the often slow and not very well executed martial arts that rarely coorespond to the movements of the elements. Clearly none of the actors is all that experienced with the movements and it takes a dozen moves for anything to happen. Sometimes just see Aang and Katara practicing, without any bending at all to watch, which highlights the fact that the martial arts look kind of practiced without being graceful. When we do get to see bending, we are often distracted by the awkwardness of the movements, the number of people it takes to perform the attack, or just the fact that we want to see more but only get a little.
Here we see Aang practicing his martial arts. No one in the movie ever looks happy about their bending; there is not enough room in the story for enjoyment of their powers. That would not be so bad if we actually got to see interesting displays of them. The next picture is Aang and Katara's waterbending teacher in the middle of a fight.
(Picture found on Google Images)
To really sum up how little the powers were thought through, consider this scene. In order to confirm that Aang is the Avatar after they capture him early on, Uncle Iroh and Prince Zuko put him through a test. (In the show they know simply because Aang is an air bender.) Iroh places several things in front of Aang one at a time: a rock, a bowl of water, and a burning flame. Each one reacts to Aang's presence (the rock floats, the water ripples, etc.) and they are satisfied. This whole scene plays out very slowly as we watch Iroh go through the same motions with every object while Aang just stands there. The suspense of waiting to find out how each element reacts is completely pointless because we already know that Aang can air bend, which no one else in the world can. It seems like the scene was kept because it shows that Iroh is wise (or knowledgeable?) and someone liked the idea on paper. Please note that this scene and the following ones where Katara and Sokka decide to travel with him, come before he has even casually introduced himself.
Here is a link to a YouTube video that shows this scene. While the quality is poor, it shows the important parts. I still think the idea here is kind of interesting, with the fire burning brighter and the water coming together, but the rock moving? Is it a special rock or do all rocks respond to Aang subtlely?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlqnyhPItEM
The Actor Choices
This is a particularly weird part of the movie. I think that The Last Airbender could have been the start to a pretty good film series if they had really invested in making the story serious, which they did, and in making sure the acting was spot on. Unfortunately, M. Night Shyamalan is known for directing in such a way that lines are delivered very oddly. (See clips of Mark Wahlberg from The Happening.) There are two problems: (1) the extras were clearly chosen because of their race and (2) the lead actors are not and are terrible. In the end, I think the acting (along with the awful pacing) are what really brought this movie down.
(1) In the show, each of the nations has a distinctive cultural style and racial look that remind viewers of existing people: Fire Nation is Japanese, Earth Kingdom is Chinese, and Water Tribe is Inuit. The Air Nomads also have an Asian look to them. (I understand if you have different opinions on which countries inspired each of these nations, but you cannot deny that Katara and Sokka have dark skin while Zuko and the Fire Lord do not. Native American and Mongolian, or whatever you think, the point stands.) In the movie, Katara and Sokka are both clearly white, along with other lead Water Tribe actors, but all the extras are specifically Inuit in appearance to the point that it is a little distracting. (I considered the possibility that this is because in the show we learn that their grandma is from the Northern Water Tribe, but I think the extras situation is the same with the Northern tribe.) On the other hand, Zuko and the other Fire Nation leaders, along with all the extras, are played by actors of a South Asia appearance. As for the Earth Kingdom extras, I think they were played by East Asian extras, but they show up so little that it barely matters. Others have pointed out that the director himself is South Asian, so perhaps it was not a racist choice, but I still wonder if there was some miscommunication between the casting department and everyone else. Personally I do not mind if the appearances of the characters are mixed around a bit, but why not be consistent? Why should Sokka and Katara look so glaringly different from the rest of their tribe while Zuko and the Fire Lord look like the rest of theirs? It seems lazy to me to not try to find talented minority actors to match their families.
(Pictures found on Google Images)
(2) I will not dwell on this point about the bad acting. The young actors just seem inexperienced, untalented, or very poorly directed. Whatever the case, it is hard to sit through. Even Azula's brief appearance is not that intimidating; she overacts her one line and sounds like a villain from Power Rangers or something. If the writing was better (e.g. Sokka's confidence comes not from being head-strong, but overly cautious) then maybe it would not have made as much of a difference, but as is it is just really distracting. The three main characters are the least talented members of the cast and have the most dialogue, so most of the film is listening to poorly written, poorly performed exposition.
1. Sokka ("saw-caw") as portrayed in the animated TV series
2. Sokka ("so-caw") as portrayed by Jackson Rathbone, who I will point out is so pale that he played one of the vampires in Twilight
1. Katara as portrayed in the animated TV series
2. Katara as portrayed by Nicola Peltz
1. Gran Gran, Katara and Sokka's grandma, as portrayed in the animated TV series
2. Katara and Sokka's grandma as portrayed by Katherine Houghton
Katara and Sokka with the rest of the Southern Water Tribe. This shot mirrors one from the beginning of the animated series when we are introduced to Sokka and Katara. However, here, there is a noticeable difference between the two of them (and their grandma) and everyone else. We see some of this stark racial difference in the Northern Water Tribe as well. The front actors are very caucasian and the extras are generally of an Inuit or Native American type of description.
1. Aang (rhymes with gang) as portrayed in the animated TV series
2. Aang (rhymes with gong) as portrayed by Noah Ringer
1. Monk Gyatso, Aang's mentor, as portrayed in the animated TV series
2. Monk Gyatso as portrayed by Damon Gupton
1. Zuko as portrayed in the animated TV series
2. Zuko as portrayed by Dev Patel
1. Uncle Iroh ("eye-row") as portrayed in the animated TV series
2. Uncle Iroh ("ee-row") as portrayed by Shaun Tou
(Pictures from Google Images)
The Good Parts
All the really great elements of The Last Airbender (save for Iroh and Zuko) can be summed up like this: the effects are great. You can tell how much effort went into creating a style and building it with CGI. The Water Tribe's northern fortress is really cool. The bending can be pretty neat, when there is any to see. Appa looks a little different, but still like a neat creature, although he does not get very much screen time. (Please refer to my earlier comment about maybe someone running out of money.) The same is true for the costumes; almost everyone's clothes really look amazing and reflect where characters come from. The only times the effects fall short are when the actors do not look fully integrated into the green screen, looking just off enough that is makes it hard to believe they are really in the South Pole or the like. I cannot imagine how excited the set designers, costume makers, and CGI artists must have been to work on this movie, only to see it brought down by all the other bizarre choices made. It must have been like the time when the amazing practical effects artists and technicians who worked on The Thing (2011) saw that their work had been almost completely covered up by CGI. Perhaps we can see all the effects in The Last Airbender, but how much can we really appreciate them if there are so many other things about the movie that makes us want to turn it off?
