It might be a little harsh and start of formal and switch tones and stuff, but I wrote right when I got home. I actually went to the theatre wearing red and black and i sported a small fire nation symbol just because I CAN (my sister really hated me for this). I went to watch in 3D which wasn't really worth it, cuz little was actually 3D but i have cool glasses now . And I also forgot, but the movie talks about Sozen's Comet returning in 3 years? was he just buying time, because the series actually finishes within the same year, I think (can't remember exactly) but 9 months, because every book was one season. book 1 = winter, book 2 = spring and book 3 = summer and it finished at the end of that summer with the eclipse and the return of sozen's comet.


The Last Airbender Review:

Filled with conflict from the start, the movie based off the popular animated series from Nickelodeon, Avatar: The Last Airbender was decent. The dialogue and characters were slightly awkward and the fast forwards throughout caused a HUGE lack in character development. With a run time of 1:43 minutes I believe the movie could have been a little longer to include more development or at least extended the movie to like 2 hours or 2 hours and 30 minutes. As well, there was too much narration, and skipping of scenes.

The movie mainly focuses on Aang’s internal conflict with the extermination of the Air Nomads, and pictures his run away seen much differently. Aang outright states that the monk’s told him he cannot have a family, and does not talk about how the monks predicted the war with the hostility and told Aang he must sacrifice his childhood to become the Avatar now to prevent it, which is an uncommon practice. I did however, enjoy how Avatar was pronounced correctly and not in the western adaptation of the original word from Sanskrit. It took some getting used to with the names, but I guess they were trying to make them sound even more foreign. The bending in the film was enjoyable to watch, but seemed slightly overdone. There were a lot of hand actions and little actually bending of the element, the coordination in the animated series was much more in sync. Even though the film had little deviations in terms of plot, and weak character growth, the promise of further movies can allow for improvement and redemption in these areas. I enjoyed Zuko and Sokka but Aang and Katara to me were a little off. Maybe it was because Aang was so very serious, and he isn’t in the serious till Season 3, but Aang was much more realistic than the series. Katara was well, Katara, I always I guess, maybe it’s because I am a girl I have higher hopes for her always.

Zuko and Sokka really expressed their characters emotions through their words even through awkward dialogue. I liked them the best. The comedy however was lost, Sokka‘s role attempted to be funny, but this was brief. Iroh’s role was too serious, he should have been more joyful and light hearted (maybe laughed more). Iroh kept peace at all times and but in the series apologized for Zuko’s behaviour more. I did not like the way they revealed Zuko’s past, by asking the boy, this made it too random. The same thing was done in the series with the soliders aboard Zuko’s ship questioning his harsh leadership, which I believe was a much stronger piece and much more realistic. Zuko’s scar was quite faint and his hair full grown opposed to his bald head with lone pony tail in the series (his hair being the one aspect in the series to show his growth through his change in character). And Iroh’s beard and hair were black only tinted with gray making him appear more disshelved then gracefully aged (for those who enjoy his little songs like I do, they are sadly absent from the film). Sokka and Katara remain for the most part unchanged.

They missed the scene with Aang meeting Roku’s spirit and altered the spirit world with him only meeting Roku’s dragon (which was not introduced so it was random and seemed more like a spirit). Aang and Katara bonding with penguin sledding (allowing character and relationship development) were skipped and Zuko’s appearance at the start was rushed. Zuko and Zhao’s Agni Kai duel was also missing. No proper introduction of Appa or how “yip yip” works or about how Momo joined them. They did explain Yue but never Suki, leaving us to question if Sokka will have a love interest for the rest of the series. Katara and Zuko were not introduced to each other till the northern water tribe, his character did not meet often with the “Gaang”. The ending was completely altered as Aang mastered water. In the series, he has trouble with it and goes borrows the power of his other reincarnations to defeat the Fire Nation at the Northern Water Tribe and later Katara becomes his Sifu (teacher). Here it is uncertain if that occurs and if Aang will need to properly control that power or have Katara as his Sifu.

The ending left us with a lead on to a hopefully sequel with book two: earth. I like the way the movie took to the serious side of the series. For the many A:TLA shippers, I being one of them, the film was a disappointment, except for YuexSokka, there were not major Zutara scenes (no necklace, but a Zuko apologizing), not even Kataang bonding.

Overall, the movie was rushed, with awkward dialogue, confusing scenes and poor character development. And left the audience questioning things like, How come the power water nation didn’t turn back to fight once Aang removed the waterwall, come on it was just a wall and they hadn’t even moved much? Or Why did Aang care so much about having a family at 12? And if the fire nation fought like this how did they keep control for 100 years? Why were the earthbenders imprisoned on earth? (the series made sense with a ship on water to trap them). However it had potential and covered a major section of Book One. It was pretty cool with the depiction and set as well as the CGI and for that reason I think it was fairly decent. And now I feel like re-watching the actual series.

ANYWAYS
Until next time...