Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Aang

[Ean Hufwetulyu]

This weekend the new 3D movie The Last Airbender is coming out. So who is going to see it and how do you think it will be as live-action, and do you think they will follow the book from the show?

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

I'm a loyal fan of the show so I'll probably see it but I'm a little disappointed that they "whitewashed it", having almost every main character changed to white when there wasn't a single white person in the show. It won't change the quality of the movie but if your going to copy something you should do it as accurately as possible. Hopefully Shyamalan stopped himself from adding any nonsensical twists to the plot. I'm also curious to see how comedy will be pulled off in the film, it was a pretty big part of the series.

[Hawnuyu atxen]

Than i'm the one, who'll tell you:
There's already an AtLA thread, just a bit downer!
Or here

EDIT: TXUR'ITAN - Merged Threads

[Txur’Itan]

This weekend the new 3D movie The Last Airbender is coming out. So who is going to see it and how do you think it will be as live-action, and do you think they will follow the book from the show?

I think opinions vary, but no one here has seen the movie, you can not easily make an informed judgement without having seen the movie first hand.

If I might suggest, you should see it for yourself, and take some time to enjoy the entertainment value if it is there, and form your own opinions after having seen the movie.

The reason I suggest this is, the creators from the TV show are directly involved and collaborators on the planned movie trilogy (Books 1,2,3), so they had to contribute to the triage for the shorter time, and up the anti on the visual spectacles that will appear in front of the camera.  

That Said...

The Martial arts choreography will be the most concerning item for me, but I think I will go see this once, and see for myself if it is any good.  

Many of the sets are real not CGI, focusing the CGI on the bending, and creature effects.

M. Knight has been hit or miss with some of his movies.  But, his biggest fans and critics for this particular story are his own kids, and they will never forgive him if he screws this up, they are huge fans of the show.

There is some controversy about the casting decisions, (Aang played by Noah Ringer, is sited as the most controversial for him not being of Asian decent, however take note of the look of the creator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dante_DiMartino).  These controversies do not effect me, but some people have dug in their heels on hating this film for it.

Some places to do some reading...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Airbender
http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/

[MaTe]

I WAS going to see it...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender/

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

never evar listen to critics XD, I say go with the the general public, the RT community gave it 75%. Every movie deserves to be watched before you judge it, If I had listened to some of the critics of avatar I wouldn't be here right now.

[Txur’Itan]

I WAS going to see it...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender/

It isn't out yet.  If you have to base your decisions off of reviews, let it rack up at least 100 or so.  By then some people may change their opinion.  The large bulk of these negative reviews could be those who decided to hate this movie purely on its casting choices, and are targeting it based on that reason alone.  There isn't anything controversial happening with Toy Story...

TLAB
Reviews Counted:24
Fresh:1
Rotten:23
Average Rating:3.1/10

For comparison...

Toy Story
Reviews Counted:203
Fresh:200 Rotten:3
Average Rating:8.8/10

The reviews on IMDB are looking more evenly divided and have some details behind their ratings.

[MaTe]

I don't see them being "evenly divided" there...
Anyway, from my experience, RT rating is no more than 20% off my rating, so I would definetly not go this weekend.

[Txur’Itan]

Things are not looking good for TLAB

Reviews Counted:71
Fresh:4
Rotten:67
Average Rating:3/10

[Ean Hufwetulyu]

i think it also depends on the people saw it.

[Txur’Itan]

i think it also depends on the people saw it.

Yeah, I saw some people posting on Fandango "Must GO"  But leaving no reviews.

The chatty ones are the haters so far.

[Ean Hufwetulyu]

see only haters love to hate what they dont like

['Oma Tirea]

...it's slightly annoying that it shares the name of the film

I was thinking this too when I first saw the J.C. AVATAR commercial.

[Txur’Itan]

OK Before I speak on... I must declare that I enjoy the Show ATLAB very immensely, and it has an endearing quality to all of its characters.

Spoiler: I Saw it finally.

Spoiler: Big Spoilers

Spoiler: I tried to warn you

Spoiler: Good Stuff

 

• The special effects were particularly well done.
• The Costumes were elaborate, and the sets magnificent.
• Appa and momo looked great.
• The location shooting gave a great deal of credibility to the characters being where ever they were.
• I liked how much effort was put into conveying the content of Season one.
• The action sequences were decent, frequent, but very short and not terribly violent except for what happens to Zhao.
• The justifications for each characters situation were given in either dialog, flash backs, or both, like the show.
• Hama was mentioned as foreshadowing for the third book.  Maybe Blood bending will get used.
• The earth kingdom was predominantly Asian as I suspected they should be based on the context of cultures in the show.  More than any of the other ethnicities, this seemed to fit with the Earth Kingdom being the more civilized and scholarly of the the nations with them having devised the early writing systems.
• The actor playing Iroh is doing a good Job.
• The blue sprit rescue was clean.
• The time line was shifted to account for the fact that the sequels will take a while, and in that time, the kids will grow up a bit, I think that was an appropriate change.
• Zuko's quarrel with his father and concern over his favoritism towards Azula was portrayed equivalently to the show. 
• The glider and Fire Nation ships look good.

Spoiler: Bad Stuff

• The casting choices would have worked better if they at least gave everyone a tan or something.  The people in the northern and southern water tribe looked like they were descended from Viking like nomads, or the equivalent for the world of Avatar, and not the native tlingit appearance given by the look of Katara and Sokka in the animated show.  While still makes sense for ice banded tribes, and is not accurate to the show, is probably the least problematic alteration the movie had made.
• The acting was disconnected because of a lack of clear character development in the movie.  While it could have been Oscar worthy, the possibility of this was very severely undermined by how rushed the the story arch was to cover 30 hours in two.
• The spirits encountered were all condensed into visits with Rokku's dragon, and the movie never truly explained that this was what was happening, so Aang's encounters with the spirit realm were repetitive and not the adventures they were in the show.  No heibai, No koh, or no giant sea monster!
• The ascension of Yue into the role of Moon Spirit was not even glossed, it just did not happen.
• There is nothing clear about Sokka's relationship with spirits, Suki, or Yue for him to have any depth left considering he was not very humerus in the movie like he was in the show.  Not one drop of genuine goofiness.
• Bumi never showed up.
• Kyoshi Island was condensed to a few seconds of talking about the Statue of Kyoshi, and was smashed into the story of Hiro and the Prisoners.  And there was no Suki, no Unagi, no Giant Koi, no martial arts Training montage for Sokka with the Kyoshi Warriors, he was just born into this movie as a bad-ass with a boomerang he can use like Xena, and very poor hunting/tracking skills, which fails his character design from the show since he used this ability to accomplish some things.
• Aang is apparently not going to struggle with going into the Avatar state.  He can seemingly do it how ever he pleases.
• I think Mark Hamel delivered the Fire Lord's lines at the end a much better way.
• With the timing of the recent Twilight release, we may never know if this movie could have done better at the box office.
• Aang's nonviolence is imposed upon him as a rule for Avatars instead of his own credo that he tried to live by when it created challenges for his ability to help people.  This will undermine the conflict at the end of book three.
• The Agni Kai was not shown.
• Some Names and terms were re-pronounced, I am not sure if this was deliberate or an error, but it is very jarring for people familiar with the old pronunciation.  Especially with regard to Aang's name.

Spoiler: Overall experience

I was genuinely looking forward to this with Optimism, hope, and delight at the idea, ever since I saw the Interview on the end of the season three DVD box set.

Now that I have had time to think about what I saw on screen.

Meh...
My anticipation overshadowed what I saw on screen and ended up a bit disheartened, and disappointed.
The movie could be entertaining, if it was made from scratch, and was not trying to retell everything exactly the same way.
This movie felt like I was watching the Animated show on fast forward the whole time.  I knew where we were in the story from having watched season one more than once, but damn I feel like M Knight should have done a million times better than this, which makes me think the Second and third movies wont happen.  I am weakened and destroyed by this major let down.

  I have a few unpleasant words I would like to share, but there are you children about who probably can not hear what I wanted to say.  Let us just say borrowing from an old euphemism, that sailors would ask me to wash my mouth out with soap...

[Kekerusey]

I saw Shaylaman's "Sixth Sense" and thought it was a bit ... well ... obvious, nothing else he's done has appealed to me and most of it gets poorly reviewed.

Seems "Airbender", despite the trailer looking PDG, is more of the same:

The Last Airbender Movie Review

Rotten Tomatoes gives "The Last Airbender" 9% at time of writing (compare that with Avatar at 83%).

Ain't It Cool News gives it a fairly damning review.

I'm not much one for what critics say (many of the reviews I saw of Avatar were poor though I admit I saw them in hindsight) but a few sites are worth the effort ... I won't be going to see it.

Keke

[Ftiafpi]

Neither will I be going to see it, I don't trust one bad review but when they're ALL bad reviews, I assume they're getting it right.

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

There is no right or wrong for watching movies, besides 99.99% of those critics probably have never seen the show in the first place. I think that if someone is a fan of the show, they'll like the movie at least somewhat.

[Txur’Itan]

There is no right or wrong for watching movies, besides 99.99% of those critics probably have never seen the show in the first place. I think that if someone is a fan of the show, they'll like the movie at least somewhat.

http://forum.learnnavi.org/movies/avatar-the-last-airbenderthe-legend-of-aang/msg253594/#msg253594

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

http://forum.learnnavi.org/movies/avatar-the-last-airbenderthe-legend-of-aang/msg253594/#msg253594

Still, it seems it's worth at least one watch through, just won't pay for 3-d probably. Even if I don't see it in theaters I'll most likely at least rent it, I think they at least deserve that much for the effort and time put into it.

[Txur’Itan]

http://forum.learnnavi.org/movies/avatar-the-last-airbenderthe-legend-of-aang/msg253594/#msg253594

Still, it seems it's worth at least one watch through, just won't pay for 3-d probably. Even if I don't see it in theaters I'll most likely at least rent it, I think they at least deserve that much for the effort and time put into it.

That is always the best approach.  At the very least, you can decide for yourself.  Negativity and Positivity is always subjective and not a rule or a fact, just an opinion based on perspective.