The Last Airbender

[Dark Seraphim]

I normally don't plan on seeing movies, usually there is nothing that catches my eye and makes me want to pay the price of a movie ticket to see something. However I do find myself considering seeing The Last Airbender, I did find the anime very well done, and I admit I am curious if the live-action version will do it justice, if we'll have another Harry Potter on our hands, or if the 2-D to 3-D will crash and burn as badly as Super Mario Bros. or something along those lines. In general I find there are three things I find myself worried about that will be done incorrectly, or will cause the movie itself to be a failure.

Special Effects: From what I've seen so far, the special effects look good, they don't seem over the top or poorly done so far. However, something like 'The Last Airbender' is going to have a lot of special effects, what with nearly every main character being able to bend the elements, and if they mess up one just once effect or element, that problem could linger for any additional use or effect during the movie. The biggest issue I can see is visual consistancy and Earth Bending, specifically the concept of earth bending is ripping up boulders and rock from the ground. I can just see some Earth Bender tearing up the earth in one scene, and then the camera cuts away and the ground is perfectly flat once again, although I am hoping they are able to catch something like that.

Child/Young Cast: I will be honest, I don't have much faith in child actors in general, so one of the things I can see making the movie hard to watch is the large cast of young actors. Granted I will give credit where it is due, most of the actors they have seen to get appear to be professionals and this isn't their first performance, although I am still skeptical. However, one thing that does make me nervous is the actor playing Aang, Noah Ringer, a newcomer who's never acted before, I am impressed that he actually knows karate and is a champion in Texas, so at least his movements should seem natural, but I'm just waiting to see when we're finally given some insight into his actual acting talent.

Movie Script vs Original: The last thing I find myself worried about is the script itself. This is a very strange concept, making a movie based on an animated cartoon, unlike something like Happy Potter that was based on a book, we have a full visual representation of what happened from the cartoon, so what can they give us? Not only that, the cartoon is also still relativly new, even similar animation to movie Transformers was originally aired back in the 80's, this story is only a couple years old and has really just recently concluded. Will they stay true the original script? Will they alter it to try to distance themselves from it? Will they just tell an abridged summery of the same story we could watch in season 1 of the cartoon? I suppose I wonder about this, and hope they did something that stays true but still remains interesting and original . . .

[Jere]

Still mad that they didn't include toph, but yes i se your points and im as scared as you are, but i will wait and se if it will work.

[Soisy]

I pray to god that this movie doesn't completely disappoint me as an Avatar fan

[Dark Seraphim]

Still mad that they didn't include toph

But Toph wasn't in the Book One: Water, she won't show up until the sequel for Book Two: Earth.

[Jere]

But Toph wasn't in the Book One: Water, she won't show up until the sequel for Book Two: Earth.

They do them in parts?

Might explain a couple of things, here i thought they were making one big one, heh its a typical case of didn't do the research, though that's because i want to judge the movie on its own.

[Dark Seraphim]

Yeah, The Last Airbender is planned to be a trilogy, based on the three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book One: Water, Book Two: Earth, and Book Three: Fire. That means we'll get to the end of the North Pole in this movie, and in the next movie they will head to the Earth Kingdom and Toph will join the cast.

[Galefore]

I just wish they could have resurrected Mako to play Iroh. It would have been perfect.

Oh well. Still hoping this movie is awesome, even without breaking the laws of the universe to give me Zombie Mako.

[Valigarmander]

I was kind of surprised they cast Sokka and Katara as Beverley Hills white kids.

The movie looks kind of cool, though.

[Dark Seraphim]

I was kind of surprised they cast Sokka and Katara as Beverley Hills white kids.

The movie looks kind of cool, though.

I was suprised they were going to cast some Teenybopper as Zuko, but that fell through since the kid couldn't make it to "karate boot camp". I don't care if the cast isn't Asain or whatever, as long as they don't suck.

[ZeldaGirl]

^^Apparently there's a whole group of people who are against the 'racebending of Shyamalan'. Their words, obviously.

Ironically, they fume against Shyamalan for being 'racist,' by then degrading his name and making puns of 'sham' and whatnot. They are essentially the PETA of the Avatar fandom.

^Dev Patel is Zuko. Which, by my standards, is awesome. He could totally pull it off.

[Dark Seraphim]

^Dev Patel is Zuko. Which, by my standards, is awesome. He could totally pull it off.

I was talking about when it was originally going to be Jesse McCartney.

[ZeldaGirl]

^I wasn't correcting you, I was just saying who Zuko was.

[Dark Seraphim]

^Oh! My bad then!

[CaptHayfever]

My worries:
1) M. Night Shamalamadingdong.
2) Zuko's scar is barely visible at ALL. I understand that photographic cinema & animation are different mediums, but for a burn scar that covers a quarter of his face to not even show any discoloration is absurd.
3) The script. We've heard no dialogue yet, & the movie's already done. That worries me.

I was upset about the 2 deathly-pale people as Inuits, but they seem to have tanned a bit for the film at least.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Sean P Kelly]

As you may know, I'm one of the few who remained a fan of M Night Shamalan, despite the harsh criticism he gets.

I have to say that I really like that he is trying something new with an action/adventure film instead of a thriller and I think there's a chance that might win back some mainstream appeal.

Based on what I've read in this topic, most of your worries are fanboy nitpicking. I for one never watched Avatar: The Lost Airbender, which allows me to see the film for what it is (and I think it looks quite good).

[Dark Seraphim]

Based on what I've read in this topic, most of your worries are fanboy nitpicking.

That's hardly fair, and I don't see how anything I mentioned is 'fanboy nitpicking'. Bad special effects, bad actors, and bad writing are three major things that can ruin any movie, regardless of what it is. And as I said this movie, being all about elemental benders, is going to have a lot of syncing special effects to karate movements, and the cast is all very young, one bad child actor could be very damaging to the movie, and of course adapting a story still so fresh and new to a major motion picture seems tricky in general, if that makes it 'fanboy nitpicking' I'm sorry, but its been less then 2 years since the cartoon ended and they are already adapting it, so you can't blame someone who enjoyed the original to be a skeptical.

I personally am not going to judge the movie based on its director until I see what he does, he's done good movies, he's done bad movies, so have Spielburg and Lucas, so I'm more than willing to give M Night Shamalan a chance.

[Jere]

Lucky i have not seen anything related to the movie because i want to get suprised.

[Marilink]

I'm extremely excited for this movie. I have faith in Shamalama, and since the source material is pretty well laid-out for him, I can only see him helping the movie (I've always liked his style, storylines aside. Some of which still rock--Unbreakable is awesome). I'm a big Avatar fan, so I can't wait to see it.

[Sean P Kelly]

^ OK, from now on I'm typing Shawmaalawn's name phonetically :P

[CaptHayfever]

^M. Night Shomealone?

I did like The Sixth Sense, & I really wanna see Unbreakable.
However, Signs was inane, The Village was dumb, Lady in the Water was egotistical & stupid, and The Happening was completely idiotic.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"