The Last Airbender

Anyone see this movie? I skipped it because it was being universally panned by critics. It looked pretty cool though! So I'd love to hear an opposing view!

Looks good, but haven't seen it yet.

I've heard a lot of bad reviews, but I really liked the TV Series and I still want to see it.

OOOOK, First of all let me say that i am a HUGE fan of the series, watch it fairly constantly. Secondly, I learnt recently after rewatching Final Fantasy : spirits within one kate night on tv, that is was actually a pretty good film in itself, and I jet had To give up my final fantasy fanboy pass to enjoy it fo what it was....so now i shall start this review with a few Q & As

Was this movie deadly accurate to the series?
NO! its a Movie adaption
Did they cut out large chunks of the story?
Yes! This IS a Movie adaption
Was is accurate in character names and plot lines?
NO! ITS A MOVIE ADAPTION!

Was this a Good movie?
Yes, its a great little family action film
Did it Hit all the major plot points from the series?
Yes all the important ones
Did they chance the way the story moves from each major plot point?
Yes Drastically, but guess what ITS A MOVIE ADAPTION!

Ok ive got that out of my system, heres what to expect from this film, a family freindly 'A' grade martial Arts film which gives great tribute to the Last Airbender TV show. the biggest thing is that this movie is a context within it self and makes complete sense in that regards, you wont be left asking questions if you havn't seen the series, watch it as a stand alone piece from the series and youll be happy. Now the show is a story driven by characters, and the movie captured the characters wonderfully, even if it is a little rushed. Now the acting is a little rough, but they are youngens and i think they did well with the script that they were given which is easily the weakest part of this film. the overall writing is fine, but the way the characters lines were written is very Janky. I actually give kudos to M.Nights work on this film i think he did it justice. it defiantly dose not deserve the the shredding the fanboys are giving it. im glad i watched it this way because i will defiantly be going to pay to see this film on release in a couple of months when it finally shows up here in AUS. which to me means it passes the only rating system that matters, will it be worth the ticket price? I think so, i enjoyed it, just remember to check your brain and fan-boy passes at the door before entering the cinema.

Let me know what you guys think.

I think the problem for me was that I watched the entire anime series while it was in it's first run on television. Aang's development of each of his his powers was dedicated to a full season. You can imagine the amount of character developmnent that goes on gradually over the years- especially for Sokka and Zuko. Sokka, Toph, Azula, Ty Lee, and Suki, were my favorites. The movie/s just won't be able to do their growth justice in such a short period of time. For instance, Sokka and Suki met and fell for each other before they reached the Southern tribe. Sokka's relationship with the moon princess was a source of lite tension between Sokka and Suki(who can kick major butt). But Suki is left out and Sokka's relationship with the princess is watered down and not as impacting. If I didn't know so much more about the story maybe I would have enjoyed it more- not that I didn't like the move. The effects were great, but in order to fit it into a movie time frame diminishes the journey for me. I'm sure the same thing is being done with Harry Potter- in fact I know it is because I listened to some of the audio books during the days of IMESH. But since I don't know Potter inside and out, I'm not as effected by omissions and adaptations. And of course, Sukka is not as funny/bumbling in the movie as he is in the anime. There would have to be several movies for each season to get the same result of growth that the anime has- and folks would lose interest because of the cost of movies now.

Totally agree on all everything there sash, this movie screams for a directors cut with at least another 20-30 min of character development in it, which m.night admits he cut out to shorten the running time. Sadly (and nailing the bolt into his own coffin) he has said he will not be creating a directors cut on DVD release, but he will include some of the deleted scenes which he felt were to 'comic' for the film as special features. There were really funny parts in the trailesr which sold me on the film but they never appeared in the film! Hmmmm.... I wonder if we can get enough fan cry for an extended cut and get him to change his mind....I might go stir up some trouble. ^_^