Search - The Last Airbender on DVD

Aimee S. (Ariadnae) from SCOTTOWN, OH
Reviewed on 7/27/2011...

First off, I am a huge fan of the animated series. It was a wonderful blend of action, adventure, humor and spiritualism. I was so excited to see this film. The film lost everything that made the series so wonderful. First off, there is not one Asian character in the movie, when it is obviously an Asian styled tale. The names have been changed, how they got Avatar Ung out of Aang I'll never know. All of the ties to the spirit world which plays a huge part in the series are gone. The acting is terrible, not a single character is more than a one-dimensional figure, all of the magic of the original is lost. The story is twisted so badly that if you have not seen the series, you will be totally confused. I had such high hopes for this film, but sadly it took what was a great series and turned it into a film I was angry I paid money to see. Skip this one and check out the animated series, that's where the real magic is!

3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

The Last Airbender Review

Craig Whittle | Phoenix, AZ | 10/22/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"THE LAST AIRBENDER

STARRING: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Seychelle Gabriel and Cliff Curtis

WRITTEN BY: M. Night Shyamalan

DIRECTED BY: M. Night Shyamalan

Rated: PG
Genre: Action / Fantasy
Release Date: 01 July 2010
Review Date: 22 September 2010



M. Night Shyamalan is a long, long ways away from The Sixth Sense and Signs. Between what he did with the second half of The Happening, and what he's done here with The Last Airbender - I'm in no rush to see his next film. And don't even get me started on The Village; I'd run out of ink and you'd go blind.

Noah Ringer stars as Aang; `the last Airbender.' What the hell is an Airbender you ask? Someone who can bend air. Why would someone want to bend air? To swoosh away bad guys, I guess - you tell me. Am I the only one that finds this incredibly lame? There really is no better word than lame, I promise.

The movie is filled with characters that can bend things. Earth, fire, water and air. There are never-ending segments of watching characters interact with one another, using their different bending techniques on each other. How is this entertaining? The special effects add little to no appeal to this boring plot point.

Brother and sister Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) and Katara (Nicola Peltz) find Aang early on in the film and feel a need to protect him. They need to protect him because he may or may not be `the chosen one'; prophesized to lead their people to peace when other benders using their powers to do bad, come-a-knockin'.

I can't even begin to explain the plot from there, because it was all over the place, and to be quite honest, I lost interest within the first 15 minutes. From what I could gather, at one point it was pretty clear, but then quickly becomes murky with useless added elements. Out of left field Sokka begins a romance with a princess, then she is somehow a magic fish, and that kid we all loved in Slumdog Millionaire (Dev Patel) comes into play, and tries to beat up our heroes to impress his daddy (Cliff Curtis) who is someone of great importance to the story. And the Slumdog kid's uncle is also evil, and trying to create friction between the father and son.

The acting is sometimes good, but is mostly bad. I don't blame any of the actors however, what with the pitiful dialogue they were given to work with. I can see how this flick will be fun for a certain age group of kids, but it's not for me.

Please tell me the cartoon it's based on is more appealing than this. And God help us, based on the end, there will be at least another installment to follow this segment of dread. I'll leave you with saying that, once upon a time... M. Night Shyamalan used to be a great story teller."