Sound Off: Shyamalan's The Last Airbender - Your Thoughts?

http://moviecrematorium.com Rob Heath

This movie falls because it did exactly what that horrific Dragon Ball movie did, trying to cram an entire season of great content into one movie. You don't get any good character development, you miss out on tons of back story and rebellion movement. This is a live action highlight reel for the cartoon. This movie should have been "The Water Book" Part 1 of 2 instead of the ENTIRE water book. *sigh* Was kinda cool to watch, so neat shots, but the pacing and lack of character development, and a few cringe worthy lines made the movie fail.

Shane

FAIL FAIL FAIL

Flops

Yeah, I won't say I hated it, but I will say I really didn't like it. Shamalamadingdong couldn't even pronounce the main characters' names right. Noah Ringer actually wasn't that bad considering how awful the dialogue was. The ending, if adapted correctly from the show could have been the most awesome thing ever put on the silver screen, but ended up being the lamest crap ever. Basically, don't bother seeing this movie because there probably won't be sequels. Makes me sad. I love that show so much.

n7

it was just a highlight reel. FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Rob Z

As a fan of the series, I can honestly say: What did I just watch? I was very much looking forward to the REAL "Avatar" movie that James Cameron stole the title from. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that I got a bunch of my friends together, watched the first season (or "Book") and went to the midnight showing of The Last Airbender. I got all my friends excited for some extreme water, earth, fire, and air fighting. They were all excited, but were also let down. Unfortunately, this film is just another case of modern movies being ruined by poor editing and piss-poor writing. All key elements of the story were explicitly told and explained in detail to the audience. Those few scenes that are exempt from this description left me wanting just a few more sentences to fully explain the gravity of the story. For those that could not tell from the lack of important dialogue: THERE IS A WAR GOING ON! The film made it seem like the war was already over and the Fire Nation was just occupying colonies in other kingdoms. One point the movie does get across (many times, even when we asked it not to), the Avatar is meant to give the people of the other kingdoms hope and a symbol to rally behind. But, I'm sure there is a better way to accomplish this, rather than having Aang say, "I'm the Avatar. I have returned to give you hope. So, you should all fight for your land." I can honestly say, I didn't have high hopes for the acting in The Last Airbender due to the fact that the main characters are portrayed by actors with one movie or less on their resumes. I didn't have high hopes, so I was not let down in any way. Even Dev Patel's portrayal of Zuko was lacking. Though it seems like this film had the same problem Star Wars: Episode III had: terrible acting due to worse writing. Characters were not matured and emotions for each character seemed pre-set and monotone. Visually, The Last Airbender was stimulating, but (at times) in all the wrong places. Too much time and money was spent on the bending of elements, too much choreography, and CGI of unnecessary objects detracted from other aspects of the film where clearly more time and money was needed. Perfect examples: the depiction of the spirit world looked like a backyard digital camera trick; and over-narration and captions prevented the audience from losing themselves within the story. Now, to the future. The upper echelon of the crew needs a serious overhaul: writer, director, producer (all the same person...ugh), editor, and cinematographer all need to go. The only positive to come from this movie was to show the potential that the series has in film. As an avid fan, I hope they continue the story in the future, restart it, or rework it. The story has the potential to get across a great and meaningful message. However, this time, The Last Airbender missed the mark.

http://www.fienen.com/ Michael

And this is exactly why I cannot stress enough that anyone giving money to Shyamalan to make movies is throwing that money away. I have never understood people's fascination with him. He had one okay movie early in his career, and he was pranced around like the second coming of Spielberg. This man doesn't just make bad movies, he sets the standard for bombs, and does so consistently. He is the only director, ONLY, that I truly cannot stand. His storytelling is slow, pedantic, and meandering. His artistic style is lazy, bordering on sloppy. He has an unrivaled ability to take what seems like a good idea, and butcher it beyond belief.

The Black Guy

Don't watch it. It's not worth it. I fell asleep half way through and woke up to people yelling at the scream and rushing to the exits. No exaggeration.

WTF?!

Everyone in the theater before the movie was saying crap about the Twilight saga's Eclipse movie but by the time it was over and done with a lot of them actually wanted to see a half decent movie, which would be Eclipse. How bad can a movie be when the hardcore fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender want to watch a rival movie with a bunch of annoying screaming girls. I mean, they got about half of the main characters names wrong and there was no character development. The movie was rushed, and most of the back story and important details were cut out. WTF! Wheres June? Wheres Suki? Wheres the pirates? Sokka wasn't even funny!! And whats with the bad casting!! This movie was just one big load a crap. Yes the bending was decently good, but no matter how much u shine a piece a crap; its still crap!! My suggestion, DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE!!! The sad thing is, at least i think, that there are two more movies to come. M. Night totally ruined the movie and he should never Direct or Write a movie ever again

Mortuus

#9 - Honestly after this garbage i dont think we will be seeing a sequel, but we've been proven wrong on this before....

Duck

I'm going to be nice and say, there's a lot of room for improvement

Eli

This is not good for shamalyn. does anyone still care aabout his mystery project?

Lizzie B.

Aaaaaa, and I was so looking forward to see this movie, now, after all this bad review, I'll probably avoid it, and continue enjoying in animated television series. Also agree with # 6

Tranceghost

I rarely Dislike movies because i take in to count the acting, story lines, and writing when i make a judgement, But i can safely say this movie was BAD!!! Very bad writing, editing was crap also. it could have done with out, all that Chi practice Spots. Grafix were cool, and some of the element bending too. its a staright to TV Movie.

JayC

Imma go see it anyway, only now I'm just going to watch a 1h45 min. trailer. thanks for the info folks.

http://mynameisjay.com jay

I am still seeing it.. Sucks it is getting poor reviews. I loved the cartoon.

ryan

Ha Ha Ha! M Night Shama-lama-ding-dong is now officially the most fucking retarded Filmmaker in the history of cinema. Why people didn't see this coming is beyond me. I can't believe studios still give that peice of shit money to make HORRIBLE movies. Sure 6th sense was Okay (nothing more) and Unbreakable was watchable (but slow as fuck), but all of his movies since then have been complete and utter CRAP. Let me tell you guys something: M Night (even his name is fucking pretentious) Hates you and thinks you are all Dumb as Shit, and you're only proving him right by going to his stupid ass movies. He has no respect for his audience and knows that even if he pushes out a giant Turd Of A Movie you silly little mindless piggies will still gobble it up and hope the next one will taste a little better. IT WON'T! Trust me. This one trick pony is all dried up and there ain't nuthin' left... We've already seen the best this guy can make and future films of his will only confuse and anger the movie going public. The only way filmmakers like this will STOP MAKING SHITTY MOVIES is if we STOP SEEING HIS SHITTY MOVIES!... Got it? Boycott this piece of crap and send a message to Hollywood. Otherwise acquire a taste for Shit and get what they feel you "deserve"...

Have Hope

Serves the loser right with his racist casting. I believe this is his FOURTH bomb? Wonder how many more lives he has left...he just KEEPS on getting chances. SOMEONE loves him. HH

Trey M

I will wait for a copy to leak on the internet...M Night is a garbage director

Al

19: Racist casting? I'm sorry I didn't realize because the show is anime style, that automatically makes the round eyed characters asian. Hell, I'm sure the show's creator, Michael Dante DiMartino, is asian too right? That white supremacist M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN wanted to screw with all of us and cast only whites? I can't wait for the live action Boondocks movie, I'm sure they'll have to be asian too? right? because that show is anime. I hate dumb people, making issues out of nothing.

ayindi

Not anotha fail!!

solo calrissian

AWWWWW MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I so wanted to see this too but after these reviews i prolly wont until it's on netfilx. HUGE fan of the show too. ya know, in my mind I always thought that each book was its own trilogy if it ever got adapted. Be honest peeps. Was it Dragonball, Dead or alive, abortion-level bad or just Forbidden Kingdom, Percy Jackson-bad? (I could almost live with forbidden kingdom).

Aimee

Just looking at the Characters gives me a bad feeling about the movie. I really have my hopes up for this. I want it wo be epic. But it doesn't sound like it is.

Im so mad at Shylamaan or w/e his name is. He ruined one of my all time favorites.

Cody w

Yeah this was his last chance and he blew it, Shyamalan needs to go to hollywood castaway planet and stay there forever.....he got his chances.

Spenny

Yeah. I would say racist casting. I mean..... Everyone in the fire nation (my fav btw) looks muslim. WTF.

http://firstshowing.net Nathan

The casting wasn't all that bad I thought. I mean the acting wasn't to great but again as someone up there said it was hampered by a sub par script which robbed the series of any of its fantastic story telling and more importantly the film independently of any flowing plot line. If this had been split into two movies and given considerably more time to develop it wouldn't have been bad. It just needed to slow down. Think of that last half hour or so when they took the time to focus on that battle for a bit, it really wasn't to bad was it? Think if they could have moved at that pace the whole movie with maybe a few less Zach Snyder esque slowmos

whisky Tango

The term "Muslim" is not a race it's a RELIGION. There are White, Asian & Black Muslims as well as Middle-Eastern Spenny... I wouldn't say racist casting as much as racist point of view. Kinda sad.

Maro Leon

I heard a rumor that the title was going to be changed to The Last Moneybender since it could very well be his last movie

MikeC

Net on the casting is that it appears that the Fire nation was "outsourced"

GuidoSarducci

#18 - Uwe Boll? I have no intention of seeing this movie, but throwing Shyamalan down into the #1 spot on the all-time bad directors list is gonna take more than a few bad movies. I mean, he DID have The Sixth Sense, which is more than anyone can say for Mr. Boll.

Jack Novelli

M. Night Shyamalan is no Ed Wood, in fact he may have a few things that he could learn from the late failed director of films such as Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Shyamalan appears to belong to the same Hall of Shame as some other awful film makers - Renny Harlin, McG, and Joel Schumacher to name a few. What these men all seem to have in common is that they are somehow able to get studios to bankroll them even after having very expensive films repeatedly fail at the box office. They are also "one hit wonders'" and are unable to repeat the success that they originally had with that one film that put them on the map. M. Night Shyamalan, I'm sorry to say that you're not the next Alfred Hitchcock and you probably have more in common with Deepak Chopra as you are both fraudsters. Perhaps Shyamalan will find a warm reception in Bollywood, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, Shyamalan's film making career is on the long spiral down. His inability to collaborate with others when creating a film certainly shows on screen. He is very much a control freak when it comes to film making and just like George Lucas refuses to take advice from anyone. Considering that so many American jobs have been lost and reassigned to India, maybe M. Night should do the same and take his directing skills to his homeland where standards aren't nearly as demanding. He would probably be much more appreciated in Bollywood because expectations aren't as high in a place where people are grateful just to get scraps. Go back to the minor leagues Shyamalan, what ever creative spark you once had never seemed to touch off and now your career is nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash. Before you tried to master the elements (water, fire, earth, air) perhaps you should have first learned to tie your shoelaces so that you wouldn't trip over them. You are definitely no "air bender," but more like an ear bender who is constantly show boating and trying to convince the world of your genius.

Jadenamek

Wow. It was worse than Eragon. I can understand if its an adaptation from a book, how you can get some pronunciations wrong with names, BUT it was adapted from an AMERICAN CARTOON. Especially the MAIN CHARACTER. *RAWWW headexplodes* As a movie standing alone, it doesn't even work. The dialouge was just awful. The 3D effects were nonexistent, and the character development was also no where to be found. Just wow. wow.

Adster

# 32 HA!

I came here today to hear what people had to say about the movie. I was even possibly going to go watch it today. It really is quite sad to hear that an incredible story was butchered so severely by an egotistical, vision-less director as M. Night. Whasshisname. What the Hell is going on with movies these days? It's as if originality and free expression has been thrown out of the window and replaces with shallow predictability, weak unambitious storytelling and a lack of any sense of identity with characters.

cooper

after seeing how terrible Momo, Appa, Aang's glider, and the costumes for all the soldiers looked i could already tell how terrible this was gonna be...and that was just through trailers and it might have been just me but it really seemed like they made the bending of the elements so unreal but thats just from a trailer-viewed perception and i think the ultimate question...why even MAKE a film adaptation; everyone loved the TV series and it got great reviews for it, especially the finale; everything about the TV series was almost perfect and they had to go and ruin it by making a feature length film; so the question is, what idiot allowed hollywood to make this movie; whichever exec who approved of this adaptation should really be ashamed right now but i think with how bad this movie was, people are gonna go out and buy the TV series which is what i would rather do after hearing all these reviews

http://stevewallaceart.com Steve Wallace

It was horrible. I'm not sure how Alex considers it anything but a poorly put together summer flop. It was poorly paced, scripted and edited. I don't really have any issues with how it used the source material, I was just mind numbingly bored by the whole thing. It just wasn't a well made movie. The characters were paper thin, the plot spaghetti and the tone flat.

David

i'd like to know what the creators of the animated series thought.

97.6

The "mystery" in Shyamalan's "Mystery Project" is that there is a project...

Robbie

I haven't seen the movie yet (it releases on August 19th here in the Netherlands), but Shyamalan will remain one of my favorite directors.

Alboone

One of the worst movies I have ever seen. No more M. Night movies for me. I'm done.

yupyup

for sure a high light reel where it picked specific moments and made it look exactly like the cartoon, in that aspect id say they did a good job, my biggest complaint is cramming it into such a short movie they should have atleast made it 3 hours and more than likely 2 3 hour movies. or just take out the earth kingdom stuff and just focus on the northern water tride and build there charecters there, show more of the love story that happens and the training with kitara and the master, just my two cents. could have been worse though, deffinitly better than legion, though that old lady was quiet amazing...

Robbie

I really can't imagine it being as bad as you all say it is. I refuse to believe it. I'm sure I'll LOVE IT!

Ms. diamond

i am u huge fan, and when i saw the movie last night i couldn't believe how many changes and twists M. night put in it. he rushed through it way to fast it's like he didn't even take the time to film it correctly and in some parts of the movie it looks low budget. the acting could've been better, i expected more fighting scenes and even in those scenes it was nothing like the cartoon, the bending is way better in the anime I'm sorry to say. m.night held back alot.. he didnt put 100% into this movie, everybody who's seen it knows that. They should either tell lame ass m.night to stay true to the storyline for book 2 or hire another director cuz he sucked. i vote for george lucas to be the next director.

Rashad

#19 thinks M Night has 4 bombs. What the hell? Only lady in the water didn't make money

Josef

Im going to see this movie for the simple fact that i was not a huge fan of the series so i cant really be disappointed by the story, and yes i loathe M. Night Syamalan for the simple fact that everytime i see a trailer for one of his movies that voice in the back of my head that says you know what that does seem kinda stupid is always right. he hasnt done a good movie since Unbreakable. Also im going to see it in 3D because i want it to distract me from all the shitty parts. Why watch a poop when you can watch a poop in 3D! Basically eye candy is all i was exoecting and thats all im going to use it for. Im not looking for love, im going to pay the price, get my kicks, and walk away ashamed and semi satisfied.

PinkSushit

The Last (time I pay to see an M. Night Shyamalan movie) Airbender

Weezy1

Just came back and thought it was okay for the first movie of a series....what did you haters expect anyway, the ENTIRE show in one movie? Give me a break!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you love anime soooo much, then do not watch any live action for the rest of your life! True, there were changes made but they change everything that is adapted from other source material. Look at "Harry Potter". They have left a TREMENDOUS amount of material out of the movies, yet they still work. And BTW, Anng is scared and unsure in the cartoon too. Leave your personal feelings about Knight out of your reviews and let the movie stand on its own. I'd rather watch 12 yr. old air benders over mushy vampire garbage ANY DAY!!!!!!!!

twittwit

It did not dissappoint. 'The Last Airbender' kept the shitball rolling in what is projected to be the worst summer of flop movies I can recall in many years.

Jean Elizabeth

I'm leaving in 30 minutes to go watch the movie myself, despite all the horrible reviews. I'm a loyal fan so I should support it by seeing it myself instead of believing others. "Every man's a critic (?)" If it is that bad, maybe they'll know how to fix the next one and make it as awesome as it deserves to be!

i hate m.night

m.night single handily destroyed such an epic story he should be ashamed of what he did.Anger does not sum up what im feeling right now.His name is ANG not ung!!! gosh stop paying this man to destroy movies and lifes.

what's the world coming to?

@26 thats such a misguided comment. you're entitled to feel how you want but thats such prejudicial thing to say.

Have Hope

45 : My dear sir. The films mentioned, whether they made money or not, were still failures as they either tanked or were universally panned. I'm not too sure Happening made that much cash, especially after the known debacle that was the Village.

Have Hope

52 The guy is right. Why do the bad guys all have BROWN skin and the good guys have WHITE skin. Shyamalan is a confused oaf and deserves this failure. Complete loser.

http://kevinjahijohnson.webs.com Kevin J

There's a tremendous message in this film about using peace and harmony with the elements in defeating an enemy instead of outright murder and killing. Having a superpowered pacifist is rare for a Hollywood blockbuster. That said, this entire movie was on fast-forward. Throughout, I just kept begging for 15-30 more minutes to be tacked on. Instead of rushing through so many key sections, why not take the time to know these characters? M. Night seemed to be operating under the assumption of us ALREADY knowing these characters. If that's the case, then what's the point of watching this movie? Why spend so much to get so many things right like the sets, costumes and creatures, and then get the basics wrong? Like character arcs, or multidimensionality (happy-sad-confused-angry-sad-happy vs. sad-sad-sad-sad-sad-sad). Don't talk about journeys; go have a journey. Don't tell a random kid a backstory; just have the flashback during a nightmare or a brooding session at least. Don't let random characters do important things, let important characters do important things. DON'T CHARGE EXTRA FOR 3-D YOU BARELY USE!!! Good will counts for a lot and when you sacrifice, you rarely get it back. I can always go back and watch episodes of the Last Airbender. Will I see another M. Night film? I want to say yes; the man gave me Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. But the fact I have to hesitate sums it all up. A good friend of mine unraveled Signs before my eyes. The Village and The Happening made no sense. I'm still afraid to watch Lady in the Water. But this? THIS?!! Experienced filmmakers like Shyamalan know better. Producers like Kennedy and Marshall know how much presentation counts for enjoying movies. Charging patrons extra to LESSEN their viewing experience is uncalled for. Choosing voiceovers instead of well-written scenes, scenes already in the friggin' cartoon, is uncalled for. Experienced, accomplished filmmakers don't make mistakes like these unless they want to. And if they wanted to, frankly, screw them.

lebowski

I'll say it again Billington, you have such a high tolerance for dogshit films. other than having jack black or adam sandler, what does it take for you to dislike a movie?

Jeremy S

The movie was junk! They changed the the said Aang and Iroh and you never see the Kyoshi Warriors and Suki. The movie was missing the love and human factor. Yeah there was a few Katara tear moments but no Sokka humor. The writing sucked and some of the acting made it worse. I woke up depressed today after watching this movie. What would be more depressing is if they actually do make Book 2 and 3. If they were to make LEGO Avatar: The Last Airbender game, the story and writing would be 10x better than than the movie. Sad day to be an Avatar Fan.

Oh My Gosh

He shouldn't make movies that already have a history.He's just going to give people false hopes.Stick to creating your own crap,M.Night.

Zade

did anyone else crack up at the part in the earth village where they had like ten earth benders doing realy epic moves and then all they did was make a small rock fly across the screen.

i see bad movies

Was The Sixth Sense ripped off an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? called "The Tale of the Dream Girl"?

sara123

The tv series is one of the highests rated cartoons in the world and i know why. it is amazing, funny, clever, enjoyable, and really keeps you want to keep watching it(sometimes over again). it really made me upset when they desided to end the series because in fact it is one of the greatest out there. With that said i would like to say this also. I was sooooo disappointed in the movie. i mean what were they thinking? they totally rushed the story which ruined it and you never got the feel for the characters ( also some bad acting on their part) but how could someone take an amazing story like that and completely RUIN it in one hour? could they not make it at least two hours? the characters wernt as bad as i thought they would be but the script was sucky and I WAS LAUGHING ALMOST THE WHOLE TIME when i saw the earth benders. Ok so they do this big ellaborate dance but can only pick up a pebble? WHATS UP WITH THAT? that is not earthbending. Also i understand that they probably couldnt fit the whole book into a two hour movie but come on...... it was an hour and also the whole story line was out f wack it never flowed and barly had a sense of what was going on. Iwas so excited to see this movie but really it just crushed me because like i said before the cartoon series was ended for the making of the movie and a more deeper inside on the characters. Well what a crap load. T

jeff

even though most people were let down there's going to sequels because when i saw it the theater was filled with little kids. they probably loved the film. hopefully they make corrections for the next one

sara123

I cant believe they ended the series for this. it was really bad. the names were rediculouse the Earthbenders were a bunch of crap and the storyline never flowed. I cant even describe how upset i am after i watched that movie. It made me want to cry considering the series was so amazing. Shamalamadingdong needs to be knocked off the movie and let a person who really knows what theyre doing step in and make the next books better considering this one was totally dimolished in the poor.....well everything. Could they not even make the movie two hours? i had high hopes for this movie and now i feel like a kid who just found out santa clause isnt real. PLEEASSE PUT BACK ON THE SHOW!!!! we all deserve it after that terrible disaster of what some would call a movie but honestly, i would just call it a big pile of garbage. OH.....also its aang NOT unng! p.s. whatever #58 said i totally agree with. PUT BACK ON THE SHOW CONSIDERING YOU DEMOLISHED THIS MOVIE!!!!

http://ktcronier.tumblr.com Katie

in my opinion, it was good, not great, but good. i had extremely high expectations so that was sort of my fault. he was given 440 minutes of a story and had to crunch it down to approximately 100 minutes. the beginning was very choppy and didn’t give you enough of a description of the maine characters. a lot of the travel was cut out which, now that i think about it, was about half the length of the first book, mostly travel. so the beginning was a bit of a drag but once it picked up, it picked up. noah ringer is amazing as aang. he’s plays the part very well. same goes for katara, nicola should have had more of a speaking role to show how motherly she is which is later discussed in book three. dev portrayed zuko quite well and was obviously better than jesse mccartney would have ever been. jackson, well..they could have had a better sokka but i do recall m. night saying he wanted to take the funny side away and have the movie more serious. serious. if you go to the move expecting to see a serious, slightly actiony movie, you’ll get what you paid for. it was more on the serious side with a few silly lines. the pronunciation of avatar, aang and sokka killed me. i flinched every time it was mispronounced. what i liked, and at the same time didn’t like, was how many movements the benders had to go through just to produce was measly little ball of water, little rock or some wind. i didn’t like it because it wasn’t like the tv show..but at the same time i liked it because it seemed almost more realistic. i really enjoyed that for the fire benders, they had to have fire in order to bend the fire, just like all the other elements. i just really hope someone picks up the last two movies and and splits them into 2 hour movies or something so we can have more detail. that’s how the first movie should have been, have the first 22 minutes be the very first episode so you could get to understood who katara, sokka and aang were more fully. the character development was awful. but hey, i can’t criticize too much because i’m not a director and i couldn’t have done a better job writing, directing and producing a movie. i give it a 7/10. could be better but was good all the same.

http://www.thefilmstage.com Jordan Raup

One of the most atrocious trainwrecks I've ever witnessed.

Johanna

Absolutely horrible. Completely butchered an amazing cartoon! I WANT A REFUND!

Ashley

I really enjoyed "The Last Airbender", and this is coming from a devoted fan of the show! In fact, there is only one thing I didn't like. And that was the pacing and the length. The studio-enforced mandate of keeping the film under two hours took down the quality of the film several notches. Because the cuts were so heavy to keep the film under two hours, many scenes were cut. This certainly wasn't a deal breaker for me. I enjoyed the movie, and I desperately wished that it was longer so I could have prolonged my enjoyment. I will be sitting with bated breath hoping for a Director's Cut release on DVD/Blu-Ray. Then, maybe we'll get to see Night's vision untarnished by studio mandates.

http://www.apple.com James

Most disappointing film of my life. I've never felt my heart ripped out sitting in a movie theater until I saw this.

Joel

I've been a long-time fan of the animated series, and ever since I heard there was an AVATAR movie coming out (screw James Camaron), I have been drilling the series into my 6-year-olds head. Now, the day finally comes when we can finally see the movie, and I knew I'd have to grit my teeth through a live-action adaptation of what could have easily been a trilogy on its own, but when my son turned to me and said "daddy, that's wrong", I knew Shayamalan had gone too far. I really hope they pull the plug on the 2nd and 3rd movies, and just scrap the whole project now. What he did to this series is beyond forgivable. The only way to fix this is to pretend it never happened. If they handed the project to someone more deserving, it would still be tainted by this atrocity, but perhaps someone with a little more vision and insight into the actual story of the Avatar would do it justice. Hell, I would have been happy if they could have just pronounced the damn characters' names correctly.

Michael

Is there anyone here who does not know the series? Would like to here a neutral opinion.

Julian

RE-watched entire series to get ready for the movie and BAM! crap in my face... I understand this is for kids but there was way to much going on. Also the ACTING just ruined most of it. Good fight and cg scenes but thats about it. Dragged on many many times and thats because its not even a 2 hour movie. Maybe (if they do make another one) it will have more depth or something, maybe a new director, maybe... WAIT for video release...

Baron the Curse

At this point I truly believe Shyamalan is competing with Uwe Boll for the undesired spot of worst filmmaker EVER. Come on, these two guys must work really, really hard, for their movies to be so horrible. They should work together on a project, Boll can sodomize another video game franchise and Shyamalan can... uhm... damn it, he's fucking useless as an artist if he can't even contribute to a hypothetical Boll team up.

T

@65 hahaha

chinochubby

I was hoping this would be good just because avatar (no blue people) was my favorite show i was practically obsessed and it was annoying how they pronounced aang and sokka's name wrong. ITS FROM A TV SHOW JUST WATCH THE SHOW AND PRONOUNCE IT RIGHT!!. My row, the row in front of me and the row in back of me would yell the correct pronunciation of the characters. ALOT of the characters were middle- eastern, where was suki?, why wasn't aang and sokka funny? they were serious the whole movie! they didn't even say the intro from the shows which i thought thats how they would open the movie, but i was wrong. Sure this movie had some cool action scenes but still the acting was horrible and i didn't even understand what i was watching anymore. hopefully since there should be 3 more movies since it might go from the books like water,earth,air and fire but if there is a sequel we really need a better director, better actors, AND THE ACTUAL NAMES PRONOUNCED CORRECTLY! i am officially done with my ranting, hopefully someone has the time to read this lol

Hattori Hanzo

It's simply time for film makers to stop trying to make movies out of cartoons, television shows, comics and games because they really suck at it. Besides, if they were meant to be anything more than what they were they'd be movies in the first place.

levo

did someone just say cameron stole the title "avatar" from this series? pretty sure its an ancient hindu word whose actual meaning corresponds to both works rather well.

Geoff

It's enjoying a 9% at RottenTomatoes!!! M. Knight is done....most overrated director since Spike Lee. The fat lady has sung...retire this idiot.

sariah

my name is sariah and i am in love with the last air bender

j

i saw a preview and it looked really low quality.

Gex

Ok, I wanted to like this movie. I read reviews before seeing it, heard it was crap, but still went. This is one of the few times where the critics were right, for the most part. First of all, the names. "My name is Uung." What? "Uung." His name is Aang goddamnit! And the firebenders only able to bend fire when there are actual flames in front of them. At first I hated that, considering in the series they could produce flames at will. But after a day to cool down, I guess I can live with that, though it's cheap considering that air, water, and earth are practically everywhere. At least they could say the a portion of the fire nation could produce their own flames while firebenders in training had to make due with bending flames that are already there, but nooo, they had to have the uncle be the only one capable of doing that. And the uncle, man oh man. Am I the only one who thinks that he fits the role of the fire lord better than the actual actor who played the fire lord? Christ, the fire lord actor would've played a better uncle than that guy! Worst casting call ever (ok, maybe not ever, but it's up there)! The finale was also anti-climatic, especially compared to the series. With all the budget the movie had, is it really asking to much to make a giant water fish to wipe out a decent portion of the navy? At least it would have been a little more original the a "The Abyss" knock-off! Should have been more action and more of an epic feel to the finale (though that also applies to the entire movie). And it did annoy me a little to see how much dancing was required to pull off some of these bender abilities, especially the small ones. But it didn't bother me too much. And yes, the acting wasn't all that great. Shymalan, you have directing potential, you really do, but your writing hasn't exactly gotten better. Your style of writing just doesn't work in movies like this. You know his directing talents towards bringing out the potential in actors isn't that great when a decent actor such as Mark Whalberg, and everyone else, in The Happening, well, you just can't tell if it's good or bad acting. Since the acting is obviously a step down from the acting in The Happening, he's gotten worse with it. If he ends up directing a sequel, there better be a different fucking writer doing the script. Now I'm not quite giving up on Shymalan as a director for 1 reason only. The action scenes were awesome. They really were. He can make some good action scenes. There were some good scenes with not long cuts that demonstrated excellent camerawork, cinematography, and choreography. Unfortunately, that was the only real good thing about this movie, and I don't feel it was that much of a redeeming factor. That is, unless a director's cut exists that has some 20+ minutes of footage that can add more depth to the story and characters, and for the love of God slow the pace down. Though I dread hearing the name Uung again. How the hell did he screw that up? Intentionally? My rating of the movie, 5/10. I could watch it again with a lot of encouragement (not in 3D though), and will definitely give it another shot with a Director's cut. After a second viewing though, the rating could go up or down, depending. If you've seen the show, don't see the movie. If you haven't seen the show, skip the frikkin movie, buy a couple episodes of the show instead, and watch that.

Jeep Fu

I thought it was okay but the entire movie felt extremely rushed. Even my ten year old nephew who I took with me asked "The movie's over?" when the credits rolled. I blame the studio exec's for that. I heard that they demanded 45 minutes be cut out of the film at the last minute and if that's true it really, really affected the movie in a negative way. Studio exec's really need to get their fat butts back into the office (and out of the movies) where they belong. The dialogue was meh, the special effects were awesome but I dunno...just didn't do it for me. Maybe I was hyping myself up too much for them but even though they looked cool they just lacked...something. But like I said...overall it felt really, really rushed. I really hope they make more movies though, because I love the series but they better not make it like this one.

Jeff

I think people dont understand that certain things have to change for a movie. Your not gonna get the same emotional reaction you do to the movie as opposed to the 30min show you watched everyday. Things have to change. People need to see this as a movie and not a mirror image of a cartoon.And once again I think M Nights vision is just to smart for some people. In my opinion none of his movies have ever flopped its just that an artistic view is way too much (and too smart) for some people to understand or handle.

http://stevewallaceart.com Steve Wallace

@79 Wow, that may have been the douchiest comment yet. Congrats. A lot of the comments have talked about the general shortcomings of the film specific to the form. It's rushed pacing, it's poor editing, flat characterizations, ham fisted dialog etc. This has nothing to do with Nights vision or his films being 'too smart'. Poor craftsmanship is poor craftsmanship. I apologize ahead of time for feeding the troll.

rolow

the move was good only rushed. he should've spread book 1 into two 2 hour long movies to during people into the world.

solo calrissian

An interview with M. Night http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/07/m_night_shyamalan_on_the_last.html?imw=Y&f=most-viewed-24h5

zatara

We went and saw last airbender last night and to tell you the truth I think that with the casting aside (Dav petal could have put alot more fire, no pun intented, into his performance as the arrogant and hot headed Zuko) Sokka not funny at all more like a very serious sokka. Didn't even feel a hint of the aang Katara affection) and then the NAMES!!!! ITS AANG NOT UNG GET IT RIGHT DIRECTOR SHYMALAN!!!!!!!!!

http://firstshowing.net EB

I can honestly say that I did NOT like it. They cramded so many episodes into one movie that it made no sense. THEY MESSED UP ON THEIR OWN NAMES!! The acting. . . . . ? Jackson was kind of off, thought he was brilliant in the Twilight series. What happened? I mean, I have watched it on Nickaledoen, but this. . . ? It was terrible. Made no sense, to quick, messed up on the names, and over all, I thought it was frustrating to watch. Every time they messed up on names, I felt like just walking out and screaming. It got me so frustated, that I don't think I would want to see the next movie.

Hoping they fix it and make it better. PLEASE!!

http://firstshowing.net EB

Wait, that is not all. Just like Zatara-or whoever-the acting really sucked. Sokka, that sounds like Sock and with a A at the end, not Sueka, was suppose to be really funny. He made one joke, which wasn't even that funny. Uncle Iro, not Ero. It sounds like ear and row. It's i and row. Iro. But the thing that makes me really made, is the main charaters name. AANG!!!! NOT UNG!! I mean, who messes up the MAIN CHARATER'S NAME??? And if you don't know, Katara and AANG are suppose to like each other, or AANG suppose to like Katara. I NEVER SAW HIM LOOK AT HER AND HAVE A HINT OF AFFECTION!! They should have went to the water place, and make AANG learn about what happened there. Then the big fight seen. I liked the afects, but they rushed it!! My friend, who saw it with me, had no idea what happened. Had no idea on who AANG was, nor Sokka or Katara. And it's Opa, not Apa. The flying thing? Yeah, that. He's not a freaking apple. And the girl that plays as Katara, she should know how to saw AANG's name right. Whoever is Director Shymalan is, he totally screwed it all up. READ THIS, ALL OF THESE AND TRY TO MAKE IT RIGHT, OR DON'T EVEN BOTHER MAKING THE OTHER THREE MOVIES!!

http://firstshowing.net EB

And Have Hope is right. Number 52, Katara and Sokka werent white in the animated series, Zuko and his family were. I was so confused that he would change something like that. Vanessa Hudgens should have been Katara, and Taylor Launtner as Sokka. Steven Straigh as Zuko. HE TOTALLY MESSES THAT UP!!! You know what, i am not seeing the next movies because i might go insane. ZUKO'S SCAR WAS SUPPOSE TO TAKE UP HIS ENTIRE LEFT SIDE OF HIS FACE, and you could barly see it.

Evo

#79 has it right, If everything is not in perfect contrast to its original its a flop right? What happened to just watching a movie for entertainment? Why does everything have to be critiqued like its going to win best film from the academy? This film is not groundbreaking! Its not the best film I have ever seen! It was though a solid film, it is entertaining and the score fit perfectly. But the comparison to eclipse leaves me speechless...... and how that movie received better reviews then this movie has made me lose hope in critics.

shelly b

ok the show was awsome no it was really awsome the the movie was good.... i mean i understand all you saying it was rushed and stuff but to call it crap come on now i enjoyed it even my dad who hasnt seen the series liked it i know that they cut alot of stuff out (suki and kw :/) but i really think it not thts bad as people are letting on ..i loved watching the characters come to the big screen even though you didnt bond with like you did on the show .. i really liked the action i really hope they make sequels i i was a little disapoited that wernt exactly like the characters on the show but i think the actors pulled it off butbottom line is to put it like breakfeast foods the movie =oatmeal the show =pancakes sure pancakes are delcious but oatmeal is a good and hardy not quite as good as pacakes meal Uncle Iroh: I'M BEGGING YOU, PRINCE ZUKO! It's time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big question: who are you and what do YOU want?

http://kevinjahijohnson.webs.com Kevin J

Wow, this is a first. A backlash against a backlash. Sure, this movie wasn't a plague, and frankly there have been far worse movies released this summer. But we as a collective audience expected more out of this franchise and much more out of M. Night. The man made inexcusable shortcuts in his dialogue, chock full of exposition. With the budget he had, he could have shown a lot more. Things that the Fire Nation did, ongoings in the Earth Kingdom or what Aang (or Ang) went through. Only mentioned offscreen or in passing. This movie needed an extra 20 minutes. Maybe even a half hour. What did M. Night gain in having an adaptation so truncated, so shortened that the leads barely even had a chance to SMILE?! Oh, what's the use? I'll just watch the show. Bad movies are never, EVER as bad as disappointments. Those are the worst things to have happen to a fan.

Kris

That movie sucked how do u get the main characters name wrong how they left out lots of the story and important character and the firebending also pissed me off wtf there suppose to be able to shoot it from there freakin finger tips and hands and fists not scope it up from the ground and throw it at some one WTH!! it was just bad

Kana

I LOVED this movie! I'm a fan of the show and thought the movie did a good job. It's impossible to get every detail of a tv series into a 2 hour film. Shamalayan did an excellent job, and so did the actors. Looking forward to seeing Book 2 on the big screen!

DJJonnyBLaze

This was a lame and cheap representation of a good anime series. the charcters were wrong even the actors and persona's sucked. why is this Asian monk represented by this weak actor who is unbleviable even in the fight scenes. and the only asians in the movie are the villians. I understand they tried to cram the entire book of water into one 110 minutes but the movie could have atleast got the fight scenes and signifacant parts right. Ex. in the series its Aang that kills "Admiral Zhao" while in a spirit from in anger over the moon spirits death, it is Zuko that tries to save him. It important because Zuko is trying to save his would be assisin who refuses his hand. it is the first time Zuko starts to see what his fathers people are truly like and what his uncle is trying to teach him. This movie is a dissapointment for anyone who watched series.

Liza

bad directing, and casting. Should have just made it a cartoon movie. it would have made pepole less upset. I spent over $80 **** dollars taking my kids n friends to see this i want my money back.

Shadow

I've seen the movie twice now and I found it enjoyable both times, though moreso the second. Possibly because I was already expecting the changes and a slightly altered story. I think the script was at times weak, and the narration would push the story to go too fast and leave the audience wondering what just happened. Perhaps if the movie was a bit longer and let us get to know the characters a little more instead of just rushing it would be good. It could have also used more Appa, and displaying the idea that Appa is important to Aang. However, overall I still liked it. I liked the casting (Dev Patel was great and Noah Ringer did pretty good for his first time acting), and even though the ending was changed, I think it did a great job of enforcing the idea that was stated earlier, about the Avatar not hurting/killing people. So that was actually really cool. So overall, greatest movie ever? No. Enjoyable? Yes.

And enjoying a movie is what they're for!

cooper

#94 i understand how liking it is ok and enjoyable but when 99.9% of fans say it was terrible and had so many problems i think it has passed a point where if a majority says it was terrible than the studios and companies should really listen to what the fans WANT to see and make it happen...like u said isn't that who it should be enjoyable for, the fans, yet almost nobody seems to like the movie so with all do respect to those who did like it or enjoy it, i think majority really rules here

http://twitter.com/yaten24 Yaten24

I did not have the chance to see this in 3D however I am going to be doing it soon. I thought that for the average person this was ok and captured the feel of Book 1: Water from the animated series. As a fan of the series as I am I loved it. It was pretty damn good.

Greg

The first 20 minutes ad the last 20 minutes were really good. IMO, fanboys just are not going to like it. My brother whom ever saw the tv series really liked it. As a fanboy myself, there were parts that annoyed me. But people complaining of things like that Jet wasn't in the movie, well that's just pure fanboyism. A lot of complaints that I see are pure fanboyism. The Costumes, appa, fighting scences, bending, and CGI were all great. The actors were well chosen. If you watched just the first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes were the script was decent, they did a good job. Zuko and Iroh were perfect. The guy that played Aang was great. It was the middle of the show that really brought it down. The did sort of a fast forward, and had some lines that made some Power Ranger episodes look Emmy worthy. If they took out the 4 or 5 worst scenes, added more fighting footage, and told more of a foundation story about helping out the Earth Nation people to rebel against the Fire Nation occupation, this show would be really good. As it is, its not great, but it is not as bad as many of the fanboys are saying.

Nishaun

This movie wasnt up to expectations, but i still liked it! and if there is a sequel; I WILL BE THERE TO SEE IT, and i bet MOST if not all you guys who didnt like it will be there too!

Nishaun

@86 you just sound really dumb! Vanessa Hudgens and Taylor....really?

Donnie

2 B Frank - The movie itself was entertainingly Good!! Period As A Fan - All cons that have been stated before is absolutely correct. No development of character or story. I was all giddy as the show began, everything was playing out in the very beginning verbatim, but that didn't last long. I just don't understand why stray from a winning script, just give us a dilligent effort and actors to potray the part. There should've be atleast 5-6 more follow ups to complete the story, but if the next potential 2 or 3 are rushed in the same manner. The chance for "The Last Airbender" to have been a great anime crossover to film, will be resigned to being just another good eye candy movie. (imo dragonball didn't get that far) As far as the 3D, hollywood has decided to rape us eyes wide shut. Avatar (blue aliens) was ground breaking with technology, but all that have followed with the exception of 1 or 2, have done excellent at taking advantage of our greed for dazzling effects, while having us ponder our sanity as we stare at the screen, and say WTF!! Conclusion - "The Last Airbender" is worth the watch, but sorry if you are a fan of the animated show, Warning: You will be disappointed with expectations that are hardly met or, seemingly cared for.

Gabi

For some reason I always want to give Shyamalan a chance everytime he comes out with a movie but its always a dissapointment. Although I will say there were some things I did like about this movie, I felt that it had the potential to be so much better. I felt that Shyamalan had all the tools to make a great movie, I'm fine with the actors, especially Dev Patel and his uncle, and the effects and overall story but the script, the dialogue was horrible. I felt like I was watching a Nickelodeon's kids show, not a feature film. I know it was targeted to a younger audience but still who was the script supervisor?? The dialogue broke the main rule of script writing, never explain what is going on in the film with dialogue if you can do it visually, for example, every time the Fire Nation General exclaimed how he was going to use this scroll to find the moon and ocean spirits and destroy them, I cringed in my seat. I think that someone else should have written the script that really was the worst thing about the film, and if it improves for the next film i think the franchise can be saved. The only really good things about the film was the performances of Dev Patel and his uncle and the score by James Newton Howard was amazing.

PK

Honestly I'm confused. When you take out the horrendous script and the bad acting what exactly do you have left? CGI, that's what and it can't carry a movie. I've noticed that even in the comments left by people who like this stinking pile of crap you make a note of the sub par writing and the zero character development. Here's where this movie failed: The voice overs: Why?! You don't tell the audience what's happening. You show it. That opening scene was just insulting. If Katara's just going to read it to us why even have the words scrolling on the screen? The bending: How does it possibly look more realistic for them to do like five minutes worth of moves to bend a pebble? In real life no one is going to stand there and wait to get hit by the attack they know is coming via the multiple flashy moves. The script: My God, I think Mojo Jojo wrote this thing. When Katara wasn't telling us what was happening we got to watch some "acting" and there were a lot of instances where characters would say something and then two seconds later say it again like we needed a recap that soon. ex. "You remember that hidden library with all those scrolls and books I found." "Yes." "I found a scroll in the library." and "Katara, the fire nation is here with their machines." two seconds later "We find a boy in an iceberg, there's this weird light, and now the fire nation is here with their machines." Did we need to hear the words "fire nation and their machines" again, Jackson? It was painful enough the first time you said it. It was just so redundant and every time someone asked a question the automatic answer was "Yes!" They were making really important decisions. They could have at least put five seconds worth of hesitating in it to make it look like they thought about it before answering. The length: Stop defending him by saying it's really hard to put 20 episodes into one movie. Yes, we know that. Now that being said it might have been a bit easier if he hadn't put in all that exposition. It did absolutely nothing for the characters or plot and it might have also helped if he hadn't added scenes, like the conversations between Ozai and Zhao, that didn't even occur in the cartoon. I heard some people suggest that it might have worked better if Book One was two movies instead of one. It could work. The first Death Note movie was 2 hours long, had extra scenes that didn't happen in either the cartoon or the comic book, only covered 9 episodes and it was still a good movie. The added scene of Light discovering how flawed the justice system is made his willingness to use the Death Note more believable. It wasn't needed for the plot, but it was good character development. The Last Airbender had none of that with those extra scenes. The casting: I don't care that he white-washed it. I really don't. They white-washed Speed Racer and I still loved it. They did the same thing to the main character of Dragon Ball Evolution and, despite the fact that most people hated that movie, I liked it(it had better dialog then this and you know it). What pisses me off is that they justify their cast choices by saying that the best actors were chosen and that race didn't matter, but the actors were BAD! Dev pulls off a halfway decent Zuko which isn't saying much when you compare him to the others, but for everyone else it's like their faces are stuck on their default setting and there's someone off camera holding up cue cards with their lines on them. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt here and say that they only so royally sucked because the script was terrible, but it's hard. That are a lot more reasons why this is just the worse movie of all time, but those were the main ones for me. And to the people who say Avatar characters aren't Asian/Inuit I truly believe you only say that because Aang and the others are all depicted without those stereotyped characteristics you expect Asian characters to have ie. the slanted eyes and short stature. Admit it, because they don't have either of those they have to be white, right? And did anyone else notice the random black guy thrown in with the Air Nomads? It was like, "Look! The casting's not racist. We have a token black guy playing a semi-important character!"

Cael

I didn't mind it. I was able to get past the horrible dialogue, I could have done a better job, in fact I was adjusting the lines in my head during the movie, pretty sad since he is supposed to be a professional. the directing was horrible, so was some of the editing, some scenes jumped, like when Aang, kitara and the princess are all overlooking the fire nation coming in , sokka comes in scene flips and he says aang has something to ask you princess. he was standing there the whole time, he could have just asked. also after zuko is frozen in ice, katara looks at aang, overacts and says, aang we got to go. oh really? after all Aang been through, you think he doesn't know they should go? I feel sorry for Noah Ringer, personally I think there is a lot of talent there, not just the martial arts which he is exceptional. He handled the emotional scenes really well for the first acting job, you could read his feelings from his expression, but he may not get that many more acting jobs if book 2 and 3 dont get made because he may not get vindication. The bad dialogue could kill his future. He seemed to have worked so hard, to be able to do those moves and have a black belt after only 2 years is pretty impressive. He earned a shot. He did just finish shooting another movie but I have a feeling its a very small part, just a kid of one of the main characters that may have a few lines, that may not help. I do think they will make sequels, it cost 150 to make its probably going to hit 100 mil this weekend, along with world wide sales and dvds, it should turn a profit, next two movies will cost less to make because alot of effects are already done. But they need to get a new writer to pen the script

john

I am a fan of the series and I realived when I walked in that their were going to be cuts to the Movie I could have dealt with no King Bumi and no Jet but come on he could have kept the Kiosh iWarriors. And At least pronounce the names correctly. M. Night said I am Asian so I want the names to sound Asian but spare the fans that one injustice. Whoever did the writing was terrible my 5 year old cousin could have done a better job.and the ending scene made it seem like he could control the Avatar state. Plus the characters weren't even funny. And if you are going to make us pay for a 3-D movie at least use the technoligy. I took my glasses off halfway through because I realized it wasn't in 3-D.and what was that crap about the Avatar must not kill in the show all the Avatars killed people but Aang.as I said I knew stuff would be left out but I never expected it to be that bad. Thank You M.Night for Butchering a wonderful show and what could have been an excellent movie

konna

im on the the fence about the moive i want say i likeit nor did i hate it how much you want to bet the" race benders' are all slaping each other hands and celebrating probally dancing ..lol now lets get serious i get the rbs points . i really do alot of things were wrong about this movie the race was not one of them thta just my opion but your free to disagree so dont reply ok eveybody have a nice day love each other

ps the mvoie was not crap it was a terd

Joshua

@#67... I never watched the cartoon series. I am a Film/Television Production minor in college. I went and saw this movie in 3D for free with an older friend. We snuck into it. I only saw one commercial for this film, so I was anticipating some cool effects sequences. I didn't want to see it in 3D because I figured it wouldn't be great. I was right. Shamalamadingdong did not try hard. At all. The dialogue was beyond horrendous. I felt like I was being talked to as if I were 6 years old again, no joke. (I'm 22, btw) Jackson Rathbone is a joke in the "Twilight" series. Hell, Comcast had a thing up the other week about the 20 worst vampires in movie history, and he was number 11. This guy should have NEVER EVER been cast. I thought the rest of the casting was great. However, to be perfectly honest, I thought for sure Aang should have been asian. I may be wrong, though, since I never watched the series. A close friend/working partner of mine has written his own screenplay for this and I wish he were actually an employee of a studio. He could do it justice.

RchUncleSkeleton

Shaymalan is a total moron, he goes on about his reasoning of why he changed the pronounciations because they were "incorrect", listen up shaymalan, it's a fictional story and the names should be pronounced as they were meant in the story.....this isn't some story from an ancient Chinese scroll or anything. The moron also goes on about how things have to seem real and fit in with physics and such, but the fun in this story is the idea of being able to do things that aren't possible in reality. Shaymalan totally missed the entire point of this story, he left out a lot of major character building and completely changed almost every characters personality to suit his own screwed up version of what the movie should be.

No words can explain how I feel

This dumb shit I can't belive I wanted to see this movie after I thought to myself it was going to be bad. What the fuck is "uung"? Hmm? Or "E-roh". I am so mad at this movie, the poor people that saw the show and have to put up with this crap. My heart bleeds for you.

Shelaia

This move lacked in most areas and I had to struggle to put the pieces together. I really want M.Night to be successful but I am not sure where his career is headed. I pray the sequels are supervised by another director. Oh!!!!!!!!! He has another set of movies coming out starting with a movie called Devil....ooooo scary...

Jack

M. Night makes my blood boil...

http://www.flicksandbits.com dee8

so bad, so so so so bad, not even in an entertaining way

GERALD

i just read shyamalan's interview at http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/07/m_night_shyamalan_on_the_last.html?imw=Y&f=most-viewed-24h5 He claims to be an artist and just claims he can't adjst because "It would be like asking a painter to change to a completely different style." it was his vision and you can't do anything about it! what an ego! people claim that they watch his work and defend him because he is a genius. has anyone heard of the emperor's new clothes? they pretend to like it because it makes them geniuses themselves since like deserves like. heck, IT DOESN'T TAKE A GENIUS TO DISTINGUISH TRASH FROM CRAP! why can't they admit that is was bad it every sort of the word?

Shadow

I could write a small novel on every aspect of this movie that infuriates me. I won't. It would be a pity to invest so much time towards a movie that brought me to think "Oh, they're at the northpole. Not much longer 'til the end, right?". Terrible. Painful. I felt like I was being dragged through the horrible acting and lack of dialogue by my ankles instead of enjoying the ride. Very sad that such a great show was brought this low when there was no real reason for it to be made into a live action movie, anyways. Thankyou, Hollywood, for giving me the insatiable urge to watch some AtLA reruns. You make me appreciate how great the show really is.

JACG

To Mr. Billington, yes, to you, there is probably quite a bit to appreciate about this movie precisely *because* you've never seen the series. When I first heard that M. Night was directing, I had already resolved not to watch the movie, because I could already imagine what kind of disaster fiasco it would become. Based on comments and reviews, it's pretty obvious those fears were justified, as I'm sure many on this thread would agree. M. Night has had his 15 minutes, and...let's be honest...hasn't exactly had a stellar track record. Granted he has fans, but the number of actual fans that I'm even remotely aware of versus the bulk of the viewing public, he should stick to his own genre instead of ATTEMPTING to do a fantasy epic, and failing miserably. His reputation is circling the toilet enough as it is. Though indeed, Nickelodeon presented Avatar as a PG animated TV series, the sheer depth of all the little twists and turns in the plot, and the directions the story took, is what created the fanbase of the series...something which M. Night, by majority indication in this thread, utterly destroyed. I have not seen this film, I admit. But I don't intend to, when the majority vote is screaming "no".

Tee

Ok, the kids and I are totally massive fans of the animated series. We LOVE this show... and we were thrilled when the DVD came in the mail today. The intro was exciting cause it was so close to the show; with Sokka getting wet and complaining about it --- but seriously that was the only funny thing he did in the whole movie. Sigh. My 10 yr old daughter kept complaining about the lack of humor and the fact that Katara's hair loops were not right, Boomerang didn't look like boomerang and the tats, while cool looking were not right either. I really want to see the other two books, but more humor and more work on the story and dialog. Iroh is on my favorites cause he's a trip.... but he's flat and boring in the movie.

disappointed

M. Night did a horrible job with writing this movie. The TV show has far better writing than the movie. Granted he tried to squeeze in one whole season into one movie but it could have been done a lot better. Even the tweaks he made to the details of the characters and how firebenders use their powers made the movie worse than it could have been. Even the dialogues of the characters are better on the TV version. M. Night should hire himself a good writer.

Chris

I never saw the original cartoons, so I can't base it off them. However, I found it to be well done. It kept me entertained the entire time. I loved the martial arts. One of the things that I love most about it is that it's clean, which is rare in movies these days. I hope that it stays completely clean all the way through, and not get more and more corrupted as it develops like most movie series have and are. So many movies could have been so much better if they had just left out the profanity and nudity. Harry Potter is a great example of this. They didn't need to use any profanity, and defiantly didn't need to include the scene with the two characters holding each other nude. I wish the movie world was cleaner, but its just getting worse.

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Sound Off: Shyamalan's The Last Airbender - Your Thoughts?