Monday, July 5, 2010

Mr. A's review of...The Last Airbender (Avatar: The Last Airbender)


The Story
While on an unsuccessful hunting trip, Katara and her brother Sokka stumble upon a massive sphere made of ice. Held within it's confines sits Aang, the last of the Air Nomads and the next incarnation of a powerful being known as the Avatar. As the Avatar, Aang is destined to bring peace to the world and is the only human being who can master all forms of Element Bending.
However, discovering Aang's release, Zuko, the disgraced prince of the Fire Nation, sets out to capture the newly released Avatar in an attempt to regain his former honor.

The Review
Where do I start? This movie is like watching Tony Hawk blasting down a half-pipe and then slipping on the one banana peel at the bottom. Started incredibly (it opened JUST LIKE the TV show!!!), but then the pacing took a big ole' Louisville Slugger and disfigured the rest of it. It seemed like M. Night tried to take the original 20 episodes and tried to cram as much information as he could into the 2 sum-odd hours he had for the movie which ended up forcing absolutely useless sequences and basically killed whatever character development and humor that they should have included. The dialogue was as bland as paper mixed with water and whoever wasn't an actor before this movie couldn't convey emotion to save their lives.

The Verdict
If you don't know the original story and you've never watched the show, you won't understand a freakin' thing that's going on. This film feels more like a refresher course in the original series more than anything else. If you really (and I mean REALLY) liked the original cartoon then it might be worth taking a look at, but if you're just looking for something fun to watch then you should steer clear of this and go see The A-Team.
6/10



Jaa, mata,
Mr. A (Executive Fire Bender)