The Last Airbender Movie Blurb by Shale July 2, 2010 I went to this PG rated kid movie because the trailers looked interesting. It is based on a successful animated TV series; Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is a fantasy based on the premise that there are magical benders who can control the four elements, Water, Air, Earth and Fire. I did enjoy the movie despite its faults, but I am not a critic. For that you can take the word of the aggregate critics who only gave it 9% favorable reviews. They really trashed it for poor script, dialogue, acting, directing, CGI and even the 3-D (I elected to see the 2-D version). So, this is one of those series movies that will likely never see another sequel, even tho at the end it was clearly set up for just that. The Last Airbender already has a kid audience on television and an appropriate PG rating so it may do well at the box office despite being trashed by almost every adult critic. Kids may not really notice the problems the critics mention but will likely just get carried away by the story that they are already familiar with and the effects . For those unfamiliar, a 12-year-old Airbender named Aang (Noah Ringer) is the avatar that keeps order among the different elemental kingdoms. Aang the reluctant Avatar He mysteriously disappeared for a hundred years and reemerges from the ice in the present time when the Firebenders are taking over all the other kingdoms with their steel weaponry. He is rescued by a Waterbender, Katara (Nicola Peltz)and her older brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone). Aang, Katara and Sokka Fighting the Good Fight They are pursued by Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) the disgraced son of the Firebender king, in order to regain his father's favor. Prince Zuko Fighting the Bad Fight The rest of the story is of the untrained young Avatar getting his necessary skills to bend all the elements - in this case Water and having chats with a mystical dragon who directs him as the Fire Kingdom wages war. One thing I noticed is the definitely East Asian aspect of this story with costuming and all the magic stances appearing to be Tai Chi exercises and reference to Chi Force, yet the characters were Caucasian actors. It was a little distracting but I just thought it was artistic license; stir up the mix with juxtaposition or something. I later read that there was some controversy about this. Even tho the three main characters of the Fire Kingdom were Indian.
I have to say, despite the horrible acting and dialogue, I loved it. It clearly could have been done wayyyyy better but I still didn't feel like seeing it was a waste of my money. At least there was a good story to it. I've watched the cartoon a bit with the 6 year old I babysit and it is cute.
