M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

My husband and I are going to go see the movie tomorrow with our kiddo but my soundtrack arrived today.

I'm very, very disappointed. I'm one of the folks that have been hoping the soundtrack from the show (the one done by the Track Team) would be released for us to buy. If there was ever a case of Big Name syndrome this movie track is it. James Horner has whipped a big, brassy, orchestral soundtrack that has a lot more in common with Lord of the Rings than The Last Airbender. None of the familiar themes are present, there are no eastern or asian instruments used. All the character is gone, there is nothing in it that remotely connects it to what made the show tick.

 

Wait one minute! Aangs name in the show is pronounced Ong?

Did Shyamalan NOT watch this brillant cartoon at all? I had such high hopes for this movie and now I dont know if I even want to take my friend with me to go watch it!

 

Aang is Ong.
Iroh is E-roh
Sokka is Sookuh or something, you only hear his name said like twice.

 

Lets not get crazy, now. It's not as bad as Twilight...

The movie isn't on-par with the show, obviously, but it's a movie made for kids; no one should have expected amazing performances from anyone. And if you did, it's yourself you can blame for being disappointed.

I don't think it's amazing by any stretch. I enjoyed it for what it was and little else. It's not a replacement for the show, it's not the successor or anything else. I found the vast majority of people at the Midnight launch were young teens who dressed up...and they loved it (see: target audience). There were some adults and they all responded like the majority of the people in this thread "Oh wow, so disappointing." That's easily because you're not the target audience.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not defending the movie or trying to change anyone's opinions, but I think everyone is being pretty harsh for a movie that has a target range of 7-12 and I'm sure they'll love it. The charm of the show isn't there, so there is little appeal to adults.

On a side note, though I didn't like that Iroh wasn't fat...but the actor did a great job capturing Uncle's essence.

 

hmmmm I really dont understand his decision to change the sound of their names like that.....

EDIT: I also was raging when we found out Iroh wasnt going to be fat. That just takes away the greatness of his jail sentence when beefs up like a Greek God! lol

 

I seem to recall him stating that the film's pronunciations are the proper ones, the series apparently did it wrong. However I don't know how he justifies that claim, but according to Shyamalan, the change in pronunciation wasn't his creation.

 

I can't say I blame you. In talking to a friend we just decided that there was too much to cram into an hour and two minute movie. We just don't care about the characters like we did in the 20+ episodes of the shows. It just felt really rushed.

As I've said, kids and early teens will like it. Adults and young adults will mostly think it's shallow and empty. Overall, I still think the movie could have been better and, really, should have been. If they go through with the next two movies, I hope they take remove M. from the mix and lay it over to someone who has handled one of the Harry Potter films; someone with experience compressing a huge story into something manageable, while still retaining the emotion and importance.

 

Damn that was harsh!!!!!

 

You know, this really sums everything up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blxy6k_Mlrg

 

LMAO I loved that episode!

 

If you only read one review of this movie, it should be this one:
M. Night Shyamalan Finally Made A Comedy

Do they give an Oscar for epic snark reviews? Because this one wins it.

 

I'm gonna go ahead and throw out Roger Ebert's review. Because he apparently is laboring under the delusion that The Last Airbender takes place in the future.

 

This one is a definite pass on my book. Acting was super bad and the dialogue was stale.

 

No, that's Shyamalan's delusion apparently. Miami Herald also mentions that the story is set a war-torn future world. One of his many improvements, I presume.

 

I really hope they give this piece of crap the Hulk treatment and redo the movie in a few years. Hopefully it will be written/directed by someone who understands the concepts of "dramatic tension" and "character development" and "excitement".

 

I am so pissed with all these negative comments about the show. I was so lookig foward to seeing this and now I wont go waste my money on it thats for sure. I can believe that Shyamalan messed this up as bad as everyone is saying! What kind of input did the creators of the cartoon have in this project? What is their takes on how much of a piece this movie has turned out to be?

If this was supposed to be a trilogy what are the odds now that the other two wont even get made?

 

Okay, I shelled out ten bucks to see this movie in 3-D, and it wasn't in 3-D! I could take off my glasses and it would have made no difference.

The previews popped out more!

 

We went and saw it in 2D yesterday. Was it great? No. Was it as bad as some reviews are making it out to be? I don't think so. We enjoyed ourselves and will probably buy the DVD.

Seriously, we're Star Wars fans. It takes a lot more than stilted dialog to put us off M. Night needs to be fired, preferably the guy that played Sokka too. The guy playing Zuko was a bit too reserved, he needs to be the raging hothead we all know and love.

**************SPOILERS***************

What the frick was up with the end? I was seriously looking forward to Aang teaming up with the Ocean spirit and instead of the tidal wave wiping out the Fire Nation ships it just hovered. . . And loomed. . . And loomed. . . And the Fire Nation ships all ran away? Whaaa?

Zhao getting drowned in the air by four waterbenders was not the same as the Ocean spirit taking a bit of personal vengeance either, that was very lame.

"I'm Katara, and I'm the last bender in the Southern Water Tribe" did make me laugh. What was wrong with, "I won't let you take him!"??

 

THey went back and converted it for 3D. It was pretty crappy.

 

As much as I agree with you, the thing that most people seem to miss is that this is a kids movie. 100%. There was no reason to think it was going to be the Shawshank Redemption. Sure, the show is clearly for kids with some adult elements, but it's clear that M. didn't want anything to do with adults. He sucked some of the fun and charm out of it, but that doesn't make it "grown up".


One thing that bugged me was the long, drawn out motions they all did to bend; in the show it was always quick motions. In the movie they did like 10 minute dance steps to throw a little water.

 

Yes but even kids movies have story arches.


And I totally agree on the bending. I was expecting someone to do the macarena.