How M. Night Failed The Last Airbender Movie *CAUTION*SPOILER ALERT*

How M. Night Failed The Last Airbender Movie *CAUTION*SPOILER ALERT*
Friday, July 9, 2010 at 12:33am
To all those who have been reading my notes over the past year, I thank you for listening in
on the little tid-bits of of information I researched to share with you about the Nickelodeon cartoon 'Avatar: The Last Airbender's' screen adaptation. I must admit that despite many of the horrendous reviews that The Last Airbender (TLAB) received, I still had an inkling of hope that the movie couldn't be THAT BAD. I thought, much like the 'Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li' it would be mildly entertaining when there was nothing else on television to watch.

At about 3 am yesterday morning, I decided to try my luck and find a copy of this movie online. I was wrong. M. Night had truly failed to capture the innocence, fun, and drama of the show and failed this movie in a multitude of ways:

(1) Too Much Explanation::

Within the first ten minutes of the film, my brain turned to mush. I was caught in a very long drawn out reincarnation of Katara's narration of the past and current state of their mystical (fantasy) world. She spent a great deal of the time explaining her world, instead of showing it to us. She spoke about spirits and other such things that had no place being talked about in the beginning of the film.

We as the viewers learn too much about the characters and their world only through dialogue, and then occasionally see something new. Katara talks about her mother being killed instead of us SEEING something. Aung(as it's pronounced) talks about running away from home (in the first 15 mins. of the film) instead of us SEEING anything. Any relevant character detail was told to us through dialogue instead of a quick flash-back or a real time display. We are told Aung is the last airbender before he does ANY airbending. At all. Katara narrated the beginning of pretty much every scene she was in, which became truly annoying. The most ridiculous for me was during a fight between Zuko and Katara, Katara takes the time to give her name and background history to Zuko, who's trying to attack her.

(2) Too Much Repetition::

The information that M. Night decided to give us, though with good intentions, was repeated constantly. Either in an attempt to help newbies to Avatar understand, or maybe to drill in (what he thought were key facts), it was unnecessary and made me feel like I wasn't competent enough to understand it the first 2 or 3 times I heard something. In the first 15-20 mins of the movie, Aung must've said he "ran away" about five times. General Zhao (who had a slight Indian accent) talked about the "moon spirit scroll he found in the Great Library" throughout the entire film. Whenever he found it possible to talk about Zuko's banishment, M. Night squeezed it in, even having it played out in a flash back with narration by a random little Indian boy.

(3) Lack of Adventure::

It is safe to say that the majority of this movie was dialogue and considering that the script was pretty rudimentary, there was nothing else to fall back on. The beginning of the film took place in the Southern Water Tribe and then went to an Air Temple for a few short minutes, then to a pseudo Earth Bending Concentration Camp/Village, then back at a different Air Temple for a couple of minutes and finally the film ended in the Northern Water Tribe. There was no sense of the trio jet-setting to different villages, meeting people, having fun, bending and learning new techniques, nothing. There was hardly any interaction between the three main characters other than to EXPLAIN something about themselves. There really was no chasing after the Auvatar (as it was pronounced) on Zuko's part, but just him saying (over and over) I want my honor back.

(4) Blase Bending::

The most anticipated part of this movie was the bending. I was hoping that if anything would get me through this film, it would be some skillful bending. Unfortunately, the cartoon bending was ten times better than this live action stuff. The bending technique was neither fluid nor fast enough for my taste. The only 'spectacular' bending we saw was at the end of the film, and even that wasn't all too great because it's the same scene in the trailers being played. The earth-bending was pretty lame and it took Aung FOREVER to produce some good air-bending.

M. Night also decided to change the bending technique for the Fire Nation, stating that all other benders were limited to a source, so he limited the fire-benders to bending from a source of fire. This to me made NO SENSE because there is limitless access to water (as we saw Katara learn to pull moisture from the air), earth (there's endless FLOOR beneath them) and air (hello, what do we breath?). The firebenders essentially had to have a candle flame around them where ever they went, throwing massive fireballs into the city in the last scene. Only the highest level of benders can produce their own fire (ie. Uncle Eero (as it's pronounced) and seeming firelord Ozai). Zuko however needs to walk around with a lantern though his 'chi' can warm him. This to me weakens them because all one had to do, was douse a burning flame and the benders would be powerless.

So I question: what of the fire prodigy Azula? Does she need a source? And how do they produce lightening? They wait for a storm?

(5) Lack of Characters::

While I understand that it's hard to squeeze in 20 episodes into 90 minutes, this movie could've had a lot more if they had cut some unnecessary scenes with reiterated information and then added an extra thirty minutes. But M Night chose not to, so in the hour-and-a-half we only met Aung, So-Kah (as it was pronounced), Grandma (gran gran), Princess Yue, Commander (Admiral) Zhao, Master Pakku (though I don't remember hearing a name) Uncle Eeeroh, FireLord Ozai and at the very end we see a disheveled and twitchy Azula.

There was no Haru and his father (though we saw a random asian Earth bending kid and his dad-neither had names), no Jet and his merry gang, no Avatar Roku (who is very important), no King Bumi, no Chief Arnook, No fiancee for Yue, and (most importantly for me) no Suki and no Kyoshi warriors. Though M. Night says that he shot the scenes and later removed them because 'they began to take over the movie,' he does have a statue of Avatar Kyoshi in the pseudo earthbending prison concentration camp. That to me, make NO sense to give people a reminder of how GREAT they are while IMPRISONED but if that was his nudge to the girls, then so be it.

And while Appa and Momo were there, we only saw Momo twice and Appa was only there when they traveled and then in the last scene of the movie. It was almost as though they were absent.

(6) Bad Acting/Script

The nail that put this coffin in the ground was truly the bad acting. And that I can not blame whole heartedly on the actors. They were working off the direction and script that M. Night provided them. The script sounded like (no joke) a first grader's essay on "Avatar the Last Airbender." It seemed like he made this movie for four and five year olds instead of and audience with the capacity to spell their own name legibly and add double digit numbers.

Though he mentioned that it would be darker, it was sad to not see any of Sokka's wit and plan-making abilities. It was over shadowed by Rathbone's stilted acting (that would better suit his role as the undead in Twilight) and mildly inflected voice. Nicola's Katara lacked about 80% of what made Katara who she is/was. No real fire, no real passion, she was passive and constantly narrating everything so she didn't have much to act. As for Ringer, he's a newcomer with no acting experience. And all I will say, is that it shows 100% that this was his first attempt at acting and it doesn't come natural to him. Dev Patel was okay but could've been more of an enraged Zuko who wanted to capture Aang by any means necessary. Uncle Iroh was less jolly, less wise and probably spoke the least in the movie. The only one who seemed committed to his role was Admiral Zhao...trying to express how power hungry he was. I was most disappointed in the portrayal of Azula who in the show is the vision of perfection yet is made to look sketchy and twitchy. She looked like the crazy broad she was in the show's finale.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST,

THE HOLES::

This movie just lacked the personality of the show, the personality of the characters, and the overall feeling of bonding and drama. The movie was truly disjointed with an inability to get a fix on the time, a lack of showing, an outpour of telling and unnecessary changes which would've helped in the development of the characters. The setting really backfired in my opinion, limiting the movie mainly to the water tribes and not allowing the kids to leave and travel and meet. I would've accepted some of the changes if they introduced something new and improved to me, but they didn't. And so the changes and omission of plot and characters really did make this movie just lack. And finally, there was not an inkling of Aang feeling anything for Katara. It didn't even really feel like these three kids had become friends.

The white casting was truly the LEAST of this film's problems.

There were only two things I thought was decent: mentioning Hama as the last bender of the Southern Water tribe before Katara's birth and the non-bending fight scene between Zuko and Aung.

Over all this is a sad moment for both the fans and the production company. First M. Night has revealed that he's finished the second script and that he's ready to put Azula on the screen very dark and demented, but I'm hoping that he doesn't. We may be upset and think that M. Night got what he deserves for changing things around and causing a racial riot, but this is a sad moment for the fans too. I'm quite upset that the first attempt to make this beautiful show a live-action film failed, and I'm sad to know that M. Night wants to continue the franchise and drag it further in the dirt. I'm even more upset that we, the fans, are going to have to wait until all the dust clears on this blemish in Avatar history before someone else can do this show justice. ::SIGH:: Now, I must wait again to see Toph do her bad@ss earth and metal bending and to see the epic finale that was Sozin's Comet on the big screen.

Avatar Update

Avatar Update
Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 3:51pm



It's been a million and one years since I last wrote on this thing, but I'm coming on here to talk to those who know about 'The Last Airbender Movie" and its turbulent time in the press.

This essay I promise will be shorter than the last.

Well, it's been announced by M. Night Shamalan in a recent interview that he does have plans of making a three-part movie which of course will reflect the three books (seasons) of the Avatar show. He also released statements stating that the movie will be "darker" than the the light and almost whimsical nature that show has AND that he will address the issue of Prince Zuko's mom (if you've seen the show in it's entirety you would know that there is some wonder to her existence and at the end, Zuko approaches his father on her whereabouts, but we never see a reunion). He also let is slip that Toph will be 'Asian' which stemmed this entire entry::

This guy proclaimed up and down through out this entire interview, that this movie was not based on race. That he was more so looking for people of all ethnicities and that he chose those who he thought would "best capture the character."

THEN he claimed that he chose the cast he did because he "wanted everyone to be able to see themselves" in the film. WTF?

Ok, so I'm now a little peeved at M. Night because it seems like he doesn't know how to address the idea of white washing the characters of the show. First he said it was open to everyone, then he said he was going for the rainbow effect so that everyone could feel included? Horse doodie. I GUARANTEE YOU I more than LIKELY will NOT SEE any BLACK PEOPLE hanging around Aang or Katara and I BET YOU that NO BLACK PERSON will be used to portray any of the secondary or tertiary characters on the show. And guess what? If this movie was more of an accurate portrayal of the show, I'd kindly watch a film that had no black characters in it, because guess what? On Avatar there weren't any black characters. There were dark-skinned people but none of them BLACK. I don't even think I'll see people of hispanic origin in this film...so I don't buy that.

And according to some disgruntled fans, one of his casting calls wanted "Actors of Caucasian decent and other ethnicities." If you were not discriminating, then why not just say "All actors, between ages, 18-blah blah, martial arts a plus..."

Then he tries to strip the movie of its 'Ancient Orient' feel by removing the Chinese writing that we saw used in the show, but rather is going to use/make some pre-historic "oriental" looking pictoral language. M Night, what the frig is wrong with you?

I don't know how he wants me to believe that Mai and Tai Lee are people of South Asian and "South Asian Looking" decent, when they are obviously anything but. I mean, I respect the people of different ethnic backgrounds for doing this movie- I mean, hey, you want to make money, but please M. Night do NOT make it seem like you couldn't have gone to San Francisco and found some well deserving Asian actors with Martial Arts techniques...sh*t, Bruce Lee founded Jeet Kun Doe there, don't tell me you couldn't find ANYONE!

What he won't admit is that he just wanted people of a Caucasian audience who didn't care about Avatar to come see it. Prime example: Jackson Rathbone is starring in a lead role as Sokka. This is the same guy who plays one of the vamp kids in 'TWILIGHT' which means that all Twilight Saga and Robert Patterson groupies will probably flock to this film because of Jackson's association to his past movie roles and co-stars. And the girl who plays Katara is cute, but her last movie was a few years back and he's probably hoping he can get some time to shine as an 'actor-making director' and have her and Noah Ringer (who plays Aang) to be his big-break kid stars. And if that was the case, he could've brought in some really talented underrated Asian youths to the fore-front and be like the next Ang Lee

Quite frankly, if I could cast the movie (and note this is a FANTASY casting) I would've have the little 'boy' from "The Golden Child" J.L Reate (which seems to have actually been a girl) OR someone with that look, and Zhang Xi Yi as either Tai Lee, Mei or even AZULA! Russell Wong to play fire lord Ozai (cause he plays BAD really GOOD) and throw in Jason Scott Lee and Robin Shou for good measure. He could've even had Dante Basco (the voice of Prince Zuko on the show) play Prince Zuko. It wouldn't be the first time someone casted middle aged people to play teenagers. ::shakes head::

Either way, I'm pretty disappointed in M. Night. His logic seems to be wavering and I can't believe someone with an EAST INDIAN background would succumb to pressures to make his cast white or "seemingly free of ethnic restraints" to make a buck on a show that was pretty much AWESOME on its own right and then wait for the people who will spend their money to watch it AKA THE FANS to tell him how wrong he is.

I don't know if I want to endorse this film. The previews are looking hot- but I'm not feeling the 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' feel without it the casting that will truly bring it to life. Maybe I will see it, but I don't know man...I don't know...







"The End of Avatar" by Jayun on Deviantart.com

The Last Airbender Movie....and the drama it's causing BEFORE it's released...

The Last Airbender Movie....and the drama it's causing BEFORE it's released...

Friday, August 28, 2009 at 5:09am

The movie that is causing more trouble mid-production than I've ever seen (lol). The Last Airbender, based on the incredibly cool show Avatar, (not to be confused with James Cameron's movie Avatar which got the rights for the name before this movie) the Last Airbender is hitting theaters next summer and is getting a lot of words from people. Brought to us by M. Night Shyamalan (whose last movies haven't been so hot) we are following the story of a boy name Aang, the last airbender and the Avatar, the one person who can restore peace to the world that is currently being overrun by the evil fire nation. This movie is going to be the first of three, following the show's three season run starting with the Water book, then Earth, then the HOTTEST book, Fire.

Why is this movie causing sooo much commotion? The kids who are casted to play lead characters Aang, Sokka and Katara...are all caucasian. What's worse? The fire nation is going to be played by Indian and Middle Eastern descent actors while Earth nation characters are to be played by Korean actors.

I know to some it's really a question of "so what?" but to other's it's really not. To many, it's a version of the media's "white washing" and it has left many fans outraged, seeking you tube and other media outlets as a refuge to sound off. Many want to know what was M. Night thinking to change the cast from its anime inspired Asian appeal? And by Asian, they mean Central and East of Central Asian appeal.

Now you may be wondering, why M. Night decided to do this. Well for the most part from what I've read and seen across the internet, M. Night looked for a boy who embodied Aang, martial arts wise. He found it in the ten year old Noah Ringer. However, many are still wondering why he couldn't find it, in a boy who looked much like Aang- a boy of Central/Eastern Asian descent. Furthermore Sokka, the warrior of the Southern Water tribe, whose people are describe as Inuits and depicted as darker skinned, is being portrayed by Twilight's Jackson Rathbone. His sister, the water bender Katara (who is equally dark) is played by Nicola Peltz and who plays relentless, bad-boy, fire-bending Prince Zuko? Dave Patel. Yes, homeboy from Slumdog Millionaire. And word on the street is the he wasn't even first pick. It was going to go to Jesse McCartney. That would've make two nations (Water Nation and Fire Nation) Caucasian, the last Air Bender (and surviving Air Nation citizen) Aang caucasian AND left the Earth kingdom up for ethnic grabs.

Now why are many asking questions about the changes to the show? One, it's based in the art form of Anime, a Japanese form of animation and two, even the lettering characters and city names all sound like it could be from Central or East Asia. There are debates saying that because "India is Asia," people should be satisfied that technically "Asians" are acting. But a lot of people aren't buying that, especially since it was a last minute move. If Jesse McCartney was still playing Zuko, then what would they say?







Picture of Cast and Cartoon Before Jesse McCartney resigned.




Top Left: Aang: Noah Ringer

Right: Sokka: Jackson Rathbone

Bottom Left: Katara: Nicola Peltz

Bottom Right: Zuko: Jesse McCartney





Dave Patel as Prince Zuko




It seems that M. Night and the studios decided to quite this squabble by declaring that they wanted ethnic diversity- Caucasians playing Water Nation, Indians (and Indian looking) playing Fire and Korean (and possibly stray Central and Eastern Asian) actors playing Earth. But it still didn't shut the crowd up.

The majority of the movie will circle around Prince Zuko and his fire nation entourage, Aang, Sokka and Katara as they try to find Aang a master and as Zuko tries to reclaim his honor. Because this movie is based on a season long of 30-minute episodes, it will have to be considerably condensed and so who knows how many other ethnic people we may see. The point remains that the main characters are the faces that will be on the screen for a lot of the running time, so...what can you really say to appease those who feel like they're not going to see faces whom many identified with?

From Top Left going Clockwise:









Aang: Noah Ringer
Katara: Nicola Peltz
Sokka: Jackson Rathbone
Zuko: Dave Patel



This also comes after an allegedly "disappointing" depiction of another well loved anime show-turned-movie Dragon Ball Z, where the heroes were "white." People brushed that one off saying that the characters came from different "planets" and therefore had no ethnicity despite the origin of the show (JAPAN) and names like Goku.







Dragon Ball Z cartoon to movie characters Goku and Burma played by Justin Chatwin and Emmy Rossum respectively.



Some people are taking it even further asking why the movie version villains (fire nation) are "brown," but I'm not even going down that road.

The television show itself was created by two men of European descent and the voices were of multiple ethnicities including African-American actor Phil LaMarr and Filipino actor Dante Basco and the show earned an Emmy among many other TV awards.

As for me? I'm iffy about the movie because it's live action. If Nickelodeon was releasing an animated movie version of Avatar, I would be in there like swim wear, but I'm not too sure that M. Night, whose vision I adored (until Lady in the Water) can carry off something that I really grew to love. Massive water walls, air slaps, fire emanating from fists and heels, stealthy martial arts that I've only truly seen done to justice in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero (yeah...Asian)...I don't know man. Now apparently Dave Patel is a black-belt in Tai Kwon Doe, which makes him able to do all his stunts and would make for an interesting watch, but...I still don't know.There's going to be a lot of CGI in this flick and I don't know if my eyes can take it if it's not done right. M Night is really going to have to pull that one out his booty. And really good too, because if this one flops, no one's going to want to see two more bad movies. I read that he's already working on the script for the second flick and that this whole trilogy may take up to six years to complete. He's not taking a line from Peter Jackson with the continuous filming thing...which is going to tough to explain why Aang (who is 12 in the show) looks 10 (Ringer's actual age) at the beginning of the movie but then looks 16 by the end of the final movie when only about a year (if so much) was to have elapsed. lol. It's kind of funny now that I think about it.

And knowing that there will be a CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF CHANGES...I don't know. I'm still trying to deal with the changes on one of my Book-to-TV shows, so I don't know if I can deal with this. Let's just see how good the second trailer coming out in four months look and maybe I'll think about going to see a matinee showing just because the original creators had a hand in it.

All I have to say is that they're lucky the Harry Potter movie is scheduled for the fall. Otherwise...::smh:: Lets see what other movies we have in store for next summer....

Check these links for the buzz and cast listings:
http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/07/02/a-full-rundown-and-update-the-last-airbender-trilogy/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0938283/