So, I just got home from seeing The Last Airbender....
And dude, I admit it, I was worried out of my mind about putting my favorite cartoon on the silver screen. But it was good! Really good!
Pros:
1. Jackson Rathbone? HE IS THE PERFECT SOKKA. HE LOOKS LIKE HIM. HE SPEAKS LIKE HIM. HE'S PLAYFUL AND PROTECTIVE. I LOVE IT. HE IS SOKKA.
2. Zuko (Dev Patel) was played as a very sympathetic villain. I was worried, because movies need villains, right? What if he would lose the sympathetic edge he had in the series, that thing that had us rooting for him while at the same time, we wanted him to lose, too. Don't worry. It's totally still there. He's an emo little woobie badass. He has his whole "I must regain my honor" schtick from the series. He says it ALL THE TIME.
3. The special effects ruled. Action sequences were epic.
4. Noah Ringer is the most adorable little airbender to ever hit the face of the planet. He's an excellent Aang. He plays all the emotion of losing Gyatso and the Monks, the fear of being the Avatar at only twelve, the rage, the happiness--it's all on his face. It's so accessible, and that makes him really believable as a twelve year old thrust into this.
5. Seychelle Gabriel (Yue) is really, REALLY pretty. Sadly, I can't find a good picture of her in her white hair as Yue. But trust me--SHE IS REALLY PRETTY.
6. In order to get the full story across, Katara narrates in a voice over from time to time, and at first I didn't like it so much, but it came to grow on me. Soon, I felt like she was telling this to her grandchildren, and that I was one of them, curled up in the folds of her robe and listening to her tell about how she and Grandpa Aang saved the world. :)
7. Aasif Mandvi got to stretch his legs into some serious acting. Usually, he's a hilarious correspondent on The Daily Show, so imagine my surprise when he comes out going all Admiral Zhao on me. He did it well. (Even though in my mind he was Senior Naval Correspondent Zhao...whatever)
8. We see Azula at the end--in the moment where the Fire Lord tells her that Zuko's kinda being a traitor with Iroh and Zhao's dead so now I want you to get the Avatar, and she says "I will father." BUT YOU CAN TOTALLY TELL, EVEN NOW, THAT BITCH IS CRAAAAAZY. SHE'S GOT SOME SORT OF LIP TWITCHING GOING ON LIKE WHOA. IT WORKED. AZULA IS BATSHIT INSANE AND SHE'S GONNA SHOW YOU THAT EVEN IN .5 SECONDS OF SCREENTIME. WHAT.
Cons.
1. I was not a huge fan of Nicola Peltz as Katara. Don't misconstrue, she was a great actress, but I felt like she wasn't mature enough for the part. She was too young--I felt like she was closer to Aang's age, when in reality, she's supposed to be a good two years older than him. Something about her portrayal didn't click all the way with me. She wasn't determined enough. She was kinda wimpy. Zuko KO's her in .5 seconds--that is NOT the Katara I know and love in the series!
2. THERE WAS NO SUKI. WTF M. KNIGHT SHAMALAMADINGDONG, WTF.
3. There was a very heavy-handed aesop on going green and machinery destroying our earth. It was always, "The firebenders are here...with thier machines." Like it's really bad to have machines. Every. Single. Time. "...AND THEIR MACHINEEEEEES." I was like I GET IT M. KNIGHT SHAMALAMADINGDONG, I WON'T LET THE WATER RUN, OKAY. It got really old really quickly.
4. Avatar is a funny cartoon. The movie had to cut stuff. And the humor was one of the things it cut. Oh, it was still there, there are a few funny moments throughout that I looooved (Sokka KICKING A FIRE NATION SOLDIER RIGHT IN THE BALLS, YOU WIN FOREVER SOKKA, YOU WIN FOREVER). But it's primarily an action movie, and I missed some of the jokes. Sokka is an inherently sarcastic and hilarious character--yet he was without that at many times. Places where Sokka should have had a joke, an eyeroll, or a witty comment were gone and replaced with actual concern and actual emotions that are actual. WTF.
5. It went slowly in the beginning, giving a lot of exposition, and then felt rushed in the middle, cutting what could have been some great scenes. I missed some of the subplots from the show. It ran under two hours--there was enough time to add some more bulk to it!
6. They changed the pronounciation of some of that names. It was the Ahhh-vatar, Ahhh-ng, Sohhhhh-kka, and Eeeee-roh.
7. The firebenders can't bend fire if there isn't any around. They have to carry it with them. Only masters like Iroh can pull fire out of nowhere. Um, WTF. That is not even how it works at all. Just, WTF.
8. Aang falls in and out of Spirit World really easily, and if you watch the series, you know that that is NOT at all how it works. It takes work to get in there! You can't just hop in and out whenever it's convienient!
9. Uh, there was no epic water monster. Aang just uses a wall of water to scare off the firebenders. I miss the water monster.
But all in all, I really loved it, and I can't wait for book two!!