The Spoiler-Free Review of The Last Airbender.
I'd been hearing bad reviews before I watched it, but a part of me had hoped they were all from people who were already biased about the "Race-Bending" campaign. ...They were not. It was bad. Its was just...BAD. I can hardly wait for Rifftrax to come out with something for this movie so that I can actually enjoy it in some way.
To sum up the major flaws: M. Night Shayamalan, both writer and director, which are pretty much the biggest areas this movie went bad.
Characters were not allowed to speak, apparently, unless they had exposition and plot-devices in every other sentence. As such, they were reduced to shallow, empty characters that lacked any of the personalities that made them lovable in the first place. Everything was taken too seriously as well, which meant practically ALL THE HUMOR you liked finding in the original series was cut out. The funniest moment was by Sokka, reaching for a boomerang that wasn't there. That was the comedy. The end.
Emotional highs in this movie were not built up properly. Aang is angry/despairing. How do you know? BECAUSE THE GLOWING SAYS SO. I don't actually blame the actor for that at all. What the scene needed wasn't a better actor, but better directing to help the mood along. Some flashbacks maybe could help? (Ones that actually make you care, I mean.) Transitions into moods were choppy and distracting, and ended up leaving the scenes, on whole, empty.
I think MNS wrote this movie for the people who've never seen the series, and then directed it for all the people who have. So the plot's laid out so you can't possibly miss anything ("Yes, Zhao, we heard you the first five times, you were in a SECRET LIBRARY.") but all the emotional moments are just assumed, because come on, you've know this scene, you loved it in the series.
This review really isn't influenced by the "Race-Bending" issue, but...I'd be lying if I said at certain points in the movie I wasn't feeling it. Particularly when looking at Ozai and Iroh and thinking, "...I'm really supposed to believe these two are brothers?"
Did I mention how the names are "mispronounced"? Yes, technically it's in the TV series the names were mispronounced, but...come on Shyamalan, you don't need to go all elitist on us and make everyone say the names "correctly". Just stick to what the fans know and love already, you can at least give them that, right? Right?
........no?
Jerk.
To sum up the major flaws: M. Night Shayamalan, both writer and director, which are pretty much the biggest areas this movie went bad.
Characters were not allowed to speak, apparently, unless they had exposition and plot-devices in every other sentence. As such, they were reduced to shallow, empty characters that lacked any of the personalities that made them lovable in the first place. Everything was taken too seriously as well, which meant practically ALL THE HUMOR you liked finding in the original series was cut out. The funniest moment was by Sokka, reaching for a boomerang that wasn't there. That was the comedy. The end.
Emotional highs in this movie were not built up properly. Aang is angry/despairing. How do you know? BECAUSE THE GLOWING SAYS SO. I don't actually blame the actor for that at all. What the scene needed wasn't a better actor, but better directing to help the mood along. Some flashbacks maybe could help? (Ones that actually make you care, I mean.) Transitions into moods were choppy and distracting, and ended up leaving the scenes, on whole, empty.
I think MNS wrote this movie for the people who've never seen the series, and then directed it for all the people who have. So the plot's laid out so you can't possibly miss anything ("Yes, Zhao, we heard you the first five times, you were in a SECRET LIBRARY.") but all the emotional moments are just assumed, because come on, you've know this scene, you loved it in the series.
This review really isn't influenced by the "Race-Bending" issue, but...I'd be lying if I said at certain points in the movie I wasn't feeling it. Particularly when looking at Ozai and Iroh and thinking, "...I'm really supposed to believe these two are brothers?"
Did I mention how the names are "mispronounced"? Yes, technically it's in the TV series the names were mispronounced, but...come on Shyamalan, you don't need to go all elitist on us and make everyone say the names "correctly". Just stick to what the fans know and love already, you can at least give them that, right? Right?
........no?
Jerk.