Disappointed in ‘The Last Air Bender’

By JENNIFER CHAN
Bulatlat.com

Almost everyone who went to see The Last Air Bender had a feeling that it would not live up to the original Nickelodeon series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. With M. Night Shyamalan leading the project, it was almost guaranteed to be a huge flop! But fans of the series couldn’t help but see the movie for themselves anyway. And the movie did not disappoint. It did not disappoint the critics who expected it to fail, that is!

So how bad was The Last Air Bender? Well, let’s look at it this way. How can someone take all the great parts of a series, chop them down into sequences and come up with something really dull? It’s like Eragon all over again.

The movie begins with the discovery of a frozen Aang much like the cartoon series. Aang is the only surviving air bender in the world and the one born to become the avatar—the only one who can control all four elements of nature. He had run away upon learning his destiny and fell asleep for about a century. Now, he wakes up to a world in chaos and under the mercy of the Fire Nation. Unfortunately, Aang had run away before he could learn how to manipulate the other elements. Along with his two friends, Katara and Sokka, he now has to travel to the Northern Water Tribe to learn how to bend water. With a story like that in your hands, how could you go wrong?

What went wrong

For one, the pace of the movie was too fast. It was like listening to someone tell a recap OF the episodes of the series non-stop (thank you, Katara). The scenes felt disconnected from each other. Nothing was binding the story together and even Aang’s mission to incite rebellion against the Fire Nation almost feels forced. Of course, no one should expect the movie to be an exact copy of the series. Such liberties have been made many times over by directors and writers of decades past. In this case, however, the liberties taken by the director (who was also the writer), turned out to be a massive failure.

The script was also terrible. There were too many sentences that sounded redundant. The music overshadowed the dialogue and Aang had a few too many one-liners that just didn’t feel right. It was like forcing a moment to become a “moment.” And if you can’t even find it in your heart to believe a grandmother from the South Water Tribe as she speaks about her granddaughter’s destiny, then you know that there’s something wrong with the script.

The casting, of course, takes a while to sink in. In the movie, Dev Patel plays the role of Prince Zuko—a young man who only wants to gain the approval of his father. While he has credible acting chops, he isn’t given a lot to work with. Audiences mostly get bursts of anger from him but that is the fault of the director and not the actor. Aang is then played by a young actor named Noah Ringer. Watching him almost feels like watching TV Aang because of the similarity in their voices but having that and a bald head isn’t enough. Aang’s playfulness is almost non-existent, appearing only in flashbacks every now and then. Again, it is hardly the fault of the actor. Katara is played by Nicola Peltz. She’s charming enough but not as charming as TV Katara. Meanwhile, Sokka is played by Jackson Rathbone who sadly isn’t given more opportunities to be funny. Even actors Shaun Toub (Uncle Iroh), Aasif Mandvi (Commander Zhao) and Cliff Curtis (Fire Lord Ozai) couldn’t really do much to save the movie.

What went well

While the movie is a major disappointment, it is not without its highlights. Recreating Appa must have been a nightmare but it was well worth it. Momo, the Winged-Lemur, also manifests magnificently as a 3D creature.

Other highlights include the bending of the elements. In fact, the first time the movie picked up a little was when the citizens of the Earth Kingdom started earth bending. It’s amazing to see these bending techniques actually come to life on the big screen.

Apart from these details, I can’t find anything else outstanding in the movie. There’s a sequel waiting in the wings (as is evident in the ending) but I doubt if M. Knight Shyamalan will be called upon to direct it once again. (Bulatlat.com)