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The Last Airbender is directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan, and stars Noah Ringer (Aang), Dev Patel (Prince Zuko), Nicola Pelts (Katana) and Jackson Rathbone (Sokka). The film is based off the successful and critically praised animated TV show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, explaining why it's one of the most well-known bombs in 21st century cinema.
Essentially, the film follows the trio of Aang, Katana, and Sokka, as Katana and Sokka (siblings) discover Aang in an iceberg as the Avatar, who is the only one capable of mastering all four elements, and defeating the fire nation that wants to rule over the whole continent. Where in the cartoons there is an endearing friendship between them, there is nothing of the sort in this film.
One of the main issues in this film is the cast, which completely whitewashed characters that were clearly Asian in the TV series. This would be okay if the acting was up to par, but, unfortunately, it isn't. Whether this is the actors' or director's fault is unclear, but both are probably at fault. The only saving performance in my opinion is Dev Patel. Though somehow, the film was able to make just over double its budget, most likely due to the popularity of the TV series itself. It also won 5 Golden Raspberry awards, just to cement its place in history as a horrible film.
The other issue with the film is that it can't even be watched as an ironically funny movie, disrespecting the source material and being full of poorly written characters with no reason to care about them, as well as the fact they feel completely different from their characters in the TV series. Furthermore, the CGI in this film is so overdone and obvious that it just makes you think of Michael Bay and the Transformers films.
I have to say though, the score is good and one of the saving graces of this film, as you would expect from James Newton Howard. Although this really isn't that significant, especially when you consider the 90 minute runtime which is defended by Shyamalan despite the strong use of exposition as a result of scenes being cut out.
Overall, this film really was one of the most disappointing films ever made due to the strong source material, and it's disappointing as it killed off a potential franchise, all thanks to the moves made by Shyamalan, who since his success with Signs and The Sixth Sense has been one of the most disappointing directors around. Yet, somehow, the film is not the worst of 2010 as that definitely goes to Birdemic: Shock and Terror, a disgustingly bad film with no production value. The Last Airbender is definitely not worth watching, so save yourself the agony and skip it.
One of the main issues in this film is the cast, which completely whitewashed characters that were clearly Asian in the TV series. This would be okay if the acting was up to par, but, unfortunately, it isn't. Whether this is the actors' or director's fault is unclear, but both are probably at fault. The only saving performance in my opinion is Dev Patel. Though somehow, the film was able to make just over double its budget, most likely due to the popularity of the TV series itself. It also won 5 Golden Raspberry awards, just to cement its place in history as a horrible film.
The other issue with the film is that it can't even be watched as an ironically funny movie, disrespecting the source material and being full of poorly written characters with no reason to care about them, as well as the fact they feel completely different from their characters in the TV series. Furthermore, the CGI in this film is so overdone and obvious that it just makes you think of Michael Bay and the Transformers films.
I have to say though, the score is good and one of the saving graces of this film, as you would expect from James Newton Howard. Although this really isn't that significant, especially when you consider the 90 minute runtime which is defended by Shyamalan despite the strong use of exposition as a result of scenes being cut out.
Overall, this film really was one of the most disappointing films ever made due to the strong source material, and it's disappointing as it killed off a potential franchise, all thanks to the moves made by Shyamalan, who since his success with Signs and The Sixth Sense has been one of the most disappointing directors around. Yet, somehow, the film is not the worst of 2010 as that definitely goes to Birdemic: Shock and Terror, a disgustingly bad film with no production value. The Last Airbender is definitely not worth watching, so save yourself the agony and skip it.
CRITICS' SCORES:
Rotten Tomatoes: 6%
IMDb: 4.2/10
Roger Ebert: 0.5/4
CHRIS'S SCORE: 2.5/10
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