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I saw The Last Airbender today with my brother. It wasn't that great, but it wasn't completely horrible either, though; I'll give it that. It had some good moments, but I'll keep the information behind a cut so nobody gets spoiled if they don't want to. :)
The first thing I noticed when the movie started was that the original kanji that was used in the show was replaced by vaguely Asian looking scribbles. Why? M. Knight I-Can't-Spell-His-Last-Name insists on using the original Asian pronunciation of the names (which was a bit strange, but I got used to it) but he doesn't use proper kanji? It was in the show! All they had to do was copy and paste for God's sake! Why put the effort into making a "unique" fantasy language when all the translation work has been done for you? The second thing I was wondering was why they went with a screen of text while Katara was narrating at the beginning instead of showing some quick scenes to illustrate what she was talking about? When she talks about the elements, show people bending the damn elements! When she talks about the Fire Nation invading, show the Fire Nation invading some towns or something! I honestly have no interesting in reading text that someone on screen is reading to me. It's redundant.
Anyway, then we open to Katara practicing Waterbending. Honestly, I like the effects on the Waterbending. And I like when Katara comments that her Waterbending gets better when she is thinking about her mother. I wish that had been expanded on more. I think it has more to do with "letting your emotions flow" which is what Aang is told to do by the Spirit Dragon at the end of movie which is what allows him to finally be able to truly Waterbend. Which is another nice addition. I honestly like the idea of emotions powering or hindering a person's bending. What's more, it has a basis in the show from when Zuko lost his ability to Firebend because he lost his drive and needed to find his purpose in order to bend again. So I think that's a nice little expansion on what happens in the show, and I think it would have been interesting if that had been explored more.
I think this movie could have greatly benefited from another half hour of film time. It would have given them a bit more time to tell the story and then the pace wouldn't have been so rushed. And while it was interesting to see the scenes between Ozai and Zhao, they were unnecessary and confused me on the location of the GAang as well as the proximity of the four nations to each other. For example, it often feels like Zhao is in the Earth Kingdom and then suddenly he's in the Fire Nation. That can't happen. In the show, that journey would have to take at least a month by boat which is why most communications were done by messenger hawk. There's no way that Zhao could realistically move around like that. No. Way. Whatsoever.
Anyway, getting back to what I was talking about previously. After the iceberg is broken, there's a random shot, less than ten seconds long, of the back of Zuko's head, looking at the beam of light. He shouts, "Uncle!" And then it cuts back to Sokka and Katara. Which is strange, because the first thing Katara does when she goes up to Aang is to fire a bunch of questions at him and then proclaim him exhausted. Of course he's exhausted! He's barely fucking conscious, damn it!
I also have to say that I love Aang's tattoos here. I understand why the plain blue ones work in the cartoon, and in that context they work perfectly. But I'm absolutely in love with the tattoos in the movie. They look awesome. Especially paired with the cloak. I'd tap that cloak. To be honest, Noah Ringer is a perfect Aang. He's cute, adorable, and looks fantastically badass in the cloak. With the tattoos. I feel like a creeper right now, but Noah Ringer is my favorite out of the whole cast.
Also, when Zuko demands to know Aang's name, and Aang says, "You don't need to know my name" I freaked so badly. In a good way. But that was so fucking badass, I loved it! :D
Another thing I loved was the conversation Sokka and Katara had where Katara states that Sokka protects her because she's his responsibility. Katara then states that they need to protect Aang because he's their responsibility now. I would have liked for this conversation to be expanded on. I would have liked for Sokka to protest that statement and for Katara to convince him it's true. Also, I loved the fact that GranGran mentioned Hama! :D
The test that Iroh had Aang put through was...odd, to say the least. He put a candle, a rock and water in front of Aang and watched as the elements reacted to Aang's presence. This makes no sense. There was nothing in the show about the elements inherently reacting to the Avatar, and this was never followed up on in the rest of the movie nor was it ever explained why the elements reacted to him then. It made no sense whatsoever. At all. Like much of this movie.
Also, Zuko stating that Aang has nowhere to run? Bitch, he's an airbender. The fuck with running.
I'm also confused on why Katara is so slow to realize that Aang has been in the iceberg for a hundred years or that he's the Avatar. This makes no sense unless neither her nor Sokka are capable of critical thinking. Which very well may be possible. But I have to say that Aang breaks my heart when he's sad. Like when he finds all the skeletons of the previous airbenders, and when he finds Gyatso's skeleton. I liked the touch of Aang making Gyatso's medallion for him. And the flashback where he gives it to Gyatso, and Gyatso puts an arm around Aang's shoulders and it's all cute and adorable and father/son like and IT KILLS ME YOU GUYS, I LOVE IT, IT'S SO CUTE. :3
The Avatar State is kinda of weird here, but I like it. The Spirit Dragon was interesting but I was wondering where the hell Roku was.
I liked the shot of Zuko holding the family portrait and caressing his mother's face with his thumb. He looked so sad. :(
However, I have to call bullshit on the imprisoned earthbenders. YOU'RE IN A FUCKING TOWN WITH DIRT UNDER YOUR FEET AND SURROUNDED BY ROCK WALLS. ACTUALLY, THERE ARE ONLY ROCK WALLS ON TWO SIDES. THE REST IS OPEN. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU'RE IMPRISONED? WEAK ASS BITCHES, SHUT THE FUCK UP. D:<
Also, WHAT THE HELL IS WITH FIVE EARTHBENDERS HAVING TO WORK TOGETHER TO MOVE ONE TINY ROCK AT SUCH A SLOW SPEED? WHAT IS THIS SHIT?
Why does Kyoshi look like a dude? Why is the dialogue horrible? I'm in love with Zuko's cloak (but not enough to cheat on Aang's). Who is that random dude in the temple? Why does Aang say it's destroyed when it looks perfectly intact? Where is Roku? What about the comet?
The Air Temple battle scene is nice, though. But I'm wondering how Zhao knows who the Blue Spirit is... The movie needs less narration. I liked it better when the idea to kill the spirit fishies was Zhao's idea instead of Ozai's.
There was a nice little scene between Sokka and Yue where he learns about her hair color. I liked the fact that he says his Grandmother's going to want to know why her hair's white, and when he says, "You never told me that." Yue replies, "You never asked. Your Grandmother did." And it's just a nice, cute little bonding scene.
It's interesting how Aang tells Katara that he needs quiet and concentration and then she proceeds to talk to him. What? Seriously...? I just...
I'm going to wrap this up quickly now because I've been writing this for an hour, and I'm getting tired. So I'll leave this with two nice little notes about the ending instead of going into a bunch of crap. But OMG, I LOVED THE FLASHBACKS. I REALLY REALLY DID. AANG IS ADORABLE. :D And I loved the music for the Wall of Water scene. I also loved the fact that earlier in the movie, Aang told them that when everyone bowed to him, he was supposed to bow back and accept his duties as the Avatar. But instead, because he was told he could never have a normal life and have a family, he got scared. He didn't bow back. He ran out of the room.
I love that at the end, after the final battle is all over, the people of the Water Nation bow down to him. Everyone. And, still looking scared and doubtful, Aang bows back. It shows that though he is still young and scared of having to be the one who needs to save the world, he is ready to accept his duties.
I wish the movie had ended there instead of having that last bit with Ozai and Azula. Though, it did answer the question of the comet. It's coming in three years. Why three years, I have no idea. No idea what's so ever. Maybe to create a more "reasonable" timeline...?
At any rate, that last scene with Aang was great and would have been an excellent place to leave the movie.
All and all, the average score my brother and I gave it was a D+/C-. It wasn't a great movie, though you could see the potential for a great movie in it, but it had some good moments too. Not one of my favorite movies, but I might watch it again on a rainy day or something. And I wouldn't be completely adverse to writing a movieverse fanfic or two (with some minor alterations).
And that's about it. I apologize for it not being that great, but it's getting late and I'm getting tired. If there's anything you want to know, ask it in the comments and I'll be happy to answer or explain. :)
Also, one last thing: the soundtrack is pretty awesome. If you don't want the whole soundtrack at least get "Flow Like Water" which is what plays toward the end where Aang makes the giant wall of water to scare away the Fire Nation soldiers. It's an awesome song! :D I'm in love with it.
The first thing I noticed when the movie started was that the original kanji that was used in the show was replaced by vaguely Asian looking scribbles. Why? M. Knight I-Can't-Spell-His-Last-Name insists on using the original Asian pronunciation of the names (which was a bit strange, but I got used to it) but he doesn't use proper kanji? It was in the show! All they had to do was copy and paste for God's sake! Why put the effort into making a "unique" fantasy language when all the translation work has been done for you? The second thing I was wondering was why they went with a screen of text while Katara was narrating at the beginning instead of showing some quick scenes to illustrate what she was talking about? When she talks about the elements, show people bending the damn elements! When she talks about the Fire Nation invading, show the Fire Nation invading some towns or something! I honestly have no interesting in reading text that someone on screen is reading to me. It's redundant.
Anyway, then we open to Katara practicing Waterbending. Honestly, I like the effects on the Waterbending. And I like when Katara comments that her Waterbending gets better when she is thinking about her mother. I wish that had been expanded on more. I think it has more to do with "letting your emotions flow" which is what Aang is told to do by the Spirit Dragon at the end of movie which is what allows him to finally be able to truly Waterbend. Which is another nice addition. I honestly like the idea of emotions powering or hindering a person's bending. What's more, it has a basis in the show from when Zuko lost his ability to Firebend because he lost his drive and needed to find his purpose in order to bend again. So I think that's a nice little expansion on what happens in the show, and I think it would have been interesting if that had been explored more.
I think this movie could have greatly benefited from another half hour of film time. It would have given them a bit more time to tell the story and then the pace wouldn't have been so rushed. And while it was interesting to see the scenes between Ozai and Zhao, they were unnecessary and confused me on the location of the GAang as well as the proximity of the four nations to each other. For example, it often feels like Zhao is in the Earth Kingdom and then suddenly he's in the Fire Nation. That can't happen. In the show, that journey would have to take at least a month by boat which is why most communications were done by messenger hawk. There's no way that Zhao could realistically move around like that. No. Way. Whatsoever.
Anyway, getting back to what I was talking about previously. After the iceberg is broken, there's a random shot, less than ten seconds long, of the back of Zuko's head, looking at the beam of light. He shouts, "Uncle!" And then it cuts back to Sokka and Katara. Which is strange, because the first thing Katara does when she goes up to Aang is to fire a bunch of questions at him and then proclaim him exhausted. Of course he's exhausted! He's barely fucking conscious, damn it!
I also have to say that I love Aang's tattoos here. I understand why the plain blue ones work in the cartoon, and in that context they work perfectly. But I'm absolutely in love with the tattoos in the movie. They look awesome. Especially paired with the cloak. I'd tap that cloak. To be honest, Noah Ringer is a perfect Aang. He's cute, adorable, and looks fantastically badass in the cloak. With the tattoos. I feel like a creeper right now, but Noah Ringer is my favorite out of the whole cast.
Also, when Zuko demands to know Aang's name, and Aang says, "You don't need to know my name" I freaked so badly. In a good way. But that was so fucking badass, I loved it! :D
Another thing I loved was the conversation Sokka and Katara had where Katara states that Sokka protects her because she's his responsibility. Katara then states that they need to protect Aang because he's their responsibility now. I would have liked for this conversation to be expanded on. I would have liked for Sokka to protest that statement and for Katara to convince him it's true. Also, I loved the fact that GranGran mentioned Hama! :D
The test that Iroh had Aang put through was...odd, to say the least. He put a candle, a rock and water in front of Aang and watched as the elements reacted to Aang's presence. This makes no sense. There was nothing in the show about the elements inherently reacting to the Avatar, and this was never followed up on in the rest of the movie nor was it ever explained why the elements reacted to him then. It made no sense whatsoever. At all. Like much of this movie.
Also, Zuko stating that Aang has nowhere to run? Bitch, he's an airbender. The fuck with running.
I'm also confused on why Katara is so slow to realize that Aang has been in the iceberg for a hundred years or that he's the Avatar. This makes no sense unless neither her nor Sokka are capable of critical thinking. Which very well may be possible. But I have to say that Aang breaks my heart when he's sad. Like when he finds all the skeletons of the previous airbenders, and when he finds Gyatso's skeleton. I liked the touch of Aang making Gyatso's medallion for him. And the flashback where he gives it to Gyatso, and Gyatso puts an arm around Aang's shoulders and it's all cute and adorable and father/son like and IT KILLS ME YOU GUYS, I LOVE IT, IT'S SO CUTE. :3
The Avatar State is kinda of weird here, but I like it. The Spirit Dragon was interesting but I was wondering where the hell Roku was.
I liked the shot of Zuko holding the family portrait and caressing his mother's face with his thumb. He looked so sad. :(
However, I have to call bullshit on the imprisoned earthbenders. YOU'RE IN A FUCKING TOWN WITH DIRT UNDER YOUR FEET AND SURROUNDED BY ROCK WALLS. ACTUALLY, THERE ARE ONLY ROCK WALLS ON TWO SIDES. THE REST IS OPEN. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU'RE IMPRISONED? WEAK ASS BITCHES, SHUT THE FUCK UP. D:<
Also, WHAT THE HELL IS WITH FIVE EARTHBENDERS HAVING TO WORK TOGETHER TO MOVE ONE TINY ROCK AT SUCH A SLOW SPEED? WHAT IS THIS SHIT?
Why does Kyoshi look like a dude? Why is the dialogue horrible? I'm in love with Zuko's cloak (but not enough to cheat on Aang's). Who is that random dude in the temple? Why does Aang say it's destroyed when it looks perfectly intact? Where is Roku? What about the comet?
The Air Temple battle scene is nice, though. But I'm wondering how Zhao knows who the Blue Spirit is... The movie needs less narration. I liked it better when the idea to kill the spirit fishies was Zhao's idea instead of Ozai's.
There was a nice little scene between Sokka and Yue where he learns about her hair color. I liked the fact that he says his Grandmother's going to want to know why her hair's white, and when he says, "You never told me that." Yue replies, "You never asked. Your Grandmother did." And it's just a nice, cute little bonding scene.
It's interesting how Aang tells Katara that he needs quiet and concentration and then she proceeds to talk to him. What? Seriously...? I just...
I'm going to wrap this up quickly now because I've been writing this for an hour, and I'm getting tired. So I'll leave this with two nice little notes about the ending instead of going into a bunch of crap. But OMG, I LOVED THE FLASHBACKS. I REALLY REALLY DID. AANG IS ADORABLE. :D And I loved the music for the Wall of Water scene. I also loved the fact that earlier in the movie, Aang told them that when everyone bowed to him, he was supposed to bow back and accept his duties as the Avatar. But instead, because he was told he could never have a normal life and have a family, he got scared. He didn't bow back. He ran out of the room.
I love that at the end, after the final battle is all over, the people of the Water Nation bow down to him. Everyone. And, still looking scared and doubtful, Aang bows back. It shows that though he is still young and scared of having to be the one who needs to save the world, he is ready to accept his duties.
I wish the movie had ended there instead of having that last bit with Ozai and Azula. Though, it did answer the question of the comet. It's coming in three years. Why three years, I have no idea. No idea what's so ever. Maybe to create a more "reasonable" timeline...?
At any rate, that last scene with Aang was great and would have been an excellent place to leave the movie.
All and all, the average score my brother and I gave it was a D+/C-. It wasn't a great movie, though you could see the potential for a great movie in it, but it had some good moments too. Not one of my favorite movies, but I might watch it again on a rainy day or something. And I wouldn't be completely adverse to writing a movieverse fanfic or two (with some minor alterations).
And that's about it. I apologize for it not being that great, but it's getting late and I'm getting tired. If there's anything you want to know, ask it in the comments and I'll be happy to answer or explain. :)
Also, one last thing: the soundtrack is pretty awesome. If you don't want the whole soundtrack at least get "Flow Like Water" which is what plays toward the end where Aang makes the giant wall of water to scare away the Fire Nation soldiers. It's an awesome song! :D I'm in love with it.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-18 03:51 am (UTC)From:...Explain the entire series, very slowly? ^_^; ... >.<
By the looks of your review, it didn't seem all that appealing. It's almost like the script is kinda going back on itself in most places? Or it doesn't even match the details of the series when it's most needed? If there's a second movie, I think they should consider a new director and a better screenwriter. It wouldn't hurt. At least, in my meager, not-worthy opinion....
Also, Zuko stating that Aang has nowhere to run? Bitch, he's an airbender. The fuck with running.
I loved this. And it's so true. X3
no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 08:56 pm (UTC)From:It either goes back on itself or never fully explains things or does things that don't make a lot of sense. And it doesn't match the details of the series were it's most needed. Now, I wouldn't have minded it leaving out key things as long as it had been made clear from the get go that there would be changes in order to allow the movie to stand on its own since there would be no way to reasonably fit all the key elements from the series into an hour and a half movie. And I think, in that context, the movie probably would have been better received. And it would have been much better if that had been the angle they went with. And if they had a better director and screenplay writer on board.
After seeing the movie, I have to say I wouldn't be appalled if they made a second movie as long as they gave M. Knight the boot. >.>
And I'm glad you enjoyed that comment. X3
no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 01:55 am (UTC)From:Seeing how the movie has gotten completely horrible reviews, I think if they do try to go for a second movie they will get a better screenwriter and director. I'm cringing at this example, but a good example of this is Twilight. The first movie was absolutely horrible (though the series in general sucks anyway). They changed directors and got a new writer in time to make New Moon, which made it considerably better (though the series still sucks major ass). It's all a matter of experimentation, but now that they have a good grasp on what viewers want--even though they should have listened to start with--they'll do a better job the second go-around.
Your humor is EPIC. I loved it. :3
no subject
Date: 2010-07-21 01:37 am (UTC)From:Yeah, definitely. Shamwow needs the boot. >.> And I know what you mean about New Moon. I haven't seen it, but it seems better than the first movie from what I've seen. Not, of course, that that means much given the source material, but you know. XD
Aw, thank you. :3