The Last Airbender

[Rye]

I don't know which I feel more: absolute delight at a live action version of one of the most original and enjoyable cartoons in a long time, or anxiety that M. Night Shyamalan is going to ruin it.

I definitely have to see this though. Anyone else planning on seeing it?

YouTube - The Last Airbender New Theatrical Movie Trailer [HD] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxbHooiZRGE)

[LunarWeaver]

I never watched the show. That could be for the best. I'm sure fans will be upset at how much is condensed and elements they loved cut out. Since I'm ignorant towards all that, I might like it more.

I'm a huge fan of M. Night Shyamaldfalsdafh actually. At least as a director. He has written some terrible scripts, but I like his style.

I predict this movie bombing, though. :cynic:

[Rye]

I can agree on that; The Village was visually delicious. But the majority of his films are plots that are so ridiculous, particularly the horror ones, that if you go into them and treat them as a comedy, they're actually not too bad at all!

[LunarWeaver]

I went into The Happening for a good laugh and boy did I get it.

[Freya]

He did do Stuart Little for his kids and that was a good one. This one there have been interviews where he states that he's trying to stay as close as he can so he doesn't disappoint his daughter. And I think that'll drive him to make a good film more so than anything else. Yah yah the cast isn't all azn but otherwise I think he's trying to stay true to the story to make his daughter happy. She'll be his toughest critic.

[Rye]

Oh, he did Stuart Little? I lovedddd that. Maybe it will be good then!

[Freya]

Well he wrote it :D

[Meat Puppet]

I like M. Night Shyamalan because he is the man behind The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable but simultaneously I curse him for being the man behind Signs and The Happening.

[blackmage_nuke]

I hate how we cant just refer to Avatar as Avatar anymore because of James Cameron, especially since Last Airbender came first and is vastly superior.

Anywho Avatar is all about the battle choreography for me (especially earth benders and especially Toph), and by the look of the trailer it looks like they have some fresh moves so i'll probably go out to see it and hope it isnt a cop out like Dragon Ball Evolution. There seems to be a dissapointing lack of Asians though, and I couldnt see any hint of one of my favourite character Iroh in the trailer.

[Shiny]

Of course, make the dark one the villain. Predictable hollywood is predictable. Screw this movie. Enjoy bombing.

[G13]

I don't know which I feel more: absolute delight at a live action version of one of the most original and enjoyable cartoons in a long time, or anxiety that M. Night Shyamalan is going to ruin it.

I believe he had a hand in the show. Hopefully he doesn't throw any of his awful ideas into the gears.

[Shoeberto]

The trailer kind of seemed a little silly, having such a young kid being all BAMF and stuff. I've never seen the show, but I can tell that he's a pivotal character, so his acting chops are going to make or break a lot of it. I can tell that already.

If it's pulled off well, I could see it being a very neat action epic for kids. But I could see it bombing, too, like other big-budget kid's movies recently (Lemony Snicket, The Golden Compass). It's iffy.

[arcanedude34]

None of the characters looked overly Asian in the show though. =p

I dunno, I loved the show, but I have reservations about the movie. Time will tell, I suppose.

[Bunny]

That trailer was pretty terrible.

[Inferno]

That trailer was pretty terrible.
Do you, ever, like something sometimes

[NorthernChaosGod]

I'm totally going to see this. :cool:

Haha, is that the Slumdog Millionaire?

[Bunny]

That trailer was pretty terrible.
Do you, ever, like something sometimes

I like plenty of things. I don't like things that don't look good though. That trailer wasn't a very good trailer. It was a short masturbatory film highlighting the cool special effects.

[blackmage_nuke]

You have just described every action movie trailer in existence


None of the characters looked overly Asian in the show though. =p

Everybody i can remember had black/dark brown or grey hair and the fire nation was filled with slanty eyes. Not to mention the Asian writing and architecture everywhere. If thats not an indication the Avatar world is meant to be filled with Asians i dont know what is. The only people i could see probably not being asian are the southern and northern water tribes which I see more as eskimos and eskimos have asian features anyway.

[arcanedude34]

But they all spoke English, so if there was any indication that they should all be American... =V [/asshole]

[blackmage_nuke]

Alot of Asians can speak english but not alot of white people can have slanty eyes :colbert:

[Freya]

Well it was created by americans and animated in korea sooooo yah. That's why you got that. They we're using all types of martial arts in the show to represent the diverse culture things. Yeah martial arts are typically an asian thing but not always. I find it more of stereotyping to say they should all be asian cause they know martial arts than anything else.

[Shiny]

That trailer was pretty terrible.
Do you, ever, like something sometimes

He likes the original Death at a Funeral because it's a good movie. This is most likely not a good movie and I dunno what happened, but M. Night has been getting progressively worse. Just look at The Happening.

[G13]

Oh man, Jasper's in it. xD

I like how M. Night Shamalamadingdong's name is above the title, like he created the story.

[Peegee]

I like M. Night Shyamalan because he is the man behind The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable but simultaneously I curse him for being the man behind Signs and The Happening.

I loved those movies and hated every last other one of his films. whyyyyy

I will try to watch this movie and see what happens. At least there's CG and fighting!

[Jings]

Having Dev Patel play Zuko just doesn't work for me. He was my favourite character in Avatar (well, him and Ihro) so that is sad. I'll still see the movie though.

[Unbreakable Will]

That trailer was pretty terrible.
Do you, ever, like something sometimes
The good side of that is if Bunny LIKES something we all know something is wrong. :colbert:

I loved the series but I'm really hesitant on seeing the movie because M. Night Shamallamaman is a wretched excuse for a director. There. I said what you were all thinking. :p

[Roogle]

This just about sums up how I feel about this movie: Racebending (http://www.racebending.com)

[Crowseye]

I like the animated series, but aside from the visuals and special effects I have my doubts about how this will turn out. Kids having to play characters that (frequently) exhibit the emotional maturity of adults rarely ends up well.

I do wish that they had made a bigger effort to include Asian actors. Not even including the animation, the series was clearly modeled around the cultures of various people we would classify as Asian or being of Asian-descent (like the Eskimos of the Water Nation).

On the other hand, I think the outrage is a bit overblown. Moviemakers have a responsibility to make money and find the best talent available that is also interested in the project. They have no obligation to spend years and dollars scouring the earth or to disregard available talent in favor of promoting social diversity. People are spouting all kinds of judgements without even knowing the demographics of the people that auditioned. If finding a quality young actor is already difficult, finding a quality young Asian actor to do an English-language film is clearly moreso, not because they don't exist (and yes, it would have been nice had this project found some) but simply because of a smaller pool to draw from.

I also find it interesting that people are outraged over the selection of actors but never once have I heard people calling the creators of the series scum for being white men looking to cash in on an American fad/obsession by imitating an Eastern anime series. White people get criticized all the time for stealing all kinds of other stuff from Asian culture--food, tattoos, movies (even George Lucas has been criticized for stealing from Kurosawa), etc.--but somehow this series got a pass. :eep:

[blackmage_nuke]

I also find it interesting that people are outraged over the selection of actors but never once have I heard people calling the creators of the series scum for being white men looking to cash in on an American fad/obsession by imitating an Eastern anime series. White people get criticized all the time for stealing all kinds of other stuff from Asian culture--food, tattoos, movies (even George Lucas has been criticized for stealing from Kurosawa), etc.--but somehow this series got a pass. :eep:

No white people get critisized for butchering food, tattoos and movies. Theres nothing wrong with imitating an animation style and making something thats actually good.

[Depression Moon]

I've seen about two or three episodes. My little brother got me into it, but when when our free trial of Nick-Toons was over, I couldn't watch it anymore. I liked what I saw. I will try and see this if I can.

[Mercen-X]

I hate how we cant just refer to Avatar as Avatar anymore because of James Cameron, especially since Last Airbender came first and is vastly superior.Undeniable.


Anywho Avatar is all about especially Toph.Agreed.


Having Dev Patel play Zuko just doesn't work for me.http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a156/Mercen-X/220px-DevPatel08.jpg
God, I hope this means he's just the best choice to portray Zuko, cause he does not do my beloved prince physical justice.

I like the debate over whether Zuko is evil. To the mind of a child, yes, usually the world must be displayed in black & white, good & evil, wrong & right. Without the "evil" attribute in Zuko, some might believe his actions are perfectly acceptable. But his actions are evil even if his motives are not. "It is not who you are but what you do that defines you."--Batman Begins. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."--Samuel Johnson (impossible to cite direct origin)

[Depression Moon]

YouTube - Avatar fans hate Avatar movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN-0xaTn7tM)

[Agrias]

Having watched all the episodes of avatar the anime, i really cant wait to see the movie. M. Night has always been a favorite director/producer/writer and i could think of no one but him and/or James Cameron to have been the spear head behind the live action Avatar movie.

Now if i could only pre-book my tickets. >:[

[Miriel]

It's getting KILLED on rottontomatoes. It's at 7% right now. :p

From Roger Ebert's review:


"The Last Airbender" is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here.

lol

[McLovin']

I walked out to see Twilight: Eclipse because it was so bad.

[Miriel]

Damn. That's like... that's bad. :o

[Freya]

My older brother was a fan of the series and today was his bday so we went to see it.

The graphics were great and of course the story material was good but the acting by the kid who played aang was horrible. The dialogue was so incredibly boring and they tried to smush too much into the movie. The took out how fun Sokka was and it seemed well rushed. I get that it's hard to crunch a season into one movie but it really could have done a better job. My mom was getting sleeping in the movie, it was funny.

That said, there is potential. The script wasn't HORRIBLE, just boring. Give that kid some acting lessons. And stop saying everything with long "A"'s awng and awvatar. It was annoying. The action was filmed will. So if M. Night tries harder at a script and actually directing the damn kids, it'll be better.

[charliepanayi]

M. Night should have stopped writing his own scripts ages ago (and stopped thinking he was the greatest director ever, but that's another story), he's a talented director but an increasingly dreadful writer.

The reviews have been hilariously toxic, it's making Twilight: Eclipse look like Toy Story 3.

[Rye]

Hahaha, I am so glad I didn't see this now. XD

[blackmage_nuke]

I think if they made the movie based on that play they saw about themselves in the series it wouldve received better reception :p

[Shiny]

I can't believe people actually went to go see this movie for the same reason I cannot believe people went to go see Epic Movie. When something looks blatantly horrible in a trailer, it's because it is. Movies are not books. For the most part, you can't judge a book by the small summary on the cover, but you can damn sure judge a movie by the trailer.

M. Night Shyamalan cannot direct. If you don't believe me, see The Happening. The only reason The Sixth Sense was well-acted is because of the actors themselves. Toni Collete, Bruce Willis, and Hayley Joel Osment can all act without needing a sub-par director. He also obviously cannot write as he proved with things like The Village. The guy is just ugh. As I stated before I will not be seeing this movie regardless of reviews and I will be happy to see it bomb. If you want a good Indian director go with Tarsem Singh.

[charliepanayi]

I can't believe people actually went to go see this movie for the same reason I cannot believe people went to go see Epic Movie. When something looks blatantly horrible in a trailer, it's because it is. Movies are not books. For the most part, you can't judge a book by the small summary on the cover, but you can damn sure judge a movie by the trailer.

I don't know about that, The Phantom Menace and Godzilla had pretty great trailers, and we all know how those turned out.

[Depression Moon]

Having watched all the episodes of avatar the anime, i really cant wait to see the movie. M. Night has always been a favorite director/producer/writer and i could think of no one but him and/or James Cameron to have been the spear head behind the live action Avatar movie.

Now if i could only pre-book my tickets. >:[

Don't see my post above you, I'm trying to warn you; save you some time and money. I was seeing a lot of bad signs coming from this film in terms of casting and the overall visuals. I still had a small glimmer of hope for some reason.

YouTube - MERC80.COM- Last Airbender reaction (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2owZUiM29U)

[qwertysaur]

I think if they made the movie based on that play they saw about themselves in the series it wouldve received better reception :p
Yes. At least that play was terrible but excellently written. The writers from the show were amazing and this film was a major disappointment :(

Also it needed more Appa.

[Kossage]

I'll wait and judge the film once I actually get a chance to see it. I enjoyed the series a lot, and the trailers make the film look decent. Whether it turns out awful or not remains to be seen, but at least it has cool visual effects and James Newton Howard's beautiful score which is 100 times better than the series' music (and is surprisingly faithful to the series' musical soundscape, too). :)


When something looks blatantly horrible in a trailer, it's because it is. Movies are not books. For the most part, you can't judge a book by the small summary on the cover, but you can damn sure judge a movie by the trailer.

I strongly disagree. The trailers for many animated films (e.g. Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon) are absolutely terrible with stupid jokes and pointless meandering, but the films themselves are a lot deeper and more emotional. If I judged every film by its trailer, I would never have seen the majority of great films (animated or otherwise).


He also obviously cannot write as he proved with things like The Village.

I'll have to disagree. The Village had a lot of good points, and it was an enjoyable movie with decent writing and fine acting. The cinematography in that film was very good, too.

[Clo]

I've never really sat down and watched the show because I'm not really a big TV watcher, but I've heard nothing but good things about the series.

I just find it frustrating that the three lead characters who are all not white were cast as white. I can understand possibly maybe one or two being cast as white, but all three? They took opportunities away from people of race to really fit these roles in a tv series with a diverse cast.

[Rad Bromance]

Anyone who says Shyamalan can't write/direct never saw The Sixth Sense or Signs, which were both fantastic films. OPINIONS, etc.

This movie doesn't look as terrible as everyone's saying it is by the trailers, but it does look terrible. I'd go as far as saying it just looks like Dragonball: Evolution with a bigger budget. It's based on anime (or imitation anime, I know it's American made, whatever, still the same poorly animated horrible character design ridden hideous, irritating tripe) so I wouldn't expect it to be worth seeing, and it's probably as good as a film based on an entire season of that crap can be.

I'll take the word of the critics and the enraged fans and just decide to never watch this film.

[charliepanayi]

It's based on anime (or imitation anime, I know it's American made, whatever, still the same poorly animated horrible character design ridden hideous, irritating tripe) so I wouldn't expect it to be worth seeing, and it's probably as good as a film based on an entire season of that crap can be.

Writing off an entire medium there, very good.

[Agrias]

I'll wait and judge the film once I actually get a chance to see it. I enjoyed the series a lot, and the trailers make the film look decent. Whether it turns out awful or not remains to be seen, but at least it has cool visual effects and James Newton Howard's beautiful score which is 100 times better than the series' music (and is surprisingly faithful to the series' musical soundscape, too). :)


When something looks blatantly horrible in a trailer, it's because it is. Movies are not books. For the most part, you can't judge a book by the small summary on the cover, but you can damn sure judge a movie by the trailer.

I strongly disagree. The trailers for many animated films (e.g. Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon) are absolutely terrible with stupid jokes and pointless meandering, but the films themselves are a lot deeper and more emotional. If I judged every film by its trailer, I would never have seen the majority of great films (animated or otherwise).


He also obviously cannot write as he proved with things like The Village.

I'll have to disagree. The Village had a lot of good points, and it was an enjoyable movie with decent writing and fine acting. The cinematography in that film was very good, too.

This.

[Rad Bromance]

I allowed a friend to drag me to this today against my better judgment, and surprisingly, I was very taken in by the film and...enjoyed it, a lot. o__O

It's really not half as terrible as everyone is making it out to be. It's a silly movie with a silly story, mediocre acting and a cliffhanger-esque ending, but it's nothing that belongs on any "worst of all time" list or anything like that.

I suppose you have to either take every film you see ridiculously seriously, or be a fan of the cartoon to truly hate it (even though, aside of name pronunciations, according to what I've read it's pretty freaking accurate to the show). I thought it was a poorly constructed, but still enjoyable film.

If they do end up producing the planned sequels, I'll be seeing them. xD

[Shiny]

"For the most part" means of course not all trailers accurately depict the movie, but in this case and in many others cases, they do accurately depict it. Some editors purposely pick out all the parts that are mildly intriguing and place them altogether to make the movie better. And I understand there are a lot of people who liked The Village and a lot who did not. It's a 50/50 movie, but the script is sub par either way. The acting and costumes were decent; I will give it that. There was nothing particularly spectacular about the cinematography though. If enough of his movies bomb, he won't have a career in directing anymore so that's something to look forward to.

[Shoeberto]

This movie was :bou::bou::bou::bou:. :bou::bou::bou::bou: :bou::bou::bou::bou: :bou::bou::bou::bou:. Absolute :bou::bou::bou::bou:. I hadn't watched any of the original series before seeing it and I still thought it was :bou::bou::bou::bou:. Bad acting, bad writing, bad directing, bad editing. Everything was bad. If you go into it as a fan of the series, it's worse, because apparently you have to deal with a lot of glaring inaccuracies and omissions. For me, just as a fan of movies, it was painful and I almost walked out. The only thing keeping me in was that I was with a group and didn't want to be rude but they told me afterwards that they all felt the same. It was a terrible, awful movie and I hope Shamalan's career dies because this was just bad bad bad bad bad.

[Freya]

I'll give an example of the dialogue as I remember it.

"You're special!"
"Yeah I am special"
"You must be the avatar!"
"Yeah I am the avatar."
"You are special and the avatar you can start a rebellion!"
"Yeah I could start a rebellion because I am the avatar and special but I don't like being special and the avatar."

That's pretty much how it went :/

[NorthernChaosGod]

I liked it, fuck you guys.

[Rad Bromance]

I'll give an example of the dialogue as I remember it.

"You're special!"
"Yeah I am special"
"You must be the avatar!"
"Yeah I am the avatar."
"You are special and the avatar you can start a rebellion!"
"Yeah I could start a rebellion because I am the avatar and special but I don't like being special and the avatar."

That's pretty much how it went :/
Except it didn't because none of what you quoted is in the film.

It's hilarious how much people are exaggerating the level of bad this movie is. Maybe I appreciated it for the simple fact that I saw Eclipse two days beforehand. :p

[Freya]

Yeah I was making a mockery of it. :p

[The Man]

I hate how we cant just refer to Avatar as Avatar anymore because of James Cameron, especially since Last Airbender came firstCameron had been developing Avatar under said name for about ten years before it finally came out, so that's highly debatable. The cartoon may have been released first but I highly doubt it was under development first.

anyway, just dropping by because this excerpt from a review amused me:
It is so bad that not only could Uwe Boll make a better movie than Shyamalan has done here, he already has. (http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=19249&reviewer=389)It probably goes without saying that I have no plans to see this film.

[Meat Puppet]

That critic probably just said that because he’s scared of getting KO’d by Uwe Boll.

[superbeckie.]

I only want to see this because of Jackson Rathbone.
Fact.

[Rebellious Eagle]

It's based on anime (or imitation anime, I know it's American made, whatever, still the same poorly animated horrible character design ridden hideous, irritating tripe) so I wouldn't expect it to be worth seeing, and it's probably as good as a film based on an entire season of that crap can be.

Have you ever even seen the show? It's amazing.
I was extremely disappointed in the movie. I mean, most of the characters had their names changed! M. Night Shyamalan said he changed the pronunciations to make them "sound Asian" but I think he's forgetting that the show is American. Seriously, changing the names doesn't make the movie seem more authentic, it just makes it insulting in the eyes of a fan.
I think this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZUBAdafcx0) was much better than the movie in my opinion.

[Depression Moon]

A clip of the movie for all those interested. YouTube - Earthbending Scene (watch out terrible movie) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwccNqklC_k)

[MJN SEIFER]

I hate how we cant just refer to Avatar as Avatar anymore because of James Cameron, especially since Last Airbender came first and is vastly superior.

Couldn't we just call Cameron's film "Avatar" and the Air Bending thing "The Avatar"? It would be a lot easier, and it is reffered to as "The Avatar" in the TV Series.

Also, there's a chance Cameron's Avatar came first, sinces he's had it on paper even before titanic was made.

Hmmm...When was FFVI out again? :jess:

[Depression Moon]

Since Titantic was made, are you sure? I hear from a lot of people and none of them yet seemed to have the same time for that.

[MJN SEIFER]

Yeah he's had the idea for years, but he never had the technology to make it the way he wanted, so he just scrapped it.

But now the tech exists so so Avatar got made.

[Wolf Kanno]

Just went and watched this film tonight. I'm disappointed in some of you for treating this film as if it were a total butchery. I was expecting something on par with Double Dragon or Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in terms of a terrible adaption and quite frankly I was pretty surprised it worked out so well.

It was basically the Reader's Digest version of Season 1 (Book 1: Water) but it highlighted the main point of that story and for the most part stayed pretty accurate which is more than I can say for most adaptions. It sacrifices two of the characters growth but seeing as how one basically played nurse maid to the Avatar and the other was mostly comic relief I don't feel their characters being stunted was a disservice.

I feel the only major problem with the film is that it does try to fit 26 episodes into a two hour film and it frankly can't be done well no matter what, but putting that into account its not so bad, though I can see why people not familiar with the source material would be pissed. Beyond that is just weird actor choices and issues with keeping consistent ethnicity. Sokka and Katara being the only two Caucasian Americans in a group that is mostly Northern American Tribes looks really out of place and the Fire Nation going from being heavily based on Chinese culture and ethnicity suddenly becoming predominately Indian was a bit weird but this is Hollywood and their are always bound to be changes. I'm just grateful the story is mostly kept intact.

[Drift]

still waiting for it to come out over here in the UK (unless I missed the release then ignore this part) but also saw a new series of the avatar coming soon! Legend of Kanno or something? set 70 years after the original.

[Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World]

Dear Mr. M.N.S.,

You did a very good job following the storyline. I quite enjoyed the movie. Congratulations and please do continue with the next movies.

But if you don't flesh out the characters more I shall find you and beat the ever-loving hell out of you. How dare you make these characters so bland.

Much appreciated,
Pants

[Depression Moon]

Just went and watched this film tonight. I'm disappointed in some of you for treating this film as if it were a total butchery. I was expecting something on par with Double Dragon or Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in terms of a terrible adaption and quite frankly I was pretty surprised it worked out so well.

It was basically the Reader's Digest version of Season 1 (Book 1: Water) but it highlighted the main point of that story and for the most part stayed pretty accurate which is more than I can say for most adaptions. It sacrifices two of the characters growth but seeing as how one basically played nurse maid to the Avatar and the other was mostly comic relief I don't feel their characters being stunted was a disservice.

I feel the only major problem with the film is that it does try to fit 26 episodes into a two hour film and it frankly can't be done well no matter what,


Aren't all the books with the exception of 3 just 20 episodes? Four of those usually have nothing to do with the main plot. I still dissaprove of this though. The choreography seemed whack. The movements didn't seem to flow at all with the elements, just look at that Earthbending scene for an example.

'Legend of Korra': The 'Avatar' Creators on the New Spinoff - Speakeasy - WSJ (http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/07/21/legend-of-korra-the-creators-of-avatar-the-last-airbender-on-the-new-spinoff/)

Look at how the creators themselves avoid talking about the film. I doubt they would do that if they loved it.

[Wolf Kanno]

It sounds to me more like the creators had no input and thus really did have nothing to say about the film, which is pretty legitimate. I don't feel the article really says "Oh my god! they hated it!" someone else took the project and they are more focused on doing their own thing that listen to another person's problems.

Personally, I feel most of the complaints (well except the casting one) are just usual fanboy/girl nitpicking of minor details that miss the point of the story. I'm not saying The Last Airbender is "movie of the year", or the best adaption of another IP by Hollywood; but I felt the film could have been a lot worst and it stayed true to the story and themes, which is all I can ask for as a fan when Hollywood gets involved. Let's face it, Hollywood is terrible at adaptions so you should already know from the get go its never going to be as good as the original and in fact should just be grateful if it keeps the main point; so the best you can hope for its that its not too badly bastardized by the place. Still, you should already expect it to be smacked around and unfaithful to the source material from the get go.

My point is that they actually did a decent job adapting the story cause the movie still bares actual semblance to the original source material. Its not like the X-Men movies, it could have been a hell lot worst.

[charliepanayi]

The rather large amount of criticism heaped on the film seems to suggest it's more than just nitpicking (do you really think every fan of the show is that picky?). And people will not necessarily mind changes made to the storyline (Lord of the Rings wasn't slavishly faithful, but handled the changes well mostly and was hugely successful. LA Confidential was forced to distil a mammoth book down to a 140 minute film, and was brilliant), but they will mind if the end result is a bad film. Saying 'most adaptations aren't very good' is a rubbish way of looking at it, that doesn't excuse a poor film.

[Depression Moon]

It sounds to me more like the creators had no input and thus really did have nothing to say about the film, which is pretty legitimate.[quote] so someone wouldn't be excited for someone else who did a magnificent job on their project? I know I would even if I wasn't really involved at all which I would never do, but still... [quote] I don't feel the article really says "Oh my god! they hated it!" someone else took the project and they are more focused on doing their own thing that listen to another person's problems.[quote]

This sounds like what I was saying the same thing as me. You're using the word problems which is negative. That could easily be replaced with failures with the same message getting across. It wouldn't have been a problem if it was great.

Personally, I feel most of the complaints (well except the casting one) are just usual fanboy/girl nitpicking of minor details that miss the point of the story. I'm not saying The Last Airbender is "movie of the year", or the best adaption of another IP by Hollywood; but I felt the film could have been a lot worst and it stayed true to the story and themes, which is all I can ask for as a fan when Hollywood gets involved. Let's face it, Hollywood is terrible at adaptions so you should already know from the get go its never going to be as good as the original and in fact should just be grateful if it keeps the main point; so the best you can hope for its that its not too badly bastardized by the place. Still, you should already expect it to be smacked around and unfaithful to the source material from the get go.

Wow so I should look forward to it being bad and unfaithful, that sounds pretty dern depressing and I don't think anyone should go into a movie with lower expectations.


My point is that they actually did a decent job adapting the story cause the movie still bares actual semblance to the original source material. Its not like the X-Men movies, it could have been a hell lot worst.

Think you're only talking about X-III and Origins. I don't think it could've been that much worse. It had some pretty bad acting and scenes just seemed to jump at times. They're at one place one moment then another with no explanation as to how they got there.

[Wolf Kanno]

This sounds like what I was saying the same thing as me. You're using the word problems which is negative. That could easily be replaced with failures with the same message getting across. It wouldn't have been a problem if it was great.

The glass is half empty or full depending on where you stand on the subject. Life is but perception.


Wow so I should look forward to it being bad and unfaithful, that sounds pretty dern depressing and I don't think anyone should go into a movie with lower expectations.Yes, you should, cause you will never be disappointed :D

I only go into films like that when its an adaption, there are obviously just so many factors in moving one medium to another that cause some level of degradation. Name me one movie that was based off a novel, comic book, video game, or TV program that is as good as the original series in every way and stayed completely faithful to the story with no omissions.


Think you're only talking about X-III and Origins. I don't think it could've been that much worse. It had some pretty bad acting and scenes just seemed to jump at times. They're at one place one moment then another with no explanation as to how they got there.As a long time X-Men fan collecting since the Jim Lee era I can tell you all the X-Men movies are :bou::bou::bou::bou: when you compare them to the real series (well the films are better than the last decade at least). The movies are very unfaithful and take several liberties to the stories and characters, half the cast is aged wrong, no one in the films join as they are suppose to Rogue is no longer associated with Mystique, Sabertooth is an idiot and same with Toad. Nightcrawler is filled with angst and lost all of his humor and somehow gained weird tribal markings on his skin. Mystique is now some martial arts super soldier when the real Mystique was more of user of guns and couldn't ever keep her trap shut whereas she's a mute for most of the films. Senator Kelly gets killed in the first film (he's still alive in the books) and Magneto would never have used some B-Movie plan to turn the world leaders into mutants, he would have just stormed the place and wrecked havoc to prove mutant superiority. Striker is not even a character in the comic books, he was from one of the novels and he was not part of the Weapon X program.

The movies are completely unfaithful to the source material cause it ignores the majority of canon and just sticks with the basics of what made it work. Which is my point about the Avatar film. The first season would have to be made into a trilogy just to do it justice and the first season doesn't have enough material as a whole to make a compelling trilogy of movie so instead they took the highlights and went from there.

Fans are acting like MNS made Aang a space alien who travels into the future to save the world by collecting four elemental comic books and the whole thing ended with one of his not so twisted endings. It was not that bad. Take it from someone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZrQC5QEmJE) who has had to (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7jJahUhQnY) watch his childhood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF20B8p4F08) get butchered (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hLsW0DGtq0) by Hollywood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH3STHC63hU) and the (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtMZKYnLg5c) film industry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKVNAlO4uuo&feature=related).

Hollywood rarely cares if the film is up to the standards of the fans, they will watch it regardless and bitch about it later (course they could do it perfect and I think fans would still find something to bitch and moan about), the real goal is to make it draw in as many new fans as possible. Its not about artistic integrity, just the bottom line, but the movie industry has always been about business.

[Depression Moon]

Name me one movie that was based off a novel, comic book, video game, or TV program that is as good as the original series in every way and stayed completely faithful to the story with no omissions.

Well Mr. and Mrs. Smith seemed exactly liked the book, which the book was short, okay, and had no ending. I can say the same exact thing for the film. Well it sounds like you way more knowledged on X-Men than I am. There's also like charlie said it's more than what the fans are complaining about. I good deal of those critics have never seen the show.

[charliepanayi]

Name me one movie that was based off a novel, comic book, video game, or TV program that is as good as the original series in every way and stayed completely faithful to the story with no omissions.

Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet, unabridged and four hours long ;)

This is a daft question anyway, as virtually nothing exists that is a 100% facsimile of the original book etc and it's impossible pretty much to make an adaptation and keep things 100% the same (for time constraints and the changes in medium if nothing else). But it is possible to make a good adaptation and there's no excuse for a bad one. And people are not saying the film is crap just because stuff is different, they're saying it's crap because of fundamental stuff like the story as it is presented not working and the acting being poor.

[Wolf Kanno]

I can understand where the critics are coming from cause most are not aware of the original show (or hears it was on Nickelodeon and cringed since many of their films are a little..."kiddie") and the plot does feel disjointed cause it jumps around the story of the first season and cuts out a lot of the supporting casts so if you are not familiar with the source material; the story is constantly all over the place and the cast is mostly irrelevant beyond the leads. If you have knowledge of the show, the story makes more sense.

I'm not saying this movie is great, I'm just saying it wasn't bad. People are treating it like it was X-Men 3 and that film is utter :bou::bou::bou::bou:. I would probably hate The Last Airbender if I was not familiar with the show or if it made several changes to the central plot. It was good for a kids film if nothing else and I sometimes feel people forget the films target audience are 10-14 year olds and not us bitter "old" guys. Not that a kids film can't be just as wonderful for adults but only a few people can pull that off consistently (PIXAR, Don Bluth, and Jim Henson to name a few).