WARNING: MANY SPOILERS!! I just returned from a midnight showing of The Last Airbender, and it was by far the worst movie I've seen in some time. I'm a HUGE fan of the cartoon, and even after reading poor reviews from other users, decided to see it anyway. There are very few films that I can't stand, and I thought that since I was a fan, I would enjoy seeing it even though I was prepared to be disappointed. In short, this film contains nothing that made the show great. There's no chemistry between Kitara, Sokka and Aang. Appa and Momo had exactly no personality. The entire story seemed to be presented far too quickly, and with no emphasis on any one particular aspect. It essentially goes from Aang being rescued from Zuko's ship to the Northern Water Tribe with a montage in between after Sokka suggests they hit a bunch of small towns and create rebellions against the Fire Nation. They briefly go into the concepts of bending. They briefly mention the spirit world. They don't mention the Avatar state, although Aang uses it at the end. The characters are never developed. You never get the feeling of any bonds of friendship. Aang isn't lovable and playful. Sokka isn't funny. Kitara isn't motherly and caring. The bending is dumbed down. Only a few great firebenders can create their own fire. The rest of the bending seems like far too much work for hardly any payoff. For example, at one point it takes 5+ earthbenders about 7 seconds to throw one rock about the size of a dinner plate. I guess the best way to put it is that it looks as if the benders are dancing while the elements almost move themselves. It doesn't feel tight and/or coordinated and all the elements move far too slow. The only characters that even remotely look like their cartoon counterparts are Aang, Sokka, Kitara and Yue. Zuko, Ozai, Zhao, Ihro, and Pakku look completely different. The dialogue made me cringe the entire time. Also, many of the names are pronounced differently. Ihro is pronounced Eeroh, Sokka is Soka (like the word "so"), Aang is more like Ung, and the word Avatar is pronounced like Ah-vatar. Many great characters are just not there, like Bumi, Jet, Roku, Kyoshi or any of the Kyoshi warriors. Not even the cabbage merchant. I don't understand how a film like this could be green-lighted. To conclude, if you like the show, you won't find anything you liked about it in this film other than a watered-down version of the main plot of Book 1 and some weak bending. If you didn't like or didn't see the show, then you will most likely be confused and bored and possibly even angry you wasted your money. Or amused at how ridiculous this movie is. True fans will see this anyway and they can't be blamed, but if you haven't been looking forward to this movie for awhile, don't waste your time.
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