The Last Airbender Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
 Noah Ringer as Aang
Dev Patel as Prince Zuko
Nicola Peltz as Katara
Jackson Rathbone as Sokka


Plot: The movies follows a young warrior, Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, must stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.


Review: I've always been interested in the Avatar TV series but never really gave it a chance. One of the many purposes for this movie, I think, would be to get a new audience of people watching the show while making the already established fan base satisfied. I believe they succeeded in getting a new audience to possibly watch the show, but for all the wrong reasons.


I like to go into a movie with the mind set of I just want to be entertained. I don't expect a movie to be gold from the moment I see it, I don't compare it to any of the other great movies from the past, I just want to be entertained. With that said, The Last Airbender got some pretty bad reviews. Of course, I read them before I saw the movie just to get an idea of what other people are saying. The reviews discouraged me but I still went in with the same mind set.


In many ways, The Last Airbender did entertain me and others. The action/fighting scenes were very well done and lots of training and practice went into it. It payed off because the people in my theater gave the classic "ooooo" and "ahhhhhh." The special effects in the movie were very nice, all the visuals of water, fire and air were done nicely and didn't look stupid. 


The last positive note i'd like to make about this movie is the story. The story was very enticing, which I think shouldn't have been too difficult cause all the had to do was follow what goes on the TV series or books. Whether it stood true to the series, I don't know so I cannot make a valid argument about that, though many have said that parts of the movie did not hold true to the series. 


There are a few negative aspects to the movie as well. The acting, for the most part, is pretty terrible. Other than Dev Patel who plays Prince Zuko in the movie, all the main characters are just terrible. I can't put it any other way. The boy who plays Aang in the movie is relatively inexperience. I mean literally this was his first movie. Can I make an exception to that? A little bit, but it's a huge responsibility to throw on him knowing how inexperienced he is. Jackson Rathbone and Nicole Peltz play siblings in the movies but seemingly have no connection. Peltz is just awkward. I can't put my finger on what it is exactly but every time she speaks, it's just awkward. Rathbone on the other hand, is said to be a decent actor and why his dialogue is also very awkward, is hard to explain.


Also, the movie seems rushed at times. Within just a couple of quick scenes, days and weeks manage to go by with not much happening. I don't exactly understand why that was done because it's not like they are dealing with any historic dates. It's not like a World War movie where you have to follow a certain timeline.


In many ways, The Last Airbender is bad. But, it somewhat redeems itself or at the very least, showed spots of hope. There looks to be a sequel on the way and I have much more hope for that one. Maybe they'll get rid of the director, the infamous M. Night Shyamalan, Noah Ringer who played Aang will have more movies under his belt by the time he has to do the 2nd part for this one and hopefully, the sequel could actually be a good movie.


Rating 2 out of 5