Movie Review: The Last Airbender

Well I went to see The Last Airbender last night. I used to watch the cartoon version of this when it was on Nickelodeon so when I saw a preview for this a while back I knew I'd have to go see it when it came out. Before I went to the movie I was talking with my friend Joe and he sends me this review that talks about how bad the movie is. I decided ya know what...I've got to see it in order to make the decision for myself.

While many people I've talked to that have seen it and reviews I've read say many negative things about this movie, I overall actually enjoyed it.

The movie follows Aang, the current incarnation of the Avatar. The Avatar is the only person alive who can control each of the elements. (Air, Water, Earth, and Fire) When Aang realized he was the Avatar he ran away and got caught in a storm and was frozen under the water for 100 years. In the century he was gone the Fire Nation waged a war on the other three nations in an attempt to rule the world.

The movie follows Book One: Water in which Aang who is found by Katara, the only waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe, and her brother Sokka, travel to the Notherwn Water Tribe so that Aang can learn to waterbend. Throughout their trip to the north, the trio encounters some run ins with the Fire Nation which ultimately leads to an all out battle at the Northern Water Tribe city.

Now like I said overall I didn't think the movie was horrible. I left and was actually thinking to myself "Huh...I actually liked it." I watched the cartoon and this followed pretty closely to first season of the cartoon's story line. I even thought it was nice to see some of the aspects from the cartoon translated into a real life version.

Now onto some of the things that bugged me:

• 3D - So I already bitched about this in another blog (http://bit.ly/9Ctg89) but I saw this movie in 3D anyways because that's what format it was in. It really didn't do anything for me. I hear the 3D was added after production and it showed. The movie would have been just fine in 2D.
• Names - A few of the names were pronounced differently in the movie than they were in the cartoons. I wasn't the only person that noticed this as the lady behind me kept correcting the pronunciation every time they spoke. (That got really annoying)
• Too Short - I understand that you can't fit an entire season into a movie, but I wouldn't have minded the movie being a little longer. I just felt like things were rushed.
  

I also think it's worth mentioning that it's obviously set up for a trilogy. There were three seasons of the cartoon and when the movie starts it clearly says "Book One: Water." This means Earth and Fire have yet to come. So I'm kind of excited to see how these pan out in the future.

So beyond these few things it was enjoyable. I at least recommend seeing it, if you saw the cartoon. And if you don't wanna pay to go see it in the theater then at least watch it when it comes out on DVD.

Out of 10 I'd give this movie a 6.