‘The Last Airbender’ Film Review: More Than a Disappointment

“You stand alone. That has always been your greatest weakness”

Have you ever seen a film that that you had close to no expectations for and you still ended up being disappointed? Avatar not only accomplishes that feat it’s also difficult to find any redeeming qualities throughout this blundering mess of a film.

Overview

The four nations of Air, Water, Earth and Fire lived peacefully until the Fire Nation declared war on the world. Even a century after their reign began, the fighting continues with no end in sight.

The being meant to keep the peace among the land is called the Avatar but he mysteriously vanished when the world needed him most. Now 100 years later a young boy is found encased in ice and learns he must master all four elements to stop the Fire Nation from bringing the world to their knees.

Clearly No One Watched the Show

From the opening moments something just feels off. The show this film is based upon is one of the most beloved cartoons of the 2000’s era and to this day the show is held in high regard.

The Last Airbender genuinely feels like no one knew what the show was about but right before they started filming someone gave them a brief description of all the characters and the plot. The actors/actresses screw up pronunciations of just about every single character in the original show.

If that were the biggest issue I think that most people could get over the mistakes this film makes but none of the characters are the same. The show Avatar: The Last Airbender knows how to balance seriousness and comedy in the best way possible.

While the film is the most serious children’s films I have ever seen. It’s difficult to find out who this movie’s audience truly is. It’s not for the fans clearly and for people who enjoy bad movies I doubt you’d even like this.

Going Through the Motions

About 70% of this film is going through the events in season 1 which most of the time just is not a great idea. That’s an abundant amount of information to cover in a less than two hour film. Many emotional beats are lost because everything feels so rushed.

Even if the film did well enough to get a sequel the movie left out key characters. If you never watched the show I couldn’t imagine how confused you’d be since the film feels like everyone skimmed a book then attempted to give a rousing presentation.

Weird Camera Work

I’ve never seen so many awful shots in a film with a decent sized budget. There are scenes that last over a minute that are just a one-shot that consists two characters just talking. Not only is it boring which is a crime in itself but also it’s such a lazy way of giving exposition.

Conclusion

Saying that The Last Airbender is a bad film is a given the reasons behind it being bad are pretty impressive though. From the terrible acting to the god awful camera work you’ll struggle trying to defend the movie in any way.

The characters both heroes and villains are beloved by fans of the show. However, when it came to the movie adaption they all lost their character.

They are almost unrecognizable. One of the main characters Sokka is known for his sarcasm and being pretty funny both of those are some of his biggest traits. Once he went on the big screen though that part of his character was gone and the same can be said about the rest of the cast.

Effects being awful in comparison to the show goes without saying as well. Bending is one of the best aspects of Avatar: The Last Airbender so of course they have to ruin it in the adaption. At the end of day this just isn’t a quality film it wasn’t worth your money when it was in theaters and its not worth your time now.

Verdict 2 out of 10 Stars