THE LAST AIRBENDER 2010

The Last Airbender 2010

Noah Ringer ... Aang
Dev Patel ... Prince Zuko
Nicola Peltz ... Katara
Jackson Rathbone ... Sokka
Shaun Toub ... Uncle Iroh
Aasif Mandvi ... Commander Zhao
Cliff Curtis ... Fire Lord Ozai
Seychelle Gabriel ... Princess Yue

Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Rated PG for fantasy action violence.

THE SHORT

A passable kids movie that everyone can watch.
Worth waiting for DvD.

THE LONG

Based off of the famous children show Avatar, this film is M. Knight Shyamalan’s silver screen translation of that world. As with most highly complex and detailed worlds that get tossed into a brief movie, the characters are shallow and bland compared to their cartoon counterparts that have had time to develop over multiple episodes. The acting is passable for a children’s movie and the dialog boils down to 90 minutes of exposition to try and move the story along. It’s also obvious this is meant to be the first of at least three movies, but weather or not we see any more of the story is anyone’s guess since the questionable casting choices and poor delivery on fan expectations have essentially doomed this movie to a single entry in the movie goers diary.

As a stand alone film. There has been worse. Kids should find this film entertaining and the 3D version, though not mesmerizing, does help the experience a bit.

The film takes place in a mystical world where 4 nations (Air, Water, Earth and Fire) exist in relative peace. A peace kept by the renowned Avatar, a being that is able to control all 4 elements and is reborn each time they die. This time around the Avatar was born into the Air bending nation. A young boy named Aang who does not want the job and so runs away becoming trapped under the sea for 100 years. After he emerges, he finds the nations are no longer at peace. The Fire nation is taking control of everything piece by piece and has destroyed the Air nation completely trying to kill the Avatar. (Which is a plot hole for me since killing him just makes he get reborn again later. So it’s at best a short term solution.)

The first film is chapter 1: Water. This refers to the Avatar’s need to master the 3 non-native elements. He knows his native element of Air and goes on a quest to find a teacher to learn the secrets of water. We can expect any future films to be focused on learning Earth and Fire in turn. But the exiled Prince Zuko is also on a quest to regain his honor by capturing the Avatar and bringing him to the Fire nation. Pitted against his Father’s own men, Prince Zuko struggles between doing what will regain him his place in the Fire nation and what he feels is right.

Aang is joined on his quest by a brother and sister of the Water nation one of which is a Water bender whom is just learning her abilities. His trusty sidekick is a giant wooly riding creature resembling a Chinese dragon….almost. Oh and it flies. And swims in frigid water sometimes rather than flying, which seemed a bit odd.

This isn’t the best movie of the summer, and as far as family movies go, I would recommend about 6 others before this one, but if your kids are begging you to go see it, you should be able to sit through it without any permanent mental damage.

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