A Botched 'Last Airbender'

M. Night Shyamalan may have unintentionally created an audience participation film in The Last Airbender.  Because in our theater, sniping comments went back and forth between people like ping-pong. It couldn't be helped.

This movie (would've been called "Avatar" if Cameron's 2009 mega-hit hadn't come along) could have been the great one, a real epic for the praised (Sixth Sense) then slammed  (Lady in the Water, The Happening) writer-director.  While he's always been about mystery and melodrama, this was his shot at action and fantasy.  Well, forget the bullseye, he's barely hit the target.

Based on the Avatar: The Last Airbender Nickelodeon animated series that ran on TV for three seasons, the feature film is one big, sorry botch job.  Yet, it's still the kind of movie - to its credit then, a little bit maybe - that one still wants to watch. But heads shake and there's a sense of frustration over all that could've been. Skipping the 3D conversion edition (it wasn't made that way, and that move was just one of greed and bandwagon jumping), the special effects and action sequences overall are pretty good. The problems here include a truncated story, lame dialogue, and no sense of really fun when it comes to powers that can manipulate air, water, earth and fire.
So who is to blame?  The writer, director and producer. And that would be Shyamalan.
There story overall is faithful to the first season of the animated series but it's so truncated as though much was cut out and it was his choice, not just a studio directive. Will an extended edition on DVD or Blu-ray be better?  Hard to say. Not with the lame dialogue and voiceover exposition that tries to fill in the blanks.

In a world of elemental nations, a brother and sister of the water people (more like ice people), Jackson Rathbone (Twilight films) and Nicola Peltz discover Aang, a boy who is the last of his kind, being pursued by an exiled prince (Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire) and then also a nasty yet aristocratic military commander, Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart). The latter are part of the Fire Nation, which is very Roman-like, oppressing all other tribes. The tale is combination of a hero's quest and an adversary's hunt, not all that hard to follow, except so much is obviously missing.
Character dialogue is dropped into scenes with other characters; the brother falls in love with a princess only we never see it happen, the sister's voiceover just talks about it.  This is ultra-lazy filmmaking, It doesn't matter how many cuts had to be made. Some of the sets, the background mattes or CGI work (including the "pet" giant-size flying bison named Appa), do look excellent, but even the best window dressing can't save a lamely told story.

As Aang, Noah Ringer is tortured, troubled and oh so serious and unlike the TV series,  takes no joy in his growing powers. Patel's brooding Prince Zuko has potential, while Shaun Taub (Yinsen in Iron Man) as his mentor, Uncle Iroh, walks away with the movie, bringing the most depth where the actors are often flat, which again may be the fault of the script and direction. Was Seychelle Gabriel told to play the white-haired princess as a dullard?  The martial arts moves - much of it Tai Chi - look authentic enough (Ringer is a young martial artist, in fact), but when used in controlling elements, often appear haphazard and even without grace, strangely enough. And the climactic scenes of battle and discovery go on too long, the one place that could've used a few edits. The cliffhanger-ish ending is one of the tightest, to the point scenes that does make one hope for a sequel, but not necessarily the Shyamalan show.
The film has done well enough at the box office this past July 4th weekend, just behind (well, way behind Twilight: Eclipse) and up front, it's called "Book One," clearly the first of a trilogy. Should Shyamalan be at the helm for Books Two and Three? Many would say no, no. However, that's up to the studio, but even if retained as the director, let someone else produce and more so, have someone else write the thing, please. Despite its severe and many problems, the biggest of which is Shamalamadingdong's ego that marches on, the story - which is still good at its core - deserves a proper follow-thru and then, conclusion.  So is this first of a possible three films worth seeing in theaters, though?  Certainly not for 3D and the "regular" edition is iffy as well. Be prepared for a mess.
Really, you're better off picking up the box set of the animated series' first season - Avatar The Last Airbender: The Complete Book 1 (Collector's Edition) The writing is much better, the story has more layers and depth and the voice acting easily trumps the big screen movie. Plus, it's a whole lot more fun.