Last Hairbender?

[rogwar]

So is it any good? Anybody seen it?

[Dichotomy]

according to my local hoodrats (my teenage son and his friends) it isn't worth the price of the ticket

[Tac]

I think you'll only really understand the movie if you watch the cartoon before going to see the movie.

if you have netflix you can watch all 3 seasons of it streaming. well worth it. without watching the toons you will not appreciate what they did in the film.

I say this because the reaction I saw from many people that watched it, including my own family members, was that the movie was 'off' in the sense of how there were white people dressing like chinese, talking like americans, being polite and snobbish as only some euros can be  ... and the bad guy is middle eastern lookalike! horrido.

thats why you need to watch the cartoon. the 'setting' of the world is based on chinese/asian culture .. so unless youre into anime or been to japan or china you probably will be confused.

The only thing I didnt like of the film was the acting. Maybe its just me but the way the actors played their roles was... artificial. you could spot they were acting, it wasnt natural. they DO however do a good job with the character's mannerisms and combat moves.

the plot followed the cartoon's storyline and locations very well.. sure theres SOME deviation but not much. I liked what they did with it.

[Beefcake]

Ok I watched some of the cartoon series on Nickelodeon and I really liked the series. However, the move IMO wasn't worth the 3D ticket price, and guess what I saw it for free. (No I didn't sneak in I work for a company that owns a theater so employees get to see movies for free.) The plot was rushed rushed rushed rushed, the movie start to finish is only 75 minutes long. The acting and dialog was painful to watch, however, the CG scenes were good. Sadly don't waste your time with 3D as the movie is a post 3D production which means there is really little that pops out if anything.

Honestly don't even waste the gas to go see, instead rent or buy the complete cartoon series and watch it instead.

[Plazus]

Will it bend my hair?

[Stalwart]

The move didn't bend anything, except maybe a yawn.  Yes, a yawn-bender.    Even my eleven year old son got bored half way in.  Without prompting, he said "It wasn't very good, was it?"  The only things wrong were the casting, the acting, the pacing, the lighting, the fighting.   *Sigh*  Good night, Shyamalan.

However: I ditto the plug for the series on Netflix.     We watch the series every summer on Nickelodeon.  This year we watched all three books on Netflix.  And even though the kids don't dress up in costume and run around the house bending the elements like they did a few years ago, we all still loved watching the epic again, only this time, in-sequence, and on-demand at our own pace.  

[Masherbrum]

The Wife and I took our 8 year old son to see it and he loves the Cartoon Series.   I thought it was good for what it was, but better yet so did everyone else.

[Mickey1992]

http://www.ivillage.com/last-airbender-worst-movie-all-time/1-a-215574?obref=obinsite

How many ways can a movie writer say that a movie is appallingly, shockingly, historically bad? More than we can count, in fact! Here's a colorful sampling of how critics are describing Shyamalan's latest:

"The Last Airbender is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here." -- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

"The dialogue... has the stilted sagacity of a fortune-cookie dictum; after each line is delivered, you may be tempted to shout out, 'In bed!'" -- Richard Corliss, Time

"The camera swoops and the music blares, but we might as well be watching a tolerant, teeth-gritting parent filming his son’s karate class demonstration." -- Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

"The current national priorities should be as follows: reduce carbon emissions and stop funding the films of M. Night Shyamalan." -- Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader

"It’s a tossup as to which is worse: the script, which regularly grinds to a halt to Explain Everything until the movie curls up and dies; the shockingly dingy camerawork; or the execrable 3-D." -- Ty Burr, The Boston Globe

"As for the 3-D, I'm tempted to leave responsible critical language behind and say, quite simply, that it sucks -- except that the 3-D visuals in this movie would have to exist before they could be called terrible."-- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

"The movie is so dim and fuzzy that you might mistake your disposable 3-D glasses for someone else’s prescription shades... So the best way to watch The Last Airbender is probably with your eyes closed." -- A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"If any movie ever warranted a class-action lawsuit against the filmmakers, it’s The Last Airbender." -- Keith Phipps, AV Club

[Saxman]

Y'know, every time someone says their movie is going to be the next <Insert Classic Film Name Here>, it ends up tanking horribly.

[1701E]

Almost no surprise it wasn't too good.  It's impossible to cram everything from even Book 1 into a single film without making it extremely long (Book 1 was 16 episodes at 24mins each).  They'd either have to leave out a lot of important things or cram it all into a lot of talking, so either confusing or boring.  Sucks that the acting wasn't good but considering the show's main characters are 12-20 that means young actors with little to no experience.  Hopefully if he continues this by Book 3 he'll get it right.

[Belial]

Sucked don't see it till it comes out on dvd

[Nemisis]

The movie failed. The easiest way to put it.

Acting sucked
plot was far to rushed (just sped the extra money to make it 2hrs long instead of 1:15, and I guarantee the audience will be much happier)
dialog was a little.... off
I didn't like the way the did appa. He just looked a little strange to me.

Although the CG was decent.

[Stalwart]

just sped the extra money to make it 2hrs long instead of 1:15, and I guarantee the audience will be much happier

 Not if nothing else changes.   I was ready to leave 30 minutes in.

I didn't like the way the did appa. He just looked a little strange to me.

   yeah, creepy

The series was packed with comedy and the tone was up-beat.  Aang is a happy kid at heart.  The movie missed on both counts.

And for god sake... Uncle Iroh has a Russian accent (no offense to Russians.)   The original voice was Mako Iwamatsu!~   




May he rest in peace.

[redman555]

I didnt go see it, but from the previews it seemed like they used TO MUCH computer animation.....I mean EVERYTHING looked made on a computer except the people.


-BigBOBCH

[Rattler]

The movie had potential to be great but epically failed... it was rushed and the film kept stopping to explain what was going on so if you didn't see the cartoon you would be kinda lost.The dialog and acting sucked it was just bad....