The Last Airbender franchise has always sort of baffled me. The original cartoon, titled Avatar: The Last Airbender, seems, ostensibly, to be a Japanese anime series redubbed in English for the Nickelodeon audience. But this is not the case. The series was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, two American artistic types who were inspired by Japanese mythology and style.
The show was an instant success, but it appealed to far more than the originally intended Nickelodeon little kid demographic. Since its debut in 2005, the show has gained a massive following, enjoying both popular and cult status. Many fans of genuine Japanese anime hopped aboard during the show’s three season run, and one of these fans was famed film director M. Night Shyamalan. He watched Avatar with his kids as the show’s world evolved and became something he considered filmworthy.
In 2007, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon studios began development of a planned trilogy of Airbender films, each helmed by Shyamalan and each covering one season of material from the cartoon series. The first of these films was released last Thursday, and the reception has not been particularly warm. Roger Ebert notably gave the film a half star out of five, stating the film did nothing well. In addition, the film (which costed an estimated $280 million to produce and market), only brought in a paltry $16 million in its opening weekend.
In Shyamalan’s defense, this must have been a difficult film to make. The source material is difficult to put your finger on, being neither fully eastern nor western in origin and content. In addition, the story’s main character, Aang, is nearly impossible to cast.
Aang is the titular Last Airbender, a boy who has the power to save the world but who would rather have fun and be young instead of facing his immense responsibilities. In the TV show, Aang was a perfect combination of childlike wonder, goofiness and dyed-in-the-wool ass-kicking prowess. This combination was adeptly executed in the series, but bringing such a cartoony character into the real world is a difficult feat.
Noah Ringer, who plays Aang, takes on this task admirably well, but even so, as I was watching him near the beginning of the film, he just seemed so odd and unreal. As the film progresses, you get used to this weirdness, but it is always there in the background, poking at you, saying “something just doesn’t feel right here.”
And the whole film is like this. In the process of turning the cartoon into a live-action film, the humor and quirkiness simply didn’t translate. I feel Shyamalan probably did all he could with the casting – and most of it is pretty good – but Avatar: The Last Airbender just might not be source material that’s meant for a non-cartoon treatment.
On the upside, the world of the film is beautiful and there are many captivating vistas and set pieces to take in over the course of Aang’s journey. Most of the areas Aang and friends visit have a decidedly blue hue to them, but that plays into the theme of the film – water – rather well. It all looks very otherworldly in an endearing way, and as I watched the film I felt excitement in anticipating where the adventure would lead next.
Another standout feature of the film is the performance of Dev Patel as the disgraced Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. Patel was the star of last year’s Oscar darling “Slumdog Millionaire,” and as soon as he appeared onscreen, I felt an affinity towards him as an actor. He has that strong presence—that certain “x” factor— that makes some actors truly compelling to watch, no matter what role they play.
Casting Patel was a stroke of bri l liance on Shyamalan’s part, because audiences already view him as an underdog-type character from seeing him in “Slumdog.” All actors come with baggage – it’s just a reality of human nature. People will never be able to see Johnny Depp and not think about pirate Captain Jack Sparrow for at least a second. But Shyamalan’s choice of Patel plays right into the character of Zuko and adds instant depth to the character when he appears onscreen.
The film’s story does a decent job of telling a protracted version of season one of the show and it touches on most of the important events. The film does an OK job of keeping up its momentum, and only occasionally becomes a bit boring. The characters make you care about them a little bit, but not enough to really grab you and make you feel something when disaster befalls them. The fight scenes were exciting, but also uninspired. All in all, the film is just really average.
And then there is the 3-D, or rather, the lack thereof. When you pay almost twice as much for “3-D” admission, you expect to be blown away, but all I noticed was a little bit of added dimension in certain scenes. There is absolutely nothing remarkable here. In fact, the Coca-Cola advertisement before the film was far more three-dimensional than the entirety of the film. I actually found myself wishing I could take off the annoying glasses and just watch the film in 2-D.
The Last Airbender is an average fantasy adventure film, based upon a television series that is far better. Roger Ebert is being ridiculous giving this film a half star, as it deserves a perfectly average score. That is, unless you’re a huge fan of the original cartoon, in which case, you and Ebert might agree.
