After 11 years, Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace) can take a sigh of relief as Noah Ringer replaces him as the kid to feel most sorry for.
At the age of 12, Ringer has been chosen to play Aang in The Last Airbender. Based off of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, the story follows the first chapter of the series as Aang is awaken from a frozen state 100 years after running away from a monastery by Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone). He discovers that everyone at his monastery is wiped out and his lack of training makes him only able to bend air, even though he has the power to control all of the elements.
While he's getting his training done through various attempts at yoga and meditation, Commander Zhao (The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi) and Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) are fire benders on a quest to kidnap Aang and take down the water bending empire.
What comes across as a fun cartoon with innovative animation and storytelling comes across as flacid here. At 12 years old, Jake Lloyd is no prodigy and has limited acting abilities that keeps him from performing with the light hearted approach of the character on the show.
In fact, it seems Lloyd was only chosen because he looks good in tattoos and has an adorably bad way of kicking ass. In fact, almost all of the benders in this movie have a bad way of kicking ass. While the effects at times save people from looking stupid, the initial movements of each bender is ridiculous and inconsistent. These movements can best be described as cheap yoga techniques for beginners that when done in rapid succession make you look stupid even if you are wielding a block of ice at your opponent.
In fact, the movie is a genius look into miscasting 101. Aasif Mandvi is the notable choice. Everything about him doesn't scream threatening. His look is round and chubby and his voice is as adorable as a teddy bear. To say the least, he also points out the obvious (these are ancient scrolls! Let's kill the moon!).
Even Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire fame feels to be phoning his performance in with the most asinine plot of the whole movie: kidnap Aang, then kidnap him again when he gets away. What angst and originality he brought to his previous hit, he loses here by overacting in a dazed and confused glare.
After an hour and 44 minutes, the movie leaves you wondering how something that seemed to have a diligent touch in design could be so messed up in acting, writing, and overall logic. While the extra budget keeps it from feeling Battlefield Earth bad, it still has a Uwe Boll badness to it that drags the movie slowly into mediocrity and into self-parody. If you can find a character worth rooting for, make sure to save them from any possible sequel.
It is weirder to believe that director M. Night Shyamalan did this. After a string of hits, including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, he has become a
parody of himself. He has a visual gift, but his writing doesn't match. With efforts like The Lady in the Water and The Happening, it saw Shyamalan reach new lows as he tried to maintain his flame for twists and bizarre storytelling. However, his failures, as awful as they were, could be entertaining if looked upon in the so-bad-it's-good category known as camp.
But to go from classic to camp is quite a shame, especially from someone who was once as respected as Shyamalan. His density and lack of creativity doesn't save The Last Airbender as $120 million can't make the movie properly camp. Instead, you see Shyamalan wishes to be like Michael Bay and make pointless movies with no real purpose but to fill two hours of your time with worthless material. What a twist! Is it bad? Bet all your ponies on it.
In fact, on Rotten Tomatoes, there is only one film doing worst in ratings than it for this year, Furry Vengeance. If this movie makes as much money as many think it is, it may likely follow in Shyamalan's apparent idol Michael Bay's footsteps and finally win him that Razzie for Worst Picture that we've been suspecting him to get for three movies now.
Also, if you wish to avoid worthless rising ticket prices and still get your money's worth, check out Avatar: The Last Airbender, the original cartoon, playing on Nickelodeon and on Netflix on Demand as we speak. It will make you realize that you as a college student with little Hollywood experience could've at least written a better script and dialogue through fan fiction.
While he's getting his training done through various attempts at yoga and meditation, Commander Zhao (The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi) and Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) are fire benders on a quest to kidnap Aang and take down the water bending empire.
What comes across as a fun cartoon with innovative animation and storytelling comes across as flacid here. At 12 years old, Jake Lloyd is no prodigy and has limited acting abilities that keeps him from performing with the light hearted approach of the character on the show.
In fact, it seems Lloyd was only chosen because he looks good in tattoos and has an adorably bad way of kicking ass. In fact, almost all of the benders in this movie have a bad way of kicking ass. While the effects at times save people from looking stupid, the initial movements of each bender is ridiculous and inconsistent. These movements can best be described as cheap yoga techniques for beginners that when done in rapid succession make you look stupid even if you are wielding a block of ice at your opponent.
In fact, the movie is a genius look into miscasting 101. Aasif Mandvi is the notable choice. Everything about him doesn't scream threatening. His look is round and chubby and his voice is as adorable as a teddy bear. To say the least, he also points out the obvious (these are ancient scrolls! Let's kill the moon!).
Even Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire fame feels to be phoning his performance in with the most asinine plot of the whole movie: kidnap Aang, then kidnap him again when he gets away. What angst and originality he brought to his previous hit, he loses here by overacting in a dazed and confused glare.
After an hour and 44 minutes, the movie leaves you wondering how something that seemed to have a diligent touch in design could be so messed up in acting, writing, and overall logic. While the extra budget keeps it from feeling Battlefield Earth bad, it still has a Uwe Boll badness to it that drags the movie slowly into mediocrity and into self-parody. If you can find a character worth rooting for, make sure to save them from any possible sequel.
It is weirder to believe that director M. Night Shyamalan did this. After a string of hits, including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, he has become a
parody of himself. He has a visual gift, but his writing doesn't match. With efforts like The Lady in the Water and The Happening, it saw Shyamalan reach new lows as he tried to maintain his flame for twists and bizarre storytelling. However, his failures, as awful as they were, could be entertaining if looked upon in the so-bad-it's-good category known as camp.But to go from classic to camp is quite a shame, especially from someone who was once as respected as Shyamalan. His density and lack of creativity doesn't save The Last Airbender as $120 million can't make the movie properly camp. Instead, you see Shyamalan wishes to be like Michael Bay and make pointless movies with no real purpose but to fill two hours of your time with worthless material. What a twist! Is it bad? Bet all your ponies on it.
In fact, on Rotten Tomatoes, there is only one film doing worst in ratings than it for this year, Furry Vengeance. If this movie makes as much money as many think it is, it may likely follow in Shyamalan's apparent idol Michael Bay's footsteps and finally win him that Razzie for Worst Picture that we've been suspecting him to get for three movies now.
Also, if you wish to avoid worthless rising ticket prices and still get your money's worth, check out Avatar: The Last Airbender, the original cartoon, playing on Nickelodeon and on Netflix on Demand as we speak. It will make you realize that you as a college student with little Hollywood experience could've at least written a better script and dialogue through fan fiction.
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