Now I won't go into the comparisons of whether the anime or the movie was better. I'm sick of hearing the constant battery of live action films in relation to their animated counterparts. I will be the first to admit that we have compared a number of live action films to the animated versions and picked a number of areas to critique. The main reason I won't be doing it this time is because this film was actually good. Naysayers can argue all they want, but the truth is I was entertained by this one.
For those who are familiar with the Avatar anime series, there are currently 3 seasons, each depicting an elemental book (Water, Earth, and Fire). The Last Airbender is based off of the story from the first season or The Book of Water.
The film did a great job of depicting all of the major events from the original story. It has been a few years since I watched the first season of Avatar, but I did recall many aspects of the story as I watched the film. Something that I did find separated this film from many other live actions that I have seen was the story. The writers did a good job creating as few holes in the plot as possible.
The Last Airbender has stunning graphics. The effects used to demonstrate the use of the elements when bending was phenomenal. It was very clear that a great deal of time and money went into the graphical production of this film.
Something that was also appealing was the diversity of the cast. I will be the first to admit that I was very hell bent that having such a diverse cast was going to have the same effect on Avatar that Dragon Ball Evolution had on the Dragon Ball series. The truth is, having watched the film, I think the cast selected lent a great deal of strength in showing how the events in the movie really were global in nature.
I have to highly recommend this film when it is released on BluRay. It really is phenomenal. Speaking from my own experience watching it, I was really hoping that a second one was in the works. From what I have read elsewhere, it looks like there is an intention to create a second film, but it hasn't been started yet. If you are a fan of the Avatar series, I don't think you will be disappointed with this movie. Just give it a fair chance and I am sure you will be very happy with it!
You know what? I too actually enjoyed it a lot dispite of what many had said and the fact that I have no idea about the Avatar series. I have only seen may be 10 episodes here and there.
ReplyDeleteAs a stand alone movie, it's fine as well. I know M. Night Shyamalan had made some disappointing movies but I think The Last Airbender wasn't one of them. Hopefully the other parts of the series won't be.
At first I thought the cast were that diverse as well but if you watch the whole thing and read about it, it is.
I would recommend checking out the series. It really is entertaining. The lighthearted animation style and story makes it an easy show to watch. Plenty of action without senseless violence. Not that I am oppose to senseless violence, but it is a nice change every so often.
ReplyDeleteI watched the entire series of Avatar The Last Airbender and I love it. It's really entertaining, with awesome fighting with bending the elements.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I sat down watching it again when an idea popped in my head, "They should make a live action film to this." And then, im seeing a teaser trailer for it. Which had me restless until the movie came.
When I watched it, at first I thought the characters was off but it was ok, I also expected something more with the fighting but, overall I enjoyed it.
I had the same reaction to the cast when I first saw the trailer. After watching the movie though, I did find that the diversity helped to illustrate the differences between the types of benders. A lot of people claim there was racism in the movie, but to be honest, I really didn't see it when I sat down to watch this film.
ReplyDeleteI heard many bad things about this movie, but I myself liked it. I loved the series and find that the live action had a lot to jam into two hours but both were enjoyable I just find the anime to develop the story better once there is more time.
ReplyDeleteYeah this movie did seem to get a lot of hate. I posted a video on YouTube of the opening bending sequence and people were going crazy slamming the film on there. It's kind of sad really that people need to spend so much time putting down a movie and being totally unwilling to accept that other people may still enjoy it.
ReplyDelete