LAF Reviews of TLA

[QueSeráSerá]

I wish I had gone to see Eclipse. Maybe then I could have seen a halfway decent adaption this week.

Same! When I went to the premiere one of my friends came with but went to see Eclipse instead. She came out of the movie bright and happy saying it was the best Twilight adaptation yet and that all the action scenes were amazing while I was really depressed about TLA..... I kind of wanted to strangle her

[DarthSkyGuy]

Why would giving the creators full creative control be the right thing to do? Do they have a history of making major motion pictures?

I didn't say they should direct the movie.
I just said they should have full creative control.

And have you seen the last 4 episodes of book 3?
The quality was Animated Feature worthy.

The only person who gets full creative control on a film is the director. There is a massive difference between making animated television and a 100+ million film.

[Kyoshi Warrior Jen]

I'm disappointed. This had amazing potential. (Please read the entire note before you comment or even formulate an opinion, thank you.) SPOILERS!

First off:
Aang = Ong
Iroh = Eeroh
Sokka = Soakka
Avatar = Ahvatar

You get used to it, kind of.


ACTORS

I don't care what anyone says, Sokka was totally Sokka for the most part. In the latter half, he was just serious as hell, though.
Katara was not motherly. She was totally weak. There's no chemistry between her and Aang, either.
Aang's first few sentences were weird. Awkward. Like watching a kid in a play. He definitely seemed like a kid, though. However, he looked depressed/scared out of his mind ALL THE TIME. The ending annoyed me. It was basically a shot of Aang looking like he was about to cry. Oh, what a good savior, indeed.
Ozai was menacing. He did fine. I want his suit, it was so pimp.
Iroh was Iroh. He was immune to any suck.
Zuko was played very well by Dev Patel(love this guy) and he's the only one with a real backstory. (Aang kind of had one, but ehh.)
Yue was pretty as hell.
Appa and Momo are there for about 40 seconds each.
Zhao was so hilariously bad. He was played by a guy on The Daily Show and it shows! He's so funny, but I don't think he was supposed to be.


VISUALS

This movie LOOKED great. The costumes and sets are gorgeous. The Northern Water Tribe was THE most beautiful set I have ever seen. It was the greatest thing about the movie. All the elements looked pretty damn real, too, especially the water. Appa and Momo look amazing, too bad they're only there for, like, a minute. I can't really complain about the artistic direction in this movie, it looks great.


BENDING

Not sure Shyamalan understood the concept of bending. The element(s) is supposed to be an extension of yourself. Here, it was a magic spell that you cast by doing some intricate movie that's unrelated to the movement of the element. Seriously, there was this one part where Aang started posing, did about two flips, THEN started waving his forearm in a circle to create a wind cyclone. There was so much extra movement for the bending. And I don't know how Aang and Katara were "practicing waterbending" by just posing. They didn't even use water.


MUSIC

The music was amazing and beautiful and epic. The orchestral score was very good. Especially during the climax, it was great. No complaints.


GENERAL COMPLAINTS

This movie was too short. I heard half an hour got cut and it shows. Sorry, but the Kyoshi Warriors got cut.
This thing gave me Action Blue Balls. Seriously. The action scene were too short. And they missed a few opportunities to have some. Anyone remember when in the trailer, Iroh prays flames from his hands? That's all he does.
Aang smiled once.
The dialog is repetitive. Zhao mentions that he "got a scroll about the Water & Moon Spirits from the Great Library" about FOUR times. OKAY! Damn.
Ozai seemed like maybe he almost kind of cared about Zuko sometimes. The hell is that?!
Iroh didn't get enough screen time.
Aang went into the Avatar State at the end OF HIS OWN WILL. NO. And he did a half-hour dance for that tidal wave. It seems wrong because there was a Fire Nation soldier 20 FEET FROM HIM. He could've shoved Aang or something. And that scene was also blue balls.


STUFF I LIKED

They pretty much recreated the Blue Spirit episode and it was badass.
Zuko and Iroh were good.
Yue looked very pretty.
Sokka LITERALLY kicked ass and it was funny.
You remember the opening of the TV show where the benders bend in front of a red background? They did that and it made me smile.
Epic music.


SOMETHING GOOD/BAD/WEIRD

You remember how Zhao was killed by the spirit and got dragged underwater? That's changed here. Instead, for badass waterbenders walk up and hit him with those four tendrils. Then they encase him in a sphere of water and DROWN HIM ONSCREEN. Seriously, he dies right before your eyes and they just drop his body afterwards. That scene was kind of horrific. I'm surprised that was allowed in a PG movie.


OKAY, SO...

Remember that episode "Ember Island Players" where they saw a play of their adventures? And when they left, everyone was like "That..wasn't good.", "No kidding", then Sokka says "But the effects were decent." Yeah... (Not THAT bad, though.)
This movie ain't winnin' any awards(except maybe for effects, but it's not "Worst Movie of the Decade" like people are saying, hell no. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can probably enjoy yourself. Don't worry, it's short.
Yeah, I did kind of enjoy it. Wouldn't say it's great, though, no way.

Omg, think I found my forum buddy. I wish I had watch the movie with you so we could've laughed at the same parts. Zhao and his damn scroll. "Yeah, I got the picture Zhao, you found a scroll, in a library, a library no one thought you could find, that's great." He better put that damn library in the second movie. Because otherwise it didn't matter how Zhao knew that, it could've been research, bribed a member of the NWT who cares, but he made a point of that library.

I also agree about the bending. I got to a point where I accept that they wanted to add the element for the whole time but ran out of money for the CGI, that could be the only explanation because otherwise bending seemed kind of useless. It was slow and complicated. And Sokka could take out a guy with his boomerang much fast. Or how about inventing a gun, they have battleships, tanks, and balloons, they could easily invent a gun.

I thought the actors did better than I had expected. But otherwise I am right there with you and loved your review. Mine is on page 28.

[ImperialFirebender]

I honestly enjoyed this movie. However, I was disappointed. I have never followed a movie this closely before in my life, and that probably led me to have expectations that were too high. That being said, I loved the music of this movie. I loved how Cliff, Dev and Shaun played Ozai, Zuko and Iroh. Noah was perfect for Aang. Jackson actually worked very well for Sokka. Nicola wasn't the greatest, but she still did a good job of playing Katara. The effects were almost always great. I honestly thought the firenation ships had a cooler look in the movie than the show. Azula at the end was really cool too. IMO.

A few things that I thought needed to be improved were: The way bending was done (too much movement and not enough element manipulation). Water bending had this problem the most. Most of the water bending scenes were Aang and Katara doing Tai Chi forms with very little or no water manipulation. Another problem with this movie is the earth bending (I don't think I need to explain any more). Ozai's throne room could definitely use some improvement. The relationships between the characters also seemed ignored (we get better hints to Kataang in the first episode of the series than we do during this entire movie).

Like I said before, I actually enjoyed this movie, but I was disappointed.

[moviebuff]

I'm disappointed. This had amazing potential. (Please read the entire note before you comment or even formulate an opinion, thank you.) SPOILERS!

First off:
Aang = Ong
Iroh = Eeroh
Sokka = Soakka
Avatar = Ahvatar

You get used to it, kind of.


ACTORS

I don't care what anyone says, Sokka was totally Sokka for the most part. In the latter half, he was just serious as hell, though.
Katara was not motherly. She was totally weak. There's no chemistry between her and Aang, either.
Aang's first few sentences were weird. Awkward. Like watching a kid in a play. He definitely seemed like a kid, though. However, he looked depressed/scared out of his mind ALL THE TIME. The ending annoyed me. It was basically a shot of Aang looking like he was about to cry. Oh, what a good savior, indeed.
Ozai was menacing. He did fine. I want his suit, it was so pimp.
Iroh was Iroh. He was immune to any suck.
Zuko was played very well by Dev Patel(love this guy) and he's the only one with a real backstory. (Aang kind of had one, but ehh.)
Yue was pretty as hell.
Appa and Momo are there for about 40 seconds each.
Zhao was so hilariously bad. He was played by a guy on The Daily Show and it shows! He's so funny, but I don't think he was supposed to be.


VISUALS

This movie LOOKED great. The costumes and sets are gorgeous. The Northern Water Tribe was THE most beautiful set I have ever seen. It was the greatest thing about the movie. All the elements looked pretty damn real, too, especially the water. Appa and Momo look amazing, too bad they're only there for, like, a minute. I can't really complain about the artistic direction in this movie, it looks great.


BENDING

Not sure Shyamalan understood the concept of bending. The element(s) is supposed to be an extension of yourself. Here, it was a magic spell that you cast by doing some intricate movie that's unrelated to the movement of the element. Seriously, there was this one part where Aang started posing, did about two flips, THEN started waving his forearm in a circle to create a wind cyclone. There was so much extra movement for the bending. And I don't know how Aang and Katara were "practicing waterbending" by just posing. They didn't even use water.


MUSIC

The music was amazing and beautiful and epic. The orchestral score was very good. Especially during the climax, it was great. No complaints.


GENERAL COMPLAINTS

This movie was too short. I heard half an hour got cut and it shows. Sorry, but the Kyoshi Warriors got cut.
This thing gave me Action Blue Balls. Seriously. The action scene were too short. And they missed a few opportunities to have some. Anyone remember when in the trailer, Iroh prays flames from his hands? That's all he does.
Aang smiled once.
The dialog is repetitive. Zhao mentions that he "got a scroll about the Water & Moon Spirits from the Great Library" about FOUR times. OKAY! Damn.
Ozai seemed like maybe he almost kind of cared about Zuko sometimes. The hell is that?!
Iroh didn't get enough screen time.
Aang went into the Avatar State at the end OF HIS OWN WILL. NO. And he did a half-hour dance for that tidal wave. It seems wrong because there was a Fire Nation soldier 20 FEET FROM HIM. He could've shoved Aang or something. And that scene was also blue balls.


STUFF I LIKED

They pretty much recreated the Blue Spirit episode and it was badass.
Zuko and Iroh were good.
Yue looked very pretty.
Sokka LITERALLY kicked ass and it was funny.
You remember the opening of the TV show where the benders bend in front of a red background? They did that and it made me smile.
Epic music.


SOMETHING GOOD/BAD/WEIRD

You remember how Zhao was killed by the spirit and got dragged underwater? That's changed here. Instead, for badass waterbenders walk up and hit him with those four tendrils. Then they encase him in a sphere of water and DROWN HIM ONSCREEN. Seriously, he dies right before your eyes and they just drop his body afterwards. That scene was kind of horrific. I'm surprised that was allowed in a PG movie.


OKAY, SO...

Remember that episode "Ember Island Players" where they saw a play of their adventures? And when they left, everyone was like "That..wasn't good.", "No kidding", then Sokka says "But the effects were decent." Yeah... (Not THAT bad, though.)
This movie ain't winnin' any awards(except maybe for effects, but it's not "Worst Movie of the Decade" like people are saying, hell no. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can probably enjoy yourself. Don't worry, it's short.
Yeah, I did kind of enjoy it. Wouldn't say it's great, though, no way.

Omg, think I found my forum buddy. I wish I had watch the movie with you so we could've laughed at the same parts. Zhao and his damn scroll. "Yeah, I got the picture Zhao, you found a scroll, in a library, a library no one thought you could find, that's great." He better put that damn library in the second movie. Because otherwise it didn't matter how Zhao knew that, it could've been research, bribed a member of the NWT who cares, but he made a point of that library.

I also agree about the bending. I got to a point where I accept that they wanted to add the element for the whole time but ran out of money for the CGI, that could be the only explanation because otherwise bending seemed kind of useless. It was slow and complicated. And Sokka could take out a guy with his boomerang much fast. Or how about inventing a gun, they have battleships, tanks, and balloons, they could easily invent a gun.

I thought the actors did better than I had expected. But otherwise I am right there with you and loved your review. Mine is on page 28.

Your review rocks!! I'm right there with ya, I also loved the visuals and music. I have many of the same complaints. You noticed the names were mispronounced too ~ hahaha. It was tough getting past it, every time someone said "Ong" I wanted to scream inside. LOL. There was much to be desired in the area of characterization, for real. Did they forget that these were a bunch of kids?? What happened to the light hearted jokes??? I felt bad for the kids in the theatre. Great post.

[SpiritDancer]

The Last Airbender was a difficult movie to watch because it was poorly scripted, the acting was disappointing and the special effects were far below industry standard. I'm afraid that the movie is going to tank in the box office. Unless there is a major overhaul or reboot of the series, I just don't think there will be another airbender movie in the near future.

Spiritdancer

[waterXtribe]

Sooo, I went to see it this morning. And before everyone starts reading this, it will contain SOME spoilers! I have to say, I give the overall movie a 7.5/10. Here's my reasons:

Acting:
This was probably the weakest point for this movie, in my opinion. I'd have to say that Nicola was the one that had the least acting skills. She really did sound like she was reading a script. There were some times where she did a good job, but probably more than half the time, it was like she was reading a script. There was this one part though when

Her grandmother was taken and she got very emotional at that part. You can see the tears coming from her eyes and the anger she had.

Also, Dev Patel was screaming most of his lines. I liked Dev's acting when

he asked the little boy what he knew about the Prince of the fire nation. He was great there.

But Dev did a good job. Noah did pretty good. He's new, so I can't really say much. Jackson was ok. I think since hes had more experience, he should have been on top, but it really wasn't spectacular. Shaun really was great! Oh! and Seychelle. I liked her. But overall, I give the acting a 6.2/10.

[EDIT] I just remembered! Zhao.........He bothered me SOOO MUCH in the movie. He wasn't intimidating, he wasn't scary, he was actually really cheesy. I just have to say that....

Action:
The action was phenomenal. Everyone did a fantastic job! My favorite scene was when

Katara and Aang was practicing at the NWT and it looked so graceful with the music and the whole scenery.

It was just fantastic. Noah did an EXCELLENT job with the fight scenes. I give this a 9.5/10, honestly.

Effects:
Super. It was really great. I'm with Glitch on this one, Water really was the one that I liked the most. I thought the fire kind of moved too slow though. 9.5/10

Music:
This really was spectacular. All of the music in this movie was simply amazing. I think that's the only way to explain that. haha! 10/10

Other:
Well, there was A LOT cut from the movie. And this really bothered me soooo much during the movie. As I watched it, all I could think about was the reviews that had so much negativity. Shyamalan cut out so many scenes that really didn't need to be cut out. And, he cut out all of the

funny parts. Most of the things we saw in the trailers and TV spots were cut out. The only funny scene not cut out was when Katara froze Sokka.

And doing so, it kind of jumped from place to place. Like,

After Katara and Sokka found Aang, It showed him waking up in a tent already. And it skipped through most of the book. It mostly had Katara narrating through soundless scenes to get up to the NWT.

It basically did a montage while Katara was narrating. It was like Shyamalan didn't even try to put in good acting scenes.

Something else that kind of bothered me was the pronunciations. Everyone in the theater was like, did she really say "Ong"? Aang's name wasn't the thing that bothered me, but when Katara first said Aang, everyone's reactions were confused. And

the way some said avatar was "of-atar". Some did say it the way we're used to hearing it too.

Also, I didn't know they changed Agni Ki....In the movie,

the boy said Agni "key"

.

Soo, in general, I thought the movie was pretty good. It wasn't what I expected, but it was good. I feel like I'm in between on this one. Like, I would recommend it, but I feel like the acting wasn't strong enough and the plot was too rushed to let it be recommended. But, that was my review. Soooo. yeah. Enjoy. haha!

Oh yeah, when I was at the candy counter, and the lady next to me was like, "I heard the acting in the movie was horrible. Someone said that it made Gibby from iCarly look like an Oliver--" I forgot who she said Gibby was, but she basically compared the acting of the movie to the acting of a tv show and said the tv show was better....

[Awaken]

Big thanks to Mindebender, Melon Lords Revenge and anyone else who supports my kid seeing the movie

My son watched and loved Princess Mononoke as well as all of Miyazakis other movies( castle in the sky is his fave), he's seen most of the first iron man and Batman begins as well as Transformers and more, the kid is smart and he has seen Movie Appa and Momo from the previews numerous times, if there is one thing that is certain he loves fire nation ships, last year he complained bitterly to me that they never made a toy out of them( as well as Katara and Toph) , he knows this show as well as anyone else, as long as the rest of the audience behaves I'm sure he will have a wonderful time, and PS Zuko is his favorite person on the show

[Kyoshi Warrior Jen]

I'm disappointed. This had amazing potential. (Please read the entire note before you comment or even formulate an opinion, thank you.) SPOILERS!

First off:
Aang = Ong
Iroh = Eeroh
Sokka = Soakka
Avatar = Ahvatar

You get used to it, kind of.


ACTORS

I don't care what anyone says, Sokka was totally Sokka for the most part. In the latter half, he was just serious as hell, though.
Katara was not motherly. She was totally weak. There's no chemistry between her and Aang, either.
Aang's first few sentences were weird. Awkward. Like watching a kid in a play. He definitely seemed like a kid, though. However, he looked depressed/scared out of his mind ALL THE TIME. The ending annoyed me. It was basically a shot of Aang looking like he was about to cry. Oh, what a good savior, indeed.
Ozai was menacing. He did fine. I want his suit, it was so pimp.
Iroh was Iroh. He was immune to any suck.
Zuko was played very well by Dev Patel(love this guy) and he's the only one with a real backstory. (Aang kind of had one, but ehh.)
Yue was pretty as hell.
Appa and Momo are there for about 40 seconds each.
Zhao was so hilariously bad. He was played by a guy on The Daily Show and it shows! He's so funny, but I don't think he was supposed to be.


VISUALS

This movie LOOKED great. The costumes and sets are gorgeous. The Northern Water Tribe was THE most beautiful set I have ever seen. It was the greatest thing about the movie. All the elements looked pretty damn real, too, especially the water. Appa and Momo look amazing, too bad they're only there for, like, a minute. I can't really complain about the artistic direction in this movie, it looks great.


BENDING

Not sure Shyamalan understood the concept of bending. The element(s) is supposed to be an extension of yourself. Here, it was a magic spell that you cast by doing some intricate movie that's unrelated to the movement of the element. Seriously, there was this one part where Aang started posing, did about two flips, THEN started waving his forearm in a circle to create a wind cyclone. There was so much extra movement for the bending. And I don't know how Aang and Katara were "practicing waterbending" by just posing. They didn't even use water.


MUSIC

The music was amazing and beautiful and epic. The orchestral score was very good. Especially during the climax, it was great. No complaints.


GENERAL COMPLAINTS

This movie was too short. I heard half an hour got cut and it shows. Sorry, but the Kyoshi Warriors got cut.
This thing gave me Action Blue Balls. Seriously. The action scene were too short. And they missed a few opportunities to have some. Anyone remember when in the trailer, Iroh prays flames from his hands? That's all he does.
Aang smiled once.
The dialog is repetitive. Zhao mentions that he "got a scroll about the Water & Moon Spirits from the Great Library" about FOUR times. OKAY! Damn.
Ozai seemed like maybe he almost kind of cared about Zuko sometimes. The hell is that?!
Iroh didn't get enough screen time.
Aang went into the Avatar State at the end OF HIS OWN WILL. NO. And he did a half-hour dance for that tidal wave. It seems wrong because there was a Fire Nation soldier 20 FEET FROM HIM. He could've shoved Aang or something. And that scene was also blue balls.


STUFF I LIKED

They pretty much recreated the Blue Spirit episode and it was badass.
Zuko and Iroh were good.
Yue looked very pretty.
Sokka LITERALLY kicked ass and it was funny.
You remember the opening of the TV show where the benders bend in front of a red background? They did that and it made me smile.
Epic music.


SOMETHING GOOD/BAD/WEIRD

You remember how Zhao was killed by the spirit and got dragged underwater? That's changed here. Instead, for badass waterbenders walk up and hit him with those four tendrils. Then they encase him in a sphere of water and DROWN HIM ONSCREEN. Seriously, he dies right before your eyes and they just drop his body afterwards. That scene was kind of horrific. I'm surprised that was allowed in a PG movie.


OKAY, SO...

Remember that episode "Ember Island Players" where they saw a play of their adventures? And when they left, everyone was like "That..wasn't good.", "No kidding", then Sokka says "But the effects were decent." Yeah... (Not THAT bad, though.)
This movie ain't winnin' any awards(except maybe for effects, but it's not "Worst Movie of the Decade" like people are saying, hell no. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can probably enjoy yourself. Don't worry, it's short.
Yeah, I did kind of enjoy it. Wouldn't say it's great, though, no way.

Omg, think I found my forum buddy. I wish I had watch the movie with you so we could've laughed at the same parts. Zhao and his damn scroll. "Yeah, I got the picture Zhao, you found a scroll, in a library, a library no one thought you could find, that's great." He better put that damn library in the second movie. Because otherwise it didn't matter how Zhao knew that, it could've been research, bribed a member of the NWT who cares, but he made a point of that library.

I also agree about the bending. I got to a point where I accept that they wanted to add the element for the whole time but ran out of money for the CGI, that could be the only explanation because otherwise bending seemed kind of useless. It was slow and complicated. And Sokka could take out a guy with his boomerang much fast. Or how about inventing a gun, they have battleships, tanks, and balloons, they could easily invent a gun.

I thought the actors did better than I had expected. But otherwise I am right there with you and loved your review. Mine is on page 28.

Hah, we totally should've seen it together, we have similar opinions. You should've rated Shaun Toub higher, though...

I love Shaun Toub, I was most excited about him going into it, so I guess I was waiting, they just didn't give him anything to work with. He hardly got to stand up for Zuko, or fight. I was sad. Iroh is one of my favorite characters and they made him a bit bland . He pointed out the pretty girls to Zuko at least, I loved that, felt like Iroh, oh and the the foot massage.

[GamerKT]

After he sprayed the fire, then did NOTHING, that's when I got angry. Wasted opportunity to show Iroh being badass.