M. Night Shyamalan. More often than not, people cringe or roll their eyes when his name is mentioned. Some people love his movies, some people hate them, and some people like some of his movies, and dislike others. So when it was announced that he got the rights to make a movie rendition of popular Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, there was a large outcry that anyone but he could do this movie better. So, how did Shyamalan do with an adaptation of the series?
 
Summary
The Last Airbender is about a young boy named Aang (Noah Ringer), born of the Air Nomads, and the new reincarnation of the legendary Avatar. The Avatar is the only person in the world who can master all of the elements, who can bend not only the element he or she is born to, but all four: air, water, earth, and fire. However, when Aang was announced to be the Avatar and that he couldn’t have a family, that his life was bound to keeping the peace between the nations, he ran away. To him, it wasn’t fair that a possible family was the sacrifice he had to make against his will. However, after running away, he ended up frozen in the ice in the area of the Southern Water Tribe, and stayed there for 100 years.
 

He is eventually uncovered by brother and sister Katara (Nicola Peltz; Deck the Halls) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone; Twilight), and they all set out on an adventure to help Aang master all the elements (starting with water in the Northern Water Temple) and eventually, hopefully, stop the Fire Nation’s war to take over the lands.
 
If it sounds familiar, that’s because the movie very closely follows the cartoon. From nearly the get-go, The Last Airbender follows the footsteps of the show in an almost episodic manner. It feels as though each episode was shortened down and stuck into the movie, just to prove that movie adaptations can, in fact, cover all the same ground that a show does. However, this proves to slow the movie down and make me wonder why I’m not simply watching the cartoon instead.
 

The acting was decent, with a few cheesy moments, and a few scenes that probably could have used a rewrite to the dialog. Jackson Rathbone proves that, when not in the Twilight saga, he actually does know how to play a character with a speaking role; and newcomer Noah Ringer, though sometimes looking as though he’s putting on a play in front of an audience rather than acting in front of a camera, has the potential to play a good part.
 
There could have been a bit more humor to help move things along easier. With so much drama and heaviness, the occasional laugh beyond the two or three jokes put in would have probably made things go by more smoothly. Also, the dialog itself could have used some work. Yes, it was adapted from a cartoon that used more juvenile language at times, but when an ancient setting is scattered with “you guys”'s and “hey, you okay?”'s, it’s almost enough to yank you out of the feeling of the movie.
 

However, this movie definitely has its good points. The computer animation and graphics are wonderful. The fight scenes are intense and it's very interesting to see how the use of the elements fit in with the martial arts. And around halfway through the film, it really stops dragging, and gets the audience caught up in the action and the storyline. Sure, it can be difficult sitting through the first half of the movie while it simply sets the tone and background, but getting to the climactic battle at the end is -dare I say it? – worth the wait.
 
Overall
As a fan of the series, I can say that I was both disappointed and pleased all within the same movie. It actually kept to the story without straying very far from the original source, though, as stated earlier, the pace could have been a little faster with a little less jumping around. But overall, I walked away satisfied that I hadn’t completely wasted my money. In fact, I kind of hope Shyamalan gets greenlighted for the second movie simply so I can see how he’ll do now that he has no background left to set up, and can only move forward.
 
ComicsOnline tentatively gives The Last Airbender 3 flying bison out of 5.
 
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