[Squeeself]

Squee was surprised to learn about this: http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/

Squee's a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's one of the best american cartoons in years. This live-action move based on it leaves me...skeptical for many reasons. Not the least of which is the director. M. Night Shyamalan? While he has made some good (and mediocre) films, his style certainly isn't what I would connect with Avatar. Especially since his more recent films have been getting increasingly worse...

And making it live-action is...meh. Wish we had a movie animation market like Japan where something like this could remain animated and still do well at box office (and not be toned down to only be watched by 4-year olds). While Avatar certainly has its childish moments (it WAS nickelodeon, after all), what made it great was its surprisingly more complex plot and characters. It's not just something for young kids like most cartoons are nowadays...and that's something I wish could hit movies and do well

Another problem is the nature of doing a movie rendition of a 4 season series. It's gonna lose a lot, since it looks to be at least a partial retelling (supposedly a planned trilogy).

Still, it's got promise in its live-action form. It will certainly help in dropping the more kiddie elements of the cartoon at least. Hopefully they'll at least keep around some of the light-heartedness though. Considering Shyamalan's history of overly-serious, suspense-through-obscurity-and-long-shots films though...I'm still worried

That said, the visuals look nice in that trailer

[unimportant]

Agree with you almost point for point squee. It'll be interesting to see what they do, but wish they could just make an animated movie instead. And Shyamalan, I think, is probably the wrong choice entirely.
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[YatesOfYore]

*cough* It's actually only a three season show. My dad and I are half way through the last one on dvd. I don't have cable unfortunately and never got to watch it "live" per se.

Also, according to wikipedia, they're going to make a trilogy out of it, so they won't have to cram three seasons into one movie, which they probably COULD do, but not well.

Anyhow! I really don't mind that they've done it live action. The fire nation warships look pretty awesome and true to the original design.

My beef with this movie is them not staying true to the multiculturalism of the of cartoon series. It's improved since they brought on Shymalan, but Aang is still played by a white guy, Noah Ringer, but........ in that shot, he actually looks pretty darn close to the animated version, so I won't go off about HIM.

Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, awesome movie) is a recent replacement for whoever they had playing Zuko. Which, while I like Dev and he does apparently have a black belt in some martial art, I think is a rather odd choice. The fire nation is obviously supposed to be an oriental race, just like the water tribe is inuit/native american.

Why not just get Dante Basco, who actually does Zuko's voice AND has been in several films already (Rufiooooooooo!)?

And does THIS look like Katara to you? PFFFFFT. C'mon. She looks almost younger than Aang's actor. The actor for Sokka is an odd choice too - maybe get Dev to play HIM instead?

Anyhow. I'mma stop whining about it now. I hope they'll do a good job of it despite my issues with it.
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[Tinu.]

I'm horribly picky about adaptations, so I remain skeptical, and agree with you almost word for word Squee. I loved the series, but I've always been super cynical about television series being made into movies, or visa versa. From what I've seen, they just don't work out too well. I have hope, but . . . And Shyamalan? That does seem very odd. I can't say much for the actors, though I think I agree with the Lady's comments on them. The actor playing Katara doesn't look a thing like her - I wonder how they're going to pull it off? I hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and await more details.
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"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein

[theBSDude]

Auhh... the bo.... What is that kid doing? That was the best take they had? Geez....
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"I'm like a ninja with no hopes or dreams." --Wally of Dilbert

[Rolaoi]

Out of a love of Avatar, I'm going to just hope it's really good and try to forget everyone involved in making it and every horrible apadatation movie until after I see it.
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[Squeeself]

Squee wasn't gonna point out the actors simply because that's a normal hollywood thing...Getting ethnicity right is something that only tends to happen in more serious or period movies Squee could do quite an essay on the problems with race in hollywood but...not worth it

And yes, Squee's bad on the number of seasons...For some reason having the full set of DVDs sitting on Squee's desk didn't quite keep Squee from making that mistake.

[DarkwingPsycho]

I agree with Rolaoi. I'm going to reserve judgment until I see it. I got chills from watching the trailer, and I LOVE the fire nation ships' design. The show was surprisingly wonderful, and I just finished watching it a few weeks ago. <3 Sokka.
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"Be great in act, as you have been in thought." ~William Shakespeare

[Sparrow]

Ah, Avatar! I hope that a good chunk of the original creative staff are called in for the movie so that it can keep a good sense of continuity with the 'feeling' of the series. I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt until I see the thing, or at least try, but Hollywood has such a penchant for ruining good things. Far over the ratio of what they take and (heaven forbid) make better! But, there's always the chance. M Night Shamalan is an odd choice though.

[Tinu.]

Sparrow!? Ohmigosh, when did you come back? ^_____^
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"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein

[Sparrow]

Hey Tinu! My lunch breaks at work are too long :) I wandered back here to find some good, old fashioned procrastinating as I watch the clock tick down to when I have to go back to the lab.

I had another thought regarding the movie, and its live action state-of-affairs. I'm reminded of what 'they*' did with Heroes, trying to get the special effects for the powers down just so with the actors, and somehow the big battles always come off a little hookey and not believable. (More specifically Season one Peter vs Sylar final battle, for any of you Heroes fans out there.) D: Hopefully the guys working on Avatar rework the process and find a better way to integrate the special effects.


*not really sure who I mean by 'they,' more-over the 'powers that be' :)

[unimportant]

Probably if they try to keep it more understated, it will work out better. Although it's probably kind of hard to keep fire bending understated..

And it's so good to see you Sparrow!
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[Lithrath]

[Miho]

Ah yes... this was the best part of Transformers 2.
I'm dead serious.


Anywho, I'm gonna wait before I get pre-concived notions about whether or not this movie will be good. Yes, Shyamalan, is a bit of an odd choice for this movie, however, he's never really done anything like this. He's done his suspenseful thrillers and I guess, "scary movies" but never really anything up this alley. So who knows, maybe this is his true calling in life. I'm willing to give him a chance. My only problem is with Shyamalan is that he has a tendency to not use a ton of action. Mainly relies on the sounds and the imagination of the audience to make his movies work. Not that it's a bad things, I just hope, hope, HOPE, he doesn't try it here. This movie had better have enough action and since it's probably targeted at those kids who watched Avatar on Nick, he better not expect too much abstract thinking going on.

Also, I'm proud to say that Avatar was the last real bonding experience me and my roomies had. Watched it all finals week. One of the neighbor's sisters had all 3 books and brought them over. Luckily I only had 2 finals that were spaced really far apart so it didn't hurt me too bad, I don't know about everyone else though. But now I'm re-watching them online where i can find with my nieces and I already have them hooked. I'm really terribly proud of that fact.
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[GoddessDragonsbane]

I just finished watching the 3 seasons of Avatar while I was in America last month. A friend there has them all. I loved it... i hope the movie is good, i'll go see it and cross my fingers...

Just like I go to see every Harry Potter movie and cross my fingers... one can live in hope eh?

At least they have Jason Isaacs there... *will not go on about Jason Isaacs, just one mention is plenty*

I loves him......
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