Review:The Last Airbender

So last night Ben (my brother), my mom, and I went to see The Last Airbender. It was interesting to say the least. The whole experience started off with us sitting down watching the "preflix" entertainment. I usually just sit and watch the ads without much thought other than to make fun of the Kranich comercials. "Whether you spend 5 dollars or 500 dollars..." I always wonder: what in that store could possibly cost 5 dollars? But i digress. We were watching the ads and then there was a little information thing that appeared and a guy started talking about the best, but most unknow, animated movie. It turns out the guy was talking about Ponyo, a recent film by Hayao Miyazaki. I havent sen it, but I know many people who have, and all I can think about is: Who could possibly think that noone had heard of this film? Unrecognized? It did really well everywhere! I have friends who have stuffed animals that look like of the characters!

                                                                       Ponyo
So after my inital confusion I decided that the people who were making the preflix information didn't know what they were talking about. Soon the lights dimmed and it was time for the PREVIEWS or the TRAILERS as some call them.

The first we saw was for Despicable Me. I am interested to see if the movie lives up to all of its hype. Hopefully I will go with someone to see it, but if I don't end up seeing it in theaters I am not heartbroken. After that we moved on to the preview of The Sorcerers Apprentice. I do not understand why Nicholas Cage insists on wasting his career on these sorts of movies. He used to be at least a fairly decent actor (fairly), but now he is apparently an actor for kids movies. Oh well. The special effects look cool, and I'm sure it will do fine in the box office. Next up was Nanny McPhee Returns or Regenerates or Respawns or SOMETHING!!! I'm not really able to comment seeing as I never saw the first one, but it looks like the kind of family friendly movie that could be fun to watch. Finally, Jack Black is starring in Gulliver's Travels. I don't like Jack Black much, but it looks like it might be a nice relaxing sort of film. Finally, it was time for...THE ACTUAL MOVIE!!!!

The premise of the movie is that there are people who can "bend" or manipulate the elements of the earth. There are Fire, Water, Earth, and Air benders. They all have their own communities and governments that exist peacefully. There is 1 person who is called the Avatar who can learn tobend all of the elements and maintain peace throughout the world. The Avatar is reincarnated so there is always one present. The big problem of the movie (for awhile) is that the avatar has gone missing, and no one knows where he is. So...the opening sequence was good. I enjoyed how the opening sequence from the tv show was used in the film, only with real actors instead of the animated ones. As the movie opens for those who have seen the show, it is startling. The first scene is lifted almost exactly from the first episode of the tv show. After the movie gets moving, which only happens accidentally, there are only 2 immediate flaws that I could find. 1. The main characters name is pronounced wrong. and 2. A important secondary characters name is also pronounced wrong. But moving on to the positives of the movie! It looks beautiful. There was an obvious attempt to make the element bending look realistic. And it does. The fight sequences are done mostly in slow motion, but here it feels right at home. In real time there would be no way to figure out what was going on. There are many times while watching I found myself wondering if I could leave the theater to go try some of the stunts myself in my bedroom. If I had a fire when we got home no doubt I would have burnt myself trying to fire bend. The story felt rushed, but that's because it was trying to have a whole tv season into a 2 hour movie. Overall a good movie. I'd give it a 3 out of 5.

Great review? ok well i'll work on that!