So, here we have a movie that I’ve been looking forwards to since I learned of it. I watched the show in it’s entirety and for being a “kids” show, there were some pretty complex lessons being taught within the show.
Knowing ahead of time that the goal is to make this into a trilogy, I knew we wouldn’t see all the parts of the story unfold. And that’s where part of the problem lies. I knew going in that in order to keep the running time to something manageable they were going to cut out some parts of the story from the show. The impact of that is a story that feels rushed in some parts and lacking in others. They also had to infuse some story lines in order to accelerate parts of the story.
I can see now why directing kids can be problematic. Don’t get me wrong, the cast of Noah Ringer (Aang), Dev Patel (Prince Zuko), Nicola Peltz (Katara) & Jackson Rathbone (Sokka) did great in the actual fighting parts and looked very believable in their motions. But when it came to acting with emotion, it was very forced and felt very Stars Wars: Phantom Menace. I’m hoping that the next films get made and as these actors get older, they also learn the craft of acting more realistic.
Another part that I felt was taking away from what made the show good was Sokka’s comedic relief. Sure there are a few moments of physical playing that make for an easy laugh, but in the show they also reveal that Sokka has a great strategic mind for planning, and that never gets a chance to be revealed in the movie.
Overall, I would give this a 7/10. The FX was good, but the story was suspect and just felt like it was constantly looking for filler to be provided that never was – I was practically waiting for M. Night Shyamalan to make an appearance to reveal the “secret sauce” as to how to win the day (via Signs). You can tell that directing a movie that requires this much action was tough for Shyamalan. I’m hoping that in the meantime he does some practice to get it down right (much like Quentin Tarantino did before directing the Kill Bill movies).
So, I do hope that it does well enough so that we can see the rest of the series played out- and give these kids a chance to shine by the final movie. If you liked the TV show, I think you might have the same reaction as me. If you haven’t seen any parts of it and this movie is the first exposure to the franchise, I think you’ll enjoy it more.
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