As much as it pains me to admit, I think we owe a lot to the ever increasing popularity of anime. For better or worse the rise of anime within American pop culture has lead to another cartoon renaissance where production companies are bravely going into directions that they feared well over a decade ago. This is commendable because when you remove any preconceived bias and go analyze a cartoon down to its most basic structural points it becomes apparent that there are several hidden paths of creativity that animation can trek which live action cannot; more specifically, the suspension of disbelief.
Cartoons can get away with a lot, even the most off the wall zany ideas are considered “free reign”. You want giant robots? Sure thing! How about characters which behave in completely unrealistic ways? You got it! Want to play with perspective and warp the environment to stretch and mold it to our personal taste? Why the hell not! Sure, in the modern era of CGI film things like skewed environments and giant robots are possible, but when you juxtapose them against real people and actual set pieces it becomes as uncomfortably noticeable as a naked man’s erect penis at a playground. There is some territory within the art of visual storytelling that only cartoons can go while live action plays nicely at its own desk, you hear me M Night Shamalan?
So yeah – let’s talk about that Avat… that Last Airbender movie.
The Last Airbender marks M Night Shamalan’s return to directing children’s movies. Since he views himself as some untouchable demi-god transcending above the rest of us mortals (watch Lady in the Water if you doubt me), Shamalamy decided to hit the ground running and tackle the big budget live action movie adaptation of the critically acclaimed and highly successful Avatar: The Last Airbender series which ran on Nickelodeon from 2005-2008. The movie follows the quest of a young boy named Aang, the last of a group of eastern mystics who can manipulate the element of air, or as the colloquialism within the series goes, they bend it like that tennis player. Aang also happens to be the reincarnation of the avatar, a powerful human who can manipulate all the elements of life: fire, water, earth, and of course air. Given his unique gift he is of course destined to save humanity from its Mobius loop of stupidity. Yay. Truth be told you are probably familiar with this story even if you have never been exposed to the animated television from which this is derived, and by derived I mean in the same sense that diarrhea is the second version of that delicious Mexican food you had last night.
The story of Last Airbender was never anything special, go on admit it, when you deconstruct the whole thing down to its most basic elements (har har) you can’t help but notice that it’s a rehash of many popular Asian and Indian cultural stories and fables. This shouldn’t be seen as a misstep though since it was clearly homage. The creators had a great love for these ancient stories and were cross eyed with glee over the culture and traditions of these ancient societies. That very love and admiration for the source material shined through with each animation cell and as a result the audience was invited to explore and enjoy this world as well. This isn’t the case with the live action version. While extremely faithful to the plot of the first season, there is no passion or respect for the mythos. Whoever penned the screenplay should probably be dipped in honey and lowered into a pit of primeval dire anteaters by his/her nipples with a bee jar stuck up their ass because what we have here is a shallow experience that removes all the excitement from the original and opts for the abridged text book edition, now with tinier font!
One gets the feeling of being rushed while trying to get a hold of all the various story details and locations, like the film makers were actually embarrassed to have released this and were trying to usher people out into a meat grinder in the theater lobby to prevent word of mouth from spreading. Edits are terribly sloppy and pasted together in a confusing array of scatter shots that take the viewer from one locale and plot point to the next. In fact, this is probably one of the most horrific edit jobs I have seen in a while; there are moments where actual scenes appear to be missing as characters reference dialogue and actions that never took place. A tad bit jarring.
The movie also seems caught in the middle of a love triangle between the fans and the newbs as it desperately tries to please both parties. Narrative from one of the lead characters is used to explain things, but it becomes intrusive. Problem is if you’ve never seen the show all of this exposition ends up being vacuous. When love between two characters has the strength and thickness of a wet public restroom toilet paper square metaphorically personified in the act of them making googly eyes at one another, adding narration to explain their love is like having the story shot directly into your face with a blunderbuss. And if gunshots to the face weren’t enough the people behind this mess also decided to throw in some good ol’ montages and flashbacks for good measure! Not until very late in the film does the direction show any strong foot holding, and by then it becomes nothing more than a poor man’s Lord of the Rings paint-by-numbers exercise. This all leads to a caddy wompus cluster bomb of confusion that doesn’t give anyone the opportunity to connect with the characters or their struggles.
Do me a favor and sit down to watch one of the episodes of the cartoon series. Pretty charming characters, am I right? Well, did you happen to notice that not a single one of them is a realistic portrayal of an actual human being (with the exception of several bad guys like Zuko)? You might claim to know someone similar to them, but in actuality they operate completely outside the context of normal human behavior. That’s because they are parodies of human characteristics, they are an exaggeration of who we are. This is one of those strengths of animation I was talking about. Part of the reason the cartoon was such a treat was because the characters removed the audience from that man behind the curtain operating the large green headed plot. These characters were the foundation of the show that sparked your curiosity, their presence and conviction made you want to learn more about their world and its problems, and the characters were more than happy to show you. With the movie they are just going through the motions. Their rigid golem-like behavior makes you unsympathetic and unwilling to hop along their rickety rollercoaster with large segments of its track missing. This is a serious problem.
Most of the actors here seem competent, although I’m not actually sure. Maybe It’s because it was midnight when I saw it, and maybe it was because I was drunk, or maybe it was that strange vaporous substance coming off the three hookers I had brought with me, but I wasn’t able to peg down any real winners or losers here. I mean I want to say they were all bad, but I don’t think any of them were given anything to work with and I somehow doubt Shamalan gave them direction. Maybe watching a few episodes of the cartoon may have helped, but again I don’t think that sort of behavior would work well in a live action movie. This movie needed the assistance of a character director, someone who could have retooled the heroes and villains to make them functional and enjoyable within a live action framework rather than functionally retarded or rather just plain retarded for that matter. I think the kid who played Zuko was passable, but his performance was assisted by the angst filled and tormented role demanded by his character. Within a movie of melodrama, the one brooding character from the cartoon translates well.
At this time I would like to take a step into the deep end of the pool where the adults and big kids play so that I can make a very unpopular comment. In order to save this movie a person with a huge swinging pair needed to be propositioned to rework this mess and axe all the unnecessary things no matter how much the frothing fanboys wanted it (those dirty whores). This pains me, but Sokka should have been removed. No seriously, why was this character in the movie? I understand that he is a fan favorite, hell he was one of my favorite characters from the story as well but let’s not forget that his primary role was comic relief. Here he does nothing, and his presence becomes even more eerie and uncomfortable towards the end when they introduce the moon girl. She has no purpose in the movie and the relationship that forms between them is rushed and artificial. Couldn’t they have accomplished the same goals without those two characters and their respective subplot? The answer is yes! Sure it would have been sad to see Sokka gone, but do you think the movie would have been better had Boomie been in it? Yeah didn’t think so and yeah, I realize if you haven’t seen the show then this whole paragraph is probably a mystery. My apologies, I promise to try and stop comparing this to the cartoon.
Visually the movie doesn’t offend. The effects of the fire and water are decent although the fight scenes left something to be desired. I’m thinking that this slow motion nonsense needs to stop before I can get a good night’s sleep. The costume and make-up department must have had a blast with this film and it shows. All of the clothing and uniforms adorned by the characters are nicely updated translations from the original designs and the attention to detail is phenomenal.
The set pieces were epic and grand as they should be, but a little stock. I’m sure I saw that snow kingdom somewhere in the background of The Golden Compass. Come to think of it I believe they stole the animal effects department from that movie as well. The large Floating bison Appa has numerous on screen cameos throughout the film for the fans to soil their Clone Wars Undies, but he’s easily the worst effect in the movie. The skin looks like it was dipped in a grease fryer at KFC and the fur dithers like a sack of hair clippings thrown into a wind tunnel. Not entirely sure why CGI animators think fur moves that way, but what do I know?
Last Airbender somehow managed to give the fans everything they wanted in exchange for the soul of the project. The story is all over the place, the characters are husks, and there is nothing for the audience to bond with. You know what? Forget what I said earlier about divorcing this from the cartoon. The film makers didn’t care enough to make up their mind for who this movie was for, so I refuse to keep my promises. If you’re a fan you’ll be disappointed, if you just want to see a movie you’ll be confused, and if you are a movie buff then you’ll be frustrated with the sub sophomoric cinematography. Maybe there’s a good movie hidden within an intense editor’s cut but I highly doubt it. The lost scenes to this movie are probably kicking it with the arc of the covenant by now. If I happen to see any of the people that made this movie I will demonstrate my own bending of the four elements by throwing dirt in their eyes, subjecting them to prolonged water boarding, lighting them on fire, and farting on their face. You have been warned Mr. Shamalan.
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