The Last Airbender - Movie review

The Last Airbender
U; Family/Action
Dir: M Night Shyamalan
Cast: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Cliff Curtis, Jackson Rathbone
Rating: '



What's it about: It's a story I am fairly familiar with, being conversant with the original animated series that aired on TV not too long ago.
About Aang (Ringer), the last in the line of the Avatars of the Air Nomads, he's a 112-year-old Dalai Lama of sorts who was put in deep freeze and hence retains his 12-year-old appearance. He is found by members of the Southern Water Tribe, a brother-sister duo named Sokka (Rathbone)u00a0u00a0 and Katara (Peltz). And while Aang can bend air in the beginning, he has yet to learn to bend the other elementsu00a0-- earth, water and fireu00a0-- to his will, like the Avatars before him.
On his trail, is Prince Zuko (Patel) of the Fire Kingdom, exiled until he brings in Aang to his father, Fire Lord Ozai, who is hellbent on world domination.

What's hot: The special effects are the only reason to catch this film. Knowing how difficult it is to actually bring an animated series to a live action medium, it would be safe to say that the VFX team, the costume department saved this film from total damnation.

What's not:u00a0 Here was a chance to see M Night Shyamalan redeem himself after the disaster that was The Happening. This is a film they are planning to turn into a trilogy. There are fans who love this series but will be disappointed by how un-spunky this Aang is. The original had the 12-year-old Avatar bouncing about with a smile on his face hiding the sadness of losing everyone he loved. This one (Ringer) has that fear and sadness writ large on his face. Dev walks through this one --expressionless but at least I can relate with that. There's no joy (for Zuko) in being exiled. The casting is lacklustre and you do not feel for any of the characters.u00a0

What to do: This one is the darkest Night (Shyamalan) flick yet. If you do decide to brave it,u00a0skip the 3-D version.