The Last Airbender (2010)

The story follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.

Director:

M. Night Shyamalan

Writer:

M. Night Shyamalan

Stars:

Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz

6 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Noah Ringer	...	Aang
Dev Patel	...	Prince Zuko
Nicola Peltz	...	Katara
Jackson Rathbone	...	Sokka
Shaun Toub	...	Uncle Iroh
Aasif Mandvi	...	Commander Zhao
Cliff Curtis	...	Fire Lord Ozai
Seychelle Gabriel	...	Princess Yue
Katharine Houghton	...	Katara's Grandma
Francis Guinan	...	Master Pakku
Damon Gupton	...	Monk Gyatso
Summer Bishil	...	Azula
Randall Duk Kim	...	Old Man in Temple
John D'Alonzo	...	Zhao's Assistant
Keong Sim	...	Earthbending Father

Storyline

The world is divided into four kingdoms, each represented by the element they harness, and peace has lasted throughout the realms of Water, Air, Earth, and Fire under the supervision of the Avatar, a link to the spirit world and the only being capable of mastering the use of all four elements. When young Avatar Aang disappears, the Fire Nation launches an attack to eradicate all members of the Air Nomads to prevent interference in their future plans for world domination. 100 years pass and current Fire Lord Ozai continues to conquer and imprison anyone with elemental "bending" abilities in the Earth and Water Kingdoms, while siblings Katara and Sokka from a Southern Water Tribe find a mysterious boy trapped beneath the ice outside their village. Upon rescuing him, he reveals himself to be Aang, Avatar and last of the Air Nomads. Swearing to protect the Avatar, Katara and Sokka journey with him to the Northern Water Kingdom in his quest to master "Waterbending" and eventually fulfill ...

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Plot Keywords:

fire | avatar | water | kingdom | prince | 

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Taglines:

Four nations, one destiny

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for fantasy action violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [fr] Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Filming Locations:

Beltzville State Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,653,776 (UK) (13 August 2010)

Gross:

$131,564,731 (USA) (17 September 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Blinding Edge Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Noah Ringer submitted an audition tape of himself doing martial arts with a completely shaved head with Aang's signature arrow tattoo painted onto his forehead to Paramount Pictures. This video is what won him the role.

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Goofs

When the flying lemur jumps on Aang's shoulder, Aang's hands supposedly touch and pet the Lemur. But it is clear that the lemur is computer generated as Aang's hands do not actually touch the creature, they seem to hover about an inch or so above him.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Katara: A hundred years ago all was right with our world. Prosperity and peace filled our days. / The four Nations: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air Nomads lived amongst each other in harmony. / Great respect was afforded to all those who could bend their natural element. / The Avatar was the only person born amongst all the nations who could master all four elements. / He was the only one who could communicate with the Spirit World. With the Spirits' guidance the Avatar kept balance in the ...

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Crazy Credits

As the credits start to roll, Aang, Katara and Zuko bend the elements: water fire and air. No earth bending is demonstrated, but an airy figure of Aang stand on top of stone pillars.

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Connections

Remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)

User Reviews

Yes, it really is that bad

I walked into this movie with pretty low expectations. I didn't expect something as good as the cartoon, I didn't expect a perfect adaptation. I expected some glitzy action sequences, cheap emotional ploys, just some fun summer fair.

What did I get? A movie so indescribably horrible I can only shake my head in bewilderment. Believe the critics. The writing sucks, the acting is stiff, the pacing clumsy, the 3-D beyond bad, the overall tone way too dark and brooding. Not much here is salvageable.

Obviously Shyamalan got completely caught up in the mythology of the world and missed the fact that what made the original cartoon so great were the CHARACTERS. Of which there are none in this film.

But really, even just a competently produced film would have been nice. And it almost was. The music was great. The special effects looked amazing, I don't care what anyone says. The fighting was cool. The sets were adequately spectacular. Indeed, it appears the only one who didn't show up for work was Shyamalan. While the adult actors manage to find their way somewhat on their own, the poor kids are obviously lost without someone competently leading them, they spend most of the film in a bewildered daze. Even some of the background extras acted awkwardly. But of course, there are no real survivors of Shyamalan's CLUNKER of a script. I can't believe someone didn't stop this guy. There were maybe two scenes that didn't sound awkward, and they had no dialog. I don't think any film has ever been such a disaster due to one man's gross ineptitude.

Such a shame. It could have been so good.