Why?
Why, oh, why did this have to be so terrible?
There is no reason why The Last Airbender had to be a bad movie. It had both a devoted fan-base and around 30 hours of incredible material to draw from (though the main plot structure was based on the first 10 hours). The original show covered all the elements (pardon the pun) that the movie had to have; plot, back-stories, character development/relationships, and a relatively in-depth world including basic religion(s), cultures, cosmology, and even flora/fauna. So why did the film fail?
As a huge fan of the show (I've seen every single episode and love them all to death), I'll try to look at this from two perspectives; that of a fan, and that of a non-fan who saw the film out of context. From both perspectives, I think it's safe to say that The Last Airbender was downright horrible. Why? I'll answer that question with some of my own.
Fan-Perspective: - WHY the "racebending"? When the source material already includes a huge amount of racial diversity (albiet with strong East-Asian influences), there is no excuse whatsoever for changing that diversity to suit the director.
And Non-Fan Perspective: - WHY the bad acting? No matter which way you look at it, the cast of TLA sucks. All racebending aside, the only decent/good actors were Dev Patel as Prince Zuko, Shaun Toub as Gen. Iroh, and Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai, and they didn't have nearly enough screen time (this doesn't mean they were right for the parts, but, hey, this is non-fan perspective, right?).
So, I think it can be agreed - The Last Airbender was awful. The sad thing is, it didn't have to be. With a re-write and re-casting, this movie might've been saved - but, unfortunately, we are left with nothing but the table scraps of an amazing show that deserved a much better tribute.
Why, oh, why did this have to be so terrible?
There is no reason why The Last Airbender had to be a bad movie. It had both a devoted fan-base and around 30 hours of incredible material to draw from (though the main plot structure was based on the first 10 hours). The original show covered all the elements (pardon the pun) that the movie had to have; plot, back-stories, character development/relationships, and a relatively in-depth world including basic religion(s), cultures, cosmology, and even flora/fauna. So why did the film fail?
As a huge fan of the show (I've seen every single episode and love them all to death), I'll try to look at this from two perspectives; that of a fan, and that of a non-fan who saw the film out of context. From both perspectives, I think it's safe to say that The Last Airbender was downright horrible. Why? I'll answer that question with some of my own.
Fan-Perspective: - WHY the "racebending"? When the source material already includes a huge amount of racial diversity (albiet with strong East-Asian influences), there is no excuse whatsoever for changing that diversity to suit the director.
- WHY the mispronunciation of names? I appreciate that Shymalan wanted to honour the "correct" pronunciation of the names Aang, Sokka, Iroh, etc., but when the names were pronounced a certain way for the entire series, you can't change them. If he's Ah-ng in the show instead of Oh-ng, that's how the creators wanted the character's name pronounced, that's how the fans know him, and it wasn't Shymalan's place to change that.
- WHY only 103 minutes (including the credits)? When condensing 10 hours of material down into a watchable film length, it simply doesn't make sense to make it THAT short. I don't know how much material ended up on the cutting room floor, but in what reality does it seem logical to turn a sweeping epic of a show into a visual summary? It was as if Shymalan wrote a synopsis of the first season and called it a screenplay. If they had extended the time, think of all the material they could've added, or all the things they could've expanded on and developed!
- WHY no Kyoshi Warriors or Avatar Roku? I can see why they would cut the Kyoshi Warriors for the moment (since they really don't come into play until the second season/sequel), but I can't help but wonder how they're going to integrate it. And there's simply no excuse for turning the spirit of Avatar Roku into a spirit-dragon. It makes no sense, and serves no purpose other than annoying the fans.
- WHY make bending so... difficult? In the show, benders can manipulate their native element with short and simple movements - the more advanced they get, the more natural and effortless it becomes. In the film it takes 5 earthbenders to move 1 rock. It wasn't even that big of a rock. Like the replacement of Avatar Roku with a spirit-dragon, there's just no good reason for doing it.
- WHY change the Fire Nation's motivation for capturing Aang? In the film, Gran-Gran (not that they call her that in the movie, or anything) says that the inhabitants of the Fire Nation doesn't believe in the Spirit World, and that they were afraid of the Avatar's sway on the people because of his connection to the Spirits. This is complete and unabashed bull-crap. In the show, it is made perfectly clear from the beginning that the only reason that the Fire Nation wants to capture Aang is because his purpose is to keep peace and balance between the Nations/Elements; therefore he is the only single entity capable of rallying the conquered peoples and overthrowing the empire. The Spirits have nothing to do with their motivation, and it was a stupid move on Shymalan's part to make that the case.
And Non-Fan Perspective: - WHY the bad acting? No matter which way you look at it, the cast of TLA sucks. All racebending aside, the only decent/good actors were Dev Patel as Prince Zuko, Shaun Toub as Gen. Iroh, and Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai, and they didn't have nearly enough screen time (this doesn't mean they were right for the parts, but, hey, this is non-fan perspective, right?).
- WH... well, this one is more of a WHAT? As in WHAT the hell just happened? I could follow the film because I know the show. But, had I not seen the series, I would've been pretty lost. Katara's constant narration doesn't help much, and the way the plot progresses is weird and a bit choppy. Even I was a bit confused after a few sequences - the whole "starting a mini-uprising in the Earth Kingdom" montage left me completely disoriented.
So, I think it can be agreed - The Last Airbender was awful. The sad thing is, it didn't have to be. With a re-write and re-casting, this movie might've been saved - but, unfortunately, we are left with nothing but the table scraps of an amazing show that deserved a much better tribute.