The Last Airbender (2010)

Follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must master all four elements and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom.

Director:

M. Night Shyamalan

Writer:

M. Night Shyamalan

Stars:

Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone

8 wins & 11 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:

live action adaptation | based on animation | based on cartoon | supernatural power | handheld weapon | 

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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

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Filming Locations:

Delaware Generating Station, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$51,804,232, 4 July 2010, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$131,564,731, 19 September 2010

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$319,731,881, 23 September 2010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures,Nickelodeon Movies,Blinding Edge Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1 DTS SDDS Sonics-DDP

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the original show, Sokka is a funny comic relief character. However, arguably, no comedy comes from the Sokka in the movie. Significant criticism was aimed at this.

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Goofs

When Aang and his friends are arrested in place where is occupied by firebenders, they are put into a prison for earthbenders. However, the entire prison is made out of earth, as Aang points out, to which they should have known this already, defend themselves and escape.

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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

The opening production logos are accompanied by bending elements: the stars in the Paramount logo are accompanied by splashes of water, and the Nickelodeon Movies logo is seen ablaze and is cooled down with a blast of air.

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Connections

Featured in Honest Trailers: Honest Trailers (Written by a Robot) (2018)

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Soundtracks

La La
Written by Ashlee Simpson and John Shanks
Performed by Ashlee Simpson
Produced by John Shanks

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.