Review: The Last Airbender

So I haven't blogged in the last few days because I have been so busy. I've been packing for my vacation, finishing up my summer homework, and, of course, I have been working on some doodles. But I wanted to do a movie review today on the newly released movie The Last Airbender. First off, I'm a huge fan of the show, and when I first heard they were going to make a movie, I thought 'Oh yeah, this is gonna be great!' Boy was I wrong. When I heard M. Night Shamaylan was going to direct it, I was a little disappointed. Honestly, I'm really not a big fan of his movies, and the past few that he directed weren't all that successful. But I thought that it would be unfair of me to judge, so I just tried my best to go into the movie with an open mind. But, there were so many things wrong with this movie.

1. The cast. The actors M. Night Shamaylan chose for this movie were TERRIBLE. I can understand Dev Patel as Zuko (he has actually acted in a serious role before) and Jackson Rathbone as Sokka (Jasper from Twilight), but the other actors he chose were horrible. I'm not saying that no-name actors and actresses can't be good, but the director should have chosen better ones. Katara was extremely annoying and looked worried throughout the entire film. The actor that played Aang was really only chosen because he could do martial arts. What about his acting? He was horrible. Also, none of the lead characters fit the way they were supposed to look! That made me so mad. All in all, the cast was messed up. However, I do have to say the actress who played Princess Yue was really pretty.
2. The pronunciations. They messed up the characters names. Throughout the whole movie, the cast members kept saying Aang, Avatar, Sokka, and Iro wrong. It made me so annoyed throughout the entire movie. I wanted to punch them in the face every time I heard them say it. And it made me wonder if M. Night Shamaylan even watched the show. If you are going to make a movie based off the show, at least say the names correctly.
3. The pacing. The pacing in this movie was horrible. At best, Shamaylan created miniature snapshots of moments in the show. It seemed as if the characters just hopped from place to place, without any explanation as to why they were leaving. I also felt that the writers of the movie left out some important characters that showed up. Basically, everything moved to fast, and if I hadn't watched the show, I would have been extremely confused.
4. The lack of comedy. Avatar is a serious show, but it was also funny. That's what made it so good. There were so many amazing, hilarious moments from the show that were absent, and my frustration grew larger as the movie went on. There was only one remotely funny part, which was when Katara accidentally froze Sokka, but it wasn't even that amusing. The writers of this movie could have lightened the mood by adding in some of the comedic elements of the show.

In conclusion, I would not recommend this movie. It was poorly made and extremely sloppy. Honestly, don't see it. All those bad reviews are right. It really does deserve 0 stars.