Why The Last Airbender Movie Was Such a Flop
Avatar the Last Airbender was a staple of my childhood as I'm sure it was for many other kids. The show was a perfect blend of action, drama and comedy. The emotional authenticity of the characters set it apart from other cartoons. Netflix is now going to release its own live-action adaption of the series, but hopefully it doesn't follow the same patterns as the movie released in 2010.
I could go on and on about how awful the live-action movie adaptation was. Nothing about the film was accurate to the show even when concerning the names of the characters. There are three seasons of material to work off of and M. Night Shyamalan still had their names pronounced incorrectly. One of the more problematic qualities of this movie was the whitewashing that happened with the characters. The plot of the show revolves around four island nations based on real Asian cultures: the Inuit, Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese. But this isn't the route Hollywood went with for the heroes of the film.
The movie also dropped some of the major themes represented in the show such as spirituality and the concept of reincarnation. The first few episodes focus on the discovery of Aang and the depth of his background through the exposition of the past avatars. The movie forcibly rushes through this exposition which leaves a lot to be missed.
Many of the important characters were also given little to no recognition such as Momo and Appa. These companions help ground us in Aang's world and give more depth to his character but they're hardly featured in Shyamalan's adaptation. There's also supposed to be comedic aspects to the characters that just seem to be completely forgotten and make the movie deadpan and uninteresting.
Since this is a blog post for an animation class, I should talk more about the special effects. They're quite awful and part of that has to do with how they were integrated in the film. There are moments in when something is hit by a fireball but then doesn't catch on fire. When we first see Sokka he's supposed to be dripping wet, which is what the character's line says, but yet he's totally dry. I was also very let down by the way in which Appa was animated because he's adorable in the series and in the live-action movie he was downright scary.
I could write more about the atrocity of The Last Airbender movie but I think I've given a good amount of reasons as to why it was so bad.
I could go on and on about how awful the live-action movie adaptation was. Nothing about the film was accurate to the show even when concerning the names of the characters. There are three seasons of material to work off of and M. Night Shyamalan still had their names pronounced incorrectly. One of the more problematic qualities of this movie was the whitewashing that happened with the characters. The plot of the show revolves around four island nations based on real Asian cultures: the Inuit, Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese. But this isn't the route Hollywood went with for the heroes of the film.
The movie also dropped some of the major themes represented in the show such as spirituality and the concept of reincarnation. The first few episodes focus on the discovery of Aang and the depth of his background through the exposition of the past avatars. The movie forcibly rushes through this exposition which leaves a lot to be missed.
Many of the important characters were also given little to no recognition such as Momo and Appa. These companions help ground us in Aang's world and give more depth to his character but they're hardly featured in Shyamalan's adaptation. There's also supposed to be comedic aspects to the characters that just seem to be completely forgotten and make the movie deadpan and uninteresting.
Since this is a blog post for an animation class, I should talk more about the special effects. They're quite awful and part of that has to do with how they were integrated in the film. There are moments in when something is hit by a fireball but then doesn't catch on fire. When we first see Sokka he's supposed to be dripping wet, which is what the character's line says, but yet he's totally dry. I was also very let down by the way in which Appa was animated because he's adorable in the series and in the live-action movie he was downright scary.
I could write more about the atrocity of The Last Airbender movie but I think I've given a good amount of reasons as to why it was so bad.
I remember seeing this in theaters with my sister who is an avid Avatar fan and how completely disappointed she was by it after. I know there has been a wave of live-action remakes of animated movies recently, and some have been quite successful but this one missed the mark. I think animation was the best way to tell the story of Avatar because the animators were able to create their own world exactly as they envisioned it. There was no reason to have be live action, other than to make money.
ReplyDeleteLoved this post! Hopefully the Netflix adaptation doesn't disappoint.
ReplyDeleteAgree, the film was a huge let down to all of the fans of the series, but look at the bright side. Netflix now has a manual of what things not to do. So hopefully they will be smarter about translating a more faithful adaptation.
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