So, despite the terrible reviews and other friend reviews of The Last Airbender, I braved the theater yesterday to go see it. And, I really, really enjoyed it. Honestly, I left asking myself how this movie got such a negative reaction from people. Partly I think is that it was due to a lot of fans of the show feeling a bit of let down, partly it’s because people just don’t like M Night Shyamalan (just saying, it’s been fashionable to hate him the last few years). I think that people who loved the show are a bit too close to it realize just how close to the source material it is. First off one of the biggest complaints have been how poorly the acting and dialogue was. I’ve just started watching the show, admittedly, but the show is full of cheesy dialogue and goofy moments, and THAT’s OK! It’s a kids show! The show is fun and playful and the movie brought a lot of that to the table in my opinion, but it also did a great job of bringing the seriousness to the front, something I feel the show misses sometimes. When I hear fan reactions to it, it’s a bit like when the Star Wars prequels came out. People hated them because they thought they were silly and cheesy, and I scratched my head wondering if people had been watching the same trilogy I was before hand. There were EWOKS in Return of the Jedi, lol. Just sayin’.
I guess all of that to say, I think that with what he was lead to deal with, M Night crafted a pretty tightly spun story (also, the movies was forced to be kept under two hours which made him cut quite a bit) that was great for younger audiences. I didn’t think it was amazing, but I did think it was worthy of lot more enjoyment than the harsh reviews have allowed for. So, go and see it if you haven’t already and just try to have a good time. And if you didn’t like it, that’s OK too! In the end it’s just a movie, but I for one thought it was loads of fun and can’t wait to watch it again.
