First Thoughts on: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Air Bender live action film! Wooooooo!

Plot Synopsis: Based on the amazingly successful Nickelodeon show, The Last Airbender is the first in a trilogy of movies set in a world torn by war. People known as 'benders' have the ability to control one of the four elements, Earth Air Fire or Water, and a young boy named Aang is born an Avatar. Avatar's can control all four, but only a single Avatar is alive at any given time. He sets out on a journey with a young Waterbender named Katara her brother, Sokka, and his Flying Bison named Appa to master the elements and save the world from the tyranny and wrath of the Fire Nation's oppressive war. In the end, it is his destiny to face and defeat the evil Firelord Ozai, and save the world from the 100-year long war.

okay, okay, okay. The Last Airbender, live action adaptation of the beloved show is one year away. I beleive all of us Avatar fans are thinking the same thing:

"Son of a bitch! 12 months? really? why! why give us a teaser when the movie is a whole year away?!"
or
"damn you, paramount, you cruel bastards!"

Having said that, lets get down to the nitty gritty:
1. Is M. Night Shyamalan going to do a good job?
2. What is up with the cast? good news or bad news.
3. How is the story going to play out? what will they be leaving out?
4. Appa better be in the movies. or else.
5. Momo too.
6. Will there even be a trilogy? depends.
7. So, what should we, as Avatar: The Last Airbender fans think about this?


Whew. that's a lot of questions. well, lucky for you Spillers, I have lots of answers. I've been spending the last three days or so getting every little piece of information on this movie that I can, because I cant fucking wait for it. I, like many people, saw this awesome teaser trailer while seeing Transformers 2. (Thank god, something good about going to see that movie.) I was so intrigued, I watched ALL 3 SEASONS of the show in 2 DAYS. If you haven't watched the show, and are curious about the trailer like I was, I offer you this site to watch them on:

http://www.theavatarportal.org/Watch-Episodes.php

It has many different streams for each episode, and at least one of them works for every episode, as of two days ago. Megavideo was recently busted, so if you plan on watching the series this way, I recommend using either the 'Veoh,' 'Myspace,' or 'Live Video' streams. they always work. Now, on to answering your questions.

1. Why M. Night Shyamalan isn't the end of the world. I know that the last few Shyamalan movies have been stinkers. We all know this. However, M. Night Shyamalan has given us reason to be relaxed about his direction with this movie. He first became interested in the show when his daughter wanted to be Katara for Halloween. He proceeded to watch the show with her, and eventually by the end of season 2, his entire family was addicted to the show. He first got the idea to direct a movie sometime in season 1, he said in an interview that he was getting something from the fridge and randomly realized how great of a movie this would make.

What does this mean? it means we have a director who is not in this for money. We have a director who is doing this because he loves the story, has kids who love the story, and he wants to make this live action adaptation the best it can be. Which brings me to another reason to like Shyamalan for this: He hired both of the creators of the show to be producers for the movie. Yes, Shyamalan is working very closely with the creators of our beloved Avatar tv show, and they both have expressed appreciation and support for his direction.

2. What is up with this cast? is it good or bad? help us understand, Cinema Dr. AJ! we love you!

I love you guys too, thanks! anywho, I have spent most of my time on the cast. I have pictures of them all below, next to their cartoon counterparts, and I must say, I was originally skeptical and then i gave way and im kind of excited now. lets go through all of the main characters.

Aang. Played by Texas Taekwondo champion Noah Ringer. this will be his first role, and he won it in an open audition for the part of Aang.

In my opinion, I didn't like it at first, but after i got used to it, I couldn't really figure out who would be better. this is as close as we are going to get to Aang. There are people out there who hate him being white, but come on. he didn't look Asian in the cartoon, he was pretty damn pale and had big anime eyes. Not to be racist, but I really like this guy. Also, note the Airbender symbol in the middle of the Arrow. nice touch, Mr. Shyamalan.

Katara The girl who plays Katara is Nicola Peltz, who has had two previous roles I've never heard of. this is basically her first big one.

I like this cast member as well. I know that the water tribe was pretty much supposed to be Inuit, but if you give her blue contacts, slap a tan on her, and add hair loopies, BAM Katara. I'm not sure how old she is, in the tv show Katara is 14. She looks young enough to play the part, and she is very pretty. This is one of my favorite casting calls, I think this girl will do a nice job.

Sokka the sarcastic 'funny-because-he's-not-funny' man. we all love him. Sokka will be played by Jackson Rathbone, most notable for his appearance in *coughTwilightcough*

he certainly looks the part, while he may be a bit old, Sokka is 15, I don't think It'll bug me much. Sokka gave off the 'oldest brother' kind of air in the show, and always seemed to act a bit older than 15 to me. Again, he is a white guy whereas Sokka was more Inuit. I'll adress the race issues presented by casting after I get through all of the main characters.

Zuko This is my favorite choice by FAR. Dev Patel will play Prince Zuko, the wonderful actor from last years Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire.

I don't know about you guys, but I love it when someone who is a great actor, famous for playing a loveable good guy, takes his acting skills and plays a bad guy. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Capote to MI: 3 bad guy, anyone? yes yes yes! And, the question on everyone's mind: THE SCAR! This is an unofficial picture from unknown origins, but it looks pretty bad ass.

Me like. This may be a fake, however, In the set pictures section below I'll give some more shots of Zuko in Fire Nation gear, where this scar is not so prominant for some reason... hmm...

Suki Suki will be played by some actress I've never heard of, but damn... she looks the part.

Her name is Jessica Jade Andres, and with a bit of Kyoshi Warrior makeup, a very good call. Sokka is one lucky bastard, come seasons 2 and 3. But, not to worry- He gets to hook up with our next actress... you guessed it--

Princess Yue will be played by Seychelle Gabriel. Her most notable role was in that god-aweful comic book adaptation called The Spirit. she played a younger Eva Mendes, and gave actually one of the best brief performances of the whole damn film.

after a bit of a search I came across a good comparison shot there ^^. Now, I'm not too sure about this one. If she was a few years younger, she would be a better Katara. But, alas, she is 18, so it's a no-go. Even so, with white hair, she will probably be able to pull this off well.

Thats about it for the cast, Iroh, Ozai, and Zhao have all been cast. More on them later.

3. How will the story play out? What will be left out?! lucky for you guys, I know the answer to this too. (for the most part, te he.) In another interview with Shyamalan, he stated that the original script for the first movie included just about everything in season one, and clocked in at around 7 hours. yes, 7 hours. I don't know about you guys, but I would love a 7-hour Avatar movie. Shyamalan has since obviously cut it down, and filming for the movie actually has finished (yesterday to be precise.) Seeing as how he was so faithful in his original script, and given his overall love for the series, as well as signing the creators on to work on this project, It's safe to say that we will not have many important things left out. Hell, Haru and his father have been cast, so we know that's in there. (i hope they leave Jet out. I hate Jet. mumble mumble trying to steal Katara from Aang mumble.)

4. and 5. OMG Appa and Momo will be hard to do... plzplz dont leave them out Mr. Shyamalan! Rest at ease, Avatar fans. it has been confirmed via one of the producers that, YES, APPA AND MOMO ARE IN THE MOVIE!

a moment to celebrate our favorite Flying Bison and air temple Lemur. whew. okay, moving on...

6. Will there be a trilogy? what will be in the first movie? we are confused, Cinema Dr. AJ! Yes, there is a planned Trilogy. Shyamalan stated in an interview that he would write the second film script while filming the first movie, and seeing as how filming for the first installment is finished, we can assume that the second film has been scripted. Each movie in the trilogy will correspond to one season of Avatar: 3 seasons, 3 movies. Paramount stated that the actual filming of the other two would depend on the sucess of the first, however. What does this mean? GO SEE THE FIRST ONE, so that paramount makes bank and agrees to the others. Although, I don't really see how they could stop after just 1, given the director, and the producers and all... In all likelihood, All three movies will be made. Count on it.

7. So what should we think about all this? racist casting? Any more photos for us? please, we need more, AJ!
Calm down, Avatar lovers, I have more. First, a look at the cast. A recent website movement, called 'Aang-aint-white' has started a petition to change the cast, but seeing as how its already been filmed... good luck. Look, Shyamalan isn't racist. He's indian for crying out loud. What the producers, and by that I mean creators of the show along with a few other men, have said is this:

(paraphrasing:) The nations will be naturally divided along race, if you choose to look at it that way, in the Avatar Universe just like in the real world. For us, casting has been about who has the best talent, and looks the part. changing hair and eye color is easy, obviously. We cast the best people for the roles, and if people think its racist, well okay. The creators are behind us, and it really isn't that big of a deal.

It seems, among fan speculation, as though the Water Tribe will be tan-ish white people, the Fire Nation will be asian or indian people, the Earth Kingdom will be mostly asians, and the Air Nomads will be mostly white people. I don't see a problem with this at all. I'm on board, sounds good-- the actors look like a promising group. Nuf said.

Here's some more photos of the characters in costume, and the sets that Shyamalan has set up. So far, the only characters to be released in costume have been Aang, Zuko, and some Firenation soldiers. Enjoy:

Fire Nation Soldiers:

Southern Water Tribe Set:

Unknown set, looks like Earth Kingdom to me...

Zuko, doin his thing:

Zuko, raiding the Southern Water Tribe?

my only question: Where's Zuko's ponytail... maybe they decided to change his look a bit, but I liked the original so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

What About Iroh, Ozai, and Zhao? find their actors here, along with Gran Gran, and a bit more detailed description of what you just read: http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/The_Last_Airbender

Once we get more information, I'll post another Update. But it will probably be a while, seeing as how we have to wait a whole...damn..year! I thought Watchmen had a long wait (June 08 - March 09) but this is just mean! (June 09 - July 10)