The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender (motion picture, rated PG for fantasy action violence)
Paramount Pictures, 2010

Genre: Fantasy

Honors:

• Nominated for Choice Summer Movie, Teen Choice Awards, 2010
• Nominated for Film Music Composition of the Year and Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film, International Film Music Critics Association Awards, 2010
• Nominated for Best Performance in a Feature Film, Young Artist Award, 2010
• Won Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3D, and Nominated for Worst Supporting Actress, Worst Screen Couple, and Worst Prequel, Golden Raspberry Awards, 2010

Review: In a world divided into regions supporting four different elements (air, water, earth, and fire), there are races of people who can bend just one of the elements and live apart. However, to avoid conflict in the world and balance the energy of the elements, one person is born every hundred years who has the special gift of being able to bend all of the four elements. This person is known as the Avatar, and it is expected that the Avatar will have been born to the air tribe. However, in the present century, the Avatar that was identified suddenly disappeared. Fast forward almost one hundred years later, the Fire kingdom has managed to carry out plots against the other elemental tribes and destroy the Air tribe in an attempt to prevent the next Avatar from rising. The world over believes that there are no air benders left--until a young water bender discovers a bright light beneath the frozen waters near her home and uses her forbidden bending gift to break the ice, freeing a young boy and a large creature in hibernation. Through a series of events it becomes known that this frozen boy is the last air bender in the world--and he is the Avatar, the one person who has the power to stop the evil intentions of the Fire kingdom. This movie was intended to be a prequel and part of a trilogy.

Opinion: I found it very amusing that this movie received so many honors for being so bad, as opposed to being great. Still, it is possible the plans for the entire trilogy have been dropped, and that is a shame. The creators of the first film can still save face and improve in the second and third films. A lot of the criticism comes from fans of the anime series that originated in Japan and has Asian cultural attributes that folks claimed were stifled or changed to make the film into something very different--and ugly. I haven't seen the Avatar cartoon series, but my impression of the film was fairly similar. The acting: pretty bad. The dialogue: pretty unrealistic and not heartfelt. The plot: somewhat uninspired as it is presented. The action scenes: a bit dry. The soundtrack: too mellow, oftentimes it feels distracted, as if the orchestra has forgotten what they are supposed to be supporting. The directing seems rather shabby and unfocused, and the camera often stays at a distance from what is happening, which communicates disinterest to the viewer. There just isn't anything that stands out about this movie. The story idea is a good one, but it was treated poorly for such an expensive production. I suppose adults can criticize the movie all day long and at the end of the day, the kids are still going to enjoy it, but I have a feeling there are a lot of Avatar fans who see this for what it is (a cheap knockoff) and will avoid it or dump it early.

Ideas: Perhaps this one can go in a display of worst movies ever produced. The Golden Raspberry Awards have been presented to bad Hollywood films since the 1980s, so there are plenty to choose from across all of the categories.