The Story...
The world is divided into four kingdoms, each represented by the element they harness, and peace has lasted throughout the realms of Water, Air, Earth, and Fire under the supervision of the Avatar, a link to the spirit world and the only being capable of mastering the use of all four elements. When young Avatar Aang disappears, the Fire Nation launches an attack to eradicate all members of the Air Nomads to prevent interference in their future plans for world domination. 100 years pass and current Fire Lord Ozai continues to conquer and imprison anyone with elemental "bending" abilities in the Earth and Water Kingdoms, while siblings Katara and Sokka from a Southern Water Tribe find a mysterious boy trapped beneath the ice outside their village. Upon rescuing him, he reveals himself to be Aang, Avatar and last of the Air Nomads. Swearing to protect the Avatar, Katara and Sokka...
I hadn't planned on seeing this movie in theaters in the beginning. My brother was a fan of the original cartoon series and would constantly annoy me with stories and unwanted anecdotes so I had an initial dislike for it from the beginning and the previews at the time really annoyed me more than intrigued me with it's vagueness. I ended up seeing this in theaters with my brother and I'm partly glad I did and at the same time regretting it now that I think about it. It was a good movie overall but sometimes I wonder if it was truly worth the price of the ticket now that I can easily see it on cable television. The young actor that plays the legendary airbender was really great in his role and did the stunts well. It seemed he was the perfect match for this film and I can't imagine the producers choosing anyone else. I was annoyed that they left the story almost hanging at the end - or at least that's how it felt to me. I know they wanted to leave room for a sequel and even possibly a trilogy but I think they could've done it a bit better so that I left with some satisfaction instead of feeling at odds with the future of the journey. It didn't feel like a complete story in the end and more like a chapter. I hate stopping in the middle of a story. Ugh. Overall the story was engaging, the acting well done, stunts exciting and it's a great story for people of all ages.
When I first discovered writer/director M. Night Shyamalan I was a big fan of his. I loved "Unbreakable", "The Village" and of course "The Sixth Sense". Those were the first three films of his I saw. Then I saw "Signs" and was disappointed. Then "Lady in the Water", and I was even more disappointed. Since then I've been more cautious. I followed the trailers and media buzz for "The Last Airbender" for months. For reasons I've forgotten it was delayed. Then when it hit the cinemas the reviews were so bad that I gave it a miss.
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