REVIEW The Last Airbender

Lost in translation. What better phrase to sum up M. Night Shyamalan’s efforts to bring the beloved Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series to the silver screen? It has been three and a half years since Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies announced the hiring of  Oscar nominated director M. Night Shyamalan to produce the live action adaptation, much to the trepidation of Avatar fans worldwide. While Night’s early Hollywood career met with substantial box office success and critical acclaim, his two most recent films (and a third to be released in 2008) were received far less favorably. Many were beginning to justifiably doubt his directing talents, and still more wondered if he had the skills necessary to do justice to the Peabody award winning modern classic. We’ve been following this film since production finally began to ramp up in the fall of 2008; covering every news item, every photo snapped, every interview given, every trailer screened, and we were even lucky enough to have a chance to interview Night himself back in March earlier this year. The cast and crew said the right things, the costumes and sets looked fantastic, the special fx wowed us, and Night had a lot of enthusiasm for the show & seemed to get what made Avatar great. Aside from the much publicized casting issues, things seemed to have been progressing most auspiciously. I was lucky enough to have been invited to the film’s premiere at the Lincoln Center in New York City on June 30th. Having given myself a few days deliberation, I believe I’m ready to submit a critique of the film that will hopefully keep gut-reaction hyperbole to a minimum.

High Definition TV Spot #7

Paramount sent us a HD version of TV Spot #7 today. This spot has so far been my favorite, mainly because of the great Appa roar at the end.

New Airbender Clips Released

TrailerAddict.com posted two new clips from The Last Airbender today. If you’re concerned about spoilers I would not recommend watching. Enjoy and remember The Last Airbender comes out July 1st.

Aang Battling Fire Nation Soldiers

Zuko and Katara Fighting

HD Television Spots #5 and #6

Paramount released two high-definition versions of television spots #5 and #6 today for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy and keep checking for the results of the novel contest!

Television Spot #5 “The One”

Television Spot #6 “Save Us”

Exclusive: German One-Sheet Revealed

Thanks to our friends at Paramount, we’re excited to bring you an exclusive look at the poster German Airbender fans will be seeing at their local theaters this Summer!

Pretty neat, eh? The Legend of Aang in 3D awakens in Germany on August 19!

Airbender In 3D Posters

IGN has unveiled two exclusive one-sheets for The Last Airbender In 3D.

Third Theatrical Trailer Unveiled

Earlier today Paramount Pictures unveiled the third full length theatrical trailer for The Last Airbender. Suffice to say it features a great deal more bending money shots, and is sure to garner a lot of attention from moviegoers. It is also the first publicly released media touting the recently announced 3D version. Without further ado…

Three HD Publicity Photos Released

Three previously seen publicity photos from The Last Airbender have been passed along to us by Paramount, now in high definition.

Last Airbender Film Takes Manhattan

March 10 – Morning

Start spreadin’ the news. I’m leaving today! Upon waking the morning of my departure, it was hard not to conjure up visions of little green monsters singing the classic Liza Minnelli tune as they looked forward to a night of painting the Big Apple red. To say I was excited would have been a gross understatement. What I had initiated with my friends at Paramount back in July ’09 was finally coming to fruition: an interview with The Last Airbender director M. Night Shyamalan. I had spent the better part of a week taking questions from my readers and fellow Avatar fans, or ‘Avatards.’ I am not exactly clear which fandom owns that name anymore, as it would seem fans of James Cameron’s Money Printer have appropriated the title for themselves much the same way Cameron did the title of the film. I digress. Procrastinator  that I am, I realized I had very little time to make my final preparations for the trip. So the next several hours were spent picking up my clothes from the cleaners, deciding on a tie to wear, buying a new tooth brush, returning some videotapes, learning I would not be required to wear a tie, scribbling down twenty of your best questions, feeding the cat, packing my overnight bag, and feeling down about not being able to wear the awesome tie I bought.

UGO Phone Interview With M. Night

Jordan Hoffman of UGO.com scored an exclusive phone interview with M. Night Shyamalan, in which we learn the pronunciation of some character’s names has been changed, firebenders do in fact require an outside source for their fire (as we previously reported), and more!

M. Night Shyamalan: Let’s talk about Firebending. When I first saw the show, I saw that everyone else needed their element around them. You need water to bend water, earth beneath your feet to bend earth and air is all around us. So, the idea of self-manifesting fire was the first thing that popped into my head, in terms of wanting to understand this world. Now, manifesting fire through chi, I thought, was fascinating. So – in our movie – the majority of the benders still need a source. So you need fire nearby, which creates all sorts of wonderful, practical issues.

Jordan Hoffman: This is new. Katara keeps a water bag, but firebenders don’t need that.

M. Night Shyamalan: This is totally new.  So the Fire Nation will throw in a fireball not only to create damage, but to ensure that there is a source of fire.

And Hoffman also addressed the Racebending issue later on in a follow up interview.

Jordan Hoffman: One of the complaints is this: you have Inuit actors playing the background of the water bending tribe, yet the two leads, Sokka and Katara, are white, so people looking for conspiracy will point to this.

M. Night Shyamalan: When you see the whole movie, where the characters go, the Northern Water Tribe all have the European look that Sokka and Katara have, with a few exceptions here and there.

Jordan Hoffman: The other day you said that the second film will feature a lot of the Earth Bending Nation, which is Asian, but there is a community within that that is African-American.

M. Night Shyamalan: That’s correct. And I’m pumped for that.

Visit UGO.com for the rest of the interview!