The Last Airbender Trailer

After last years atrocious The Happening I lost all hope of M. night Shyamalan ever making a film which would come close to matching his truly fantastic Unbreakable and Sixth Sense. While I enjoyed all had enjoyed all his film sup till then the sheer mind numbing atrociousness of the Happening managed to wipe all memory of his talent from my mind.

His next film is an adaptition of the popular cartoon Avatar renamed to The Last Airbender in a bid to not get massacred by James Cameron's lawyers.

What are the odds that it's Dragonball 2?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_HnnBw-JCk

Ivan

Few points:
The show was always called Avatar: The last Airbender or Avatar:The Legend of Aang; thought admittedly they are trying to avoid being sued to bits for using the Avatar name, even though they had it first - Cameron is a pretty big name to go against, so I guess they figured it's not worth it.

Next, I'm not a fan of Shyamalan. I groaned loudly when I heard he was directing. The last movie of his I watched, let alone enjoyed, was Unbreakable, when it was released. With that said though, I think his failing is his writing. His direction is otherwise good. And the writers and producers for this movie are the original writers for the animated series and that show did not have a problem with its dialog or storyline or anything writing related. Furthermore, since they are producing this and have been pretty vocal about what they want from the show; I think we will see a quality movie out of this. The trailer certainly seems to give that impression.

Ivan

Ivan wrote: »

Few points:
The show was always called Avatar: The last Airbender or Avatar:The Legend of Aang; thought admittedly they are trying to avoid being sued to bits for using the Avatar name, even though they had it first - Cameron is a pretty big name to go against, so I guess they figured it's not worth it.

When it was announced it was being called Avatar but they changed it early in production. Cameron owned the rights to the name Avatar and threatened them with legal action if they didn't change the name.

I was telling a friend the trailer was online and according to him he's a massive Avatar fan yet had no idea what The Last Airbender was.

Ivan wrote: »

Next, I'm not a fan of Shyamalan. I groaned loudly when I heard he was directing. The last movie of his I watched, let alone enjoyed, was Unbreakable, when it was released. With that said though, I think his failing is his writing. His direction is otherwise good. And the writers and producers for this movie are the original writers for the animated series and that show did not have a problem with its dialog or storyline or anything writing related. Furthermore, since they are producing this and have been pretty vocal about what they want from the show; I think we will see a quality movie out of this. The trailer certainly seems to give that impression.

Like Paul Anderson (AvP director) Shyamalan can't write worth a damn, well he can but he seems to think that every film needs a twist which should surprise the audience and tie the story together.

Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko did write the story for the film but Shyamalan wrote the screenplay which is cause for worry. I'm cautiously optimistic for the film though but I can't help but feel that come 2010 I'm going to leave the cinema disappointed.

L31mr0d

Deleted User wrote: »

I was telling a friend the trailer was online and according to him he's a massive Avatar fan yet had no idea what The Last Airbender was.

I'm definitely no anime otaku but instantly knew what you where referring to by The Last Airbender and I've only watched a couple of episodes of it. A "massive" Avatar fan would instantly know what it was referring to.

It's like calling a movie "Kamehameha" and a massive DBZ fan not recognizing what it was referring to. It's not possible.

Anyway, the west can't get anime conversions to film right. The only good conversion I've seen that was true to the original was Speed Racer which was widely panned by critics. I have no doubt this movie will be all sorts of fail as anime conversions are a catch 22.

bada_bing

i'm a fan of the tv show as i discovered it 3 weeks ago and downloaded all the 3 seasons and just watched the finale last night. Then i heard about the movie a few days ago and thought 'sweet!!!' but then i heard who was directing it and thought ' oh great, it's gonna be a disaster'. But there's hope as someone mentioned the original creators/writers are involved in the movie as well so hopefully they'll ensure that m (douchebag) shyamalan doesn't get carried away and stick to the essence of the show.

trailer looks good anyway especially with the fleet of fire nation ships in the ocean.

The Don

Deleted User wrote: »

Like Paul Anderson (AvP director) Shyamalan can't write worth a damn, well he can but he seems to think that every film needs a twist which should surprise the audience and tie the story together.

The reason I've stopped watching his latest films is because he used those 'big' twists.

I'm a fan of the tv show as well and when I heard about the films I was pretty excited. Then I heard that Shyamalan was writing and directing it and I gave up on it. The casting is also bad except for as Dev Patel Zuko. Its good to hear that the original writers have an influence on the film. I'm still worried about Shyamalan screenplay and the use of dodgy cgi.

Nevyn

L31mr0d wrote: »

I'm definitely no anime otaku but instantly knew what you where referring to by The Last Airbender and I've only watched a couple of episodes of it. A "massive" Avatar fan would instantly know what it was referring to.

Avatar the last air bender is not anime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_the_last_air_bender

Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang),[1] is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon and the Nicktoons Network.

L31mr0d wrote: »

It's like calling a movie "Kamehameha" and a massive DBZ fan not recognizing what it was referring to. It's not possible.

My kids know well who the last airbender is and the lack of the term Avatar in the title should not be an issue.

L31mr0d wrote: »

Anyway, the west can't get anime conversions to film right. The only good conversion I've seen that was true to the original was Speed Racer which was widely panned by critics. I have no doubt this movie will be all sorts of fail as anime conversions are a catch 22.

Again it's a western cartoon show, it's not anime, but I do have concerns about the conversion my kids were not impressed at how white/western the casting and with some of the changes to the story line.

Avatar: the last air bender is pretty wonderful and tbh if you get the change watch the show.

TheIrishGrover

Big fan of Avater. As someone said, I can't imagine anyone who has seen more that 2 or 3 episodes not recognising "The Last Airbender" as being Avater. For people who have not seen the cartoon (Not anime but certainly influenced by anime) my next point may seem a bit bizzare.

My main concern is that they will dumb down the story (Especially Zukko's arc). The cartoon is aimed at kids (unlike 90's Batman animated series and the likes) but the show as quite complex and the character development is amazing for a kid's show. Sokka's not just the comedy sidekick (Which I'm assuming he will be in the movie) Katara's not just the pretty girl, Zukko's not just a campy, one dimensional badguy (No pun intended).

The original plan apparently is to make 3 films but the first one will have to be pretty self contained in case it does not make enough for a trilogy.
.
.
.
.
Fingers crossed though. At least the kid does look like Aang

Ivan

While I agree about worrying about whether they maintain the complexity of the show, with the movie; the fact is that the series was aimed at children too. Which is one of the reasons it was so successful. Here was a cartoon, with a great story and interesting characters that didnt treat the viewer as an idiot - regardless of age group.

I really do hope they make 3 films as that was my biggest worry, that they would cut out large elements of the story arc leaving a mish-mash mess that no one can follow or worse, that they just leave it a one dimensional story with a good guy and some side-kicks versus the evil Zuko.

As for the current cast, I think Aang is perfect - the rest of the cast seem very to be predominantly of latin heritage which doesnt really fit in my opinion, but I'm sure make-up and ward-robe will fix that pretty snappish.

BUT the biggest problem with this movie so far - which may even lead to me boycotting it - is the fact that Toph has not been cast and doesnt look like she will be. If she's not in this, then I just dont see the point of the movie...

[Edit]
Actually... looking at the trailer again. They are clearly taking the Martial Arts element very seriously and the bending is there. The Fire Nation is a large element of the story... with all that in mind, I think this movie will have to work very hard to be bad.

I mean, I have already watched all of the cartoon series. It's a brilliant story - I'm not sure it could be any better. Therefore, I wont be going to this movie for the story because I will either A) Know how everything happens exactly or be disappointed by an inferior story. Thats best case scneario right there. So, I'm clearly going to see this movie for the live action interpretation of one of my favourite series.

So, all it really has to do is look good, sound good and not make too much of a mess of my beloved story and it's a winner

[/Edit]

TheIrishGrover

Ivan wrote: »

While I agree about worrying about whether they maintain the complexity of the show, with the movie; the fact is that the series was aimed at children too. Which is one of the reasons it was so successful. Here was a cartoon, with a great story and interesting characters that didnt treat the viewer as an idiot - regardless of age group.



As for the current cast, I think Aang is perfect - the rest of the cast seem very to be predominantly of latin heritage which doesnt really fit in my opinion, but I'm sure make-up and ward-robe will fix that pretty snappish.

BUT the biggest problem with this movie so far - which may even lead to me boycotting it - is the fact that Toph has not been cast and doesnt look like she will be. If she's not in this, then I just dont see the point of the movie...

Latin? Most of the cast seems to eastern or of eastern descent really which I really like and think it's in tone:

Dev Patel
cliff Curtis
Aasif Mandvi (Excellent in The Daily Show.:) )
Shaun Toub

As for Toph, she is hilarious. Great character. Didn't she come in in the second season? So, hopefuly she would appear in film two if they make it.

L31mr0d

Thaedydal wrote: »

Avatar the last air bender is not anime.

Avatar has more stylistically in common with anime than western cartoons. It's visual style is that of anime, and draws inspiration mainly from japanimation sources. Many would consider it stylistically anime, but not officially due to it's origins outside of Japan.

Many would consider the definition of anime to be more than merely the geographically location of where it was drawn.

EDIT: Just seen this over at pennyarcade, lol

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/

He is a good director, a terrible writer. With the original writers being kept on, this could be epic!

As long as there is no effin' twist and it turns out the Avatar is actually gay. Or an alien. Or dead. Or a dead gay alien.

Mark Hamill

Ivan wrote: »

BUT the biggest problem with this movie so far - which may even lead to me boycotting it - is the fact that Toph has not been cast and doesnt look like she will be. If she's not in this, then I just dont see the point of the movie...

Toph doesnt appear until the 2nd book (ie the 2nd series), so she shouldn't be in this film anyway.
(I would hate to have to cast her though, imagine trying tryinf to find a 12 year old w ho can play a blind girl who is a master of Hung Gar Kung Fu convincingly)

norrie rugger

L31mr0d wrote: »

I'm definitely no anime otaku but instantly knew what you where referring to by The Last Airbender and I've only watched a couple of episodes of it. A "massive" Avatar fan would instantly know what it was referring to.

It's like calling a movie "Kamehameha" and a massive DBZ fan not recognizing what it was referring to. It's not possible.

Anyway, the west can't get anime conversions to film right. The only good conversion I've seen that was true to the original was Speed Racer which was widely panned by critics. I have no doubt this movie will be all sorts of fail as anime conversions are a catch 22.

Not a fan and recognisted it as Avatar: the Last Airbender

Actually thought James Cameron's movie was about it, until i read up on it

niallon

I'm not familiar with the cartoon much except for a brief idea of the general plot (vague much?). Either way, and I say this as a fan of ALL of Shyamalan's films apart from The Happening, there's no way in hell he can handle something as large as this. Just watch the trajectory of his films, as the budgets and casts get higher he starts to lose a little along the way. As I said, I'm a fan of his stuff but it cannot be denied that there is a steady decline in quality, though I for one do not think that he hit the despairing lows many think he did.

I can't wait for the film, I'm banking on it being amazing. I f it's not I'm hunting down Shyamalan; WHO'S WITH ME?!?!?!?!

[quote=[Deleted User];61704816]I can't wait for the film, I'm banking on it being amazing. I f it's not I'm hunting down Shyamalan; WHO'S WITH ME?!?!?!?![/QUOTE]

Chances of M. Night Shyamalan making a good film are slim to nonexistent. I'm expecting a film of lesser quality than Dragonball Evolution. After the Happening it's clear that Shyamalan just doesn't have the ability to craft a story and would be better served directing other peoples work.

While the creators of the show wrote the initial story, Shyamalan wrote the screenplay and as such I'm expecting a twist where we discover that the hero is actually the villain who has traveled back in time and impregnated his own mother who was an alien sent forward in time to stop a race of mole men from eating all the worlds apples.

Scruff

There seems to be a completely different film called Avatar out in December.
Here is the trailer on French MSN
Full HD trailer should be up on apple trailers soon

/edit
Ah just saw the 2nd post which alludes to this fact

TheIrishGrover

Scruff wrote: »

There seems to be a completely different film called Avatar out in December.
Here is the trailer on French MSN
Full HD trailer should be up on apple trailers soon

Wow, they kept that one quiet, huh? Who's this Cameroon guy though? Pfffff

Scruff

yes yes. i was just editing my post before i saw your post
1st i'd heard of it so it must have been a global conspiracy to keep me out of the loop...

i saw the avatar preview yesterday and it looked pretty awesome.

i really hope they dont mess up the characters it the last airbender. they were just so perfect in the show.

Handsome Bob

New Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqqreFnnS2s

Looks a bit naff at first but it looks much better towards the end of the trailer, not sure I'll be rushing out to see it though, I'll withold judgement until I read some reviews.

Ivan

**** yes, looks awesome!

Mark Hamill

New trailer looks very good, but I'm a bit afraid that the mistake that will be made with it is the same one that was made with the last Harry Potter film - that the romantic side story will be dragged into the for fromt to appeal to teen girls. Dont get me wrong, in the tv show the romantic sub plots where important and worked very well with the story, as it was spread over 3 seasons of 20 odd episodes each, but they where well balanced with the action and the humour.
I'm worried that they will abandon the humour aspect of the show in favour of the romance and end up with Twilight with benders instead of vampires.