The Last Airbender (film)
[7][6][1][8] Based on the first season of the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–08), the film stars Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, and Cliff Curtis.Principal photography began in March 2009 and ended on September, with a preliminary schedule held in Greenland for two weeks, and the rest of the film being shot in major locations across Pennsylvania, United States.The Last Airbender premiered at the Alice Tully Hall in New York City on June 30, 2010, and was theatrically released in the United States the following day by Paramount Pictures.Many criticized the screenplay, acting, direction, casting, dialogue, action sequences, plot holes, unfaithfulness to the source material, characters, and 3D conversion.During a side trip to the Northern Air Temple, Aang is betrayed by a peasant and captured by Fire Nation archers led by Commander Zhao.Recalling his life before being trapped in the ice, Aang enters the Avatar State and raises the ocean into a gigantic wall to drive the Fire Nation back.On January 8, 2007, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies announced that they had signed M. Night Shyamalan to write, direct, and produce a trilogy of live-action films based on Avatar: The Last Airbender.[15] Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko voiced their opinion in an interview regarding Shyamalan writing, directing, and producing the film."[18] Brad Grey said that despite the director's career being inconsistent, he "believed in [Shyamalan's] vision and that he could execute it," adding that "It's a bold step because he had to create a potential new franchise.[20] Shyamalan originally offered the roles of Aang to Noah Ringer; Sokka to Jackson Rathbone; Katara to Nicola Peltz; and Zuko to Jesse McCartney.[21] In an interview with People, Shyamalan claimed that he did not want to make The Last Airbender without Nicola Peltz, "I said that only once before in my career, and that was when I met Haley in The Sixth Sense auditions."[22] In February 2009, Dev Patel replaced Jesse McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts.[29] He began shaving his head during his martial arts training to help cool off, which gave him the nickname "Avatar" due to his resemblance to Aang from the animated series.[46] Reading mayor Tom McMahon explained that crews made road improvements and buried electrical lines surrounding the structure.[46] Filming also took place in Ontelaunee Township and at the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower in Pennsylvania after the production crew finished at the Pagoda.Filming took place inside the abandoned Budd Company complex across the street, which was fitted out as a studio including temporary air conditioning piped into the set.Pablo Helman, who previously worked on Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, was the visual effects supervisor for the Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) team on the film.Other elements, such as texturing, hair or scale simulation, and light and shadow complementary to the live action, were added to make the final animation appear as real as possible during the later stages of character development.Among the toys featured in the line were figures based on Aang, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara, and a fully ride-able Appa the Sky Bison.The release of The Last Airbender movie and original tie-in manga gives us the chance to share completely new stories with Avatar fans looking for more about Aang, Zuko, and their favorite characters."Horribly scarred and stripped of everything he held dear, Zuko has wandered the earth for almost three years in search of his only chance at redemption: the Avatar, a mystical being who once kept the four nations in balance.What more, when asked about whether he answered some questions that were left open at the end of the series, Roman stated that, while he had a strong relationship with the show's creators and got their blessing for his project, it wasn't his plot to address.[75] The film premiered in New York City on June 30, 2010,[76] and opened the following day in 3,169 theaters, against The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which also stars Jackson Rathbone.[88] The site's critical consensus reads, "The Last Airbender squanders its popular source material with incomprehensible plotting, horrible acting, and detached joyless direction.Club gave the film an F, criticizing the performances of the child actors, overuse of exposition, and shoehorned 3D special effects, calling it the worst summer blockbuster of 2010.Charlie Jane Anders in the review by io9 criticized "the personality-free hero, the nonsensical plot twists, the CG clutter, the bland romance, the new-age pablum...", concluding that "Shyamalan's true achievement in this film is that he takes a thrilling cult TV series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and he systematically leeches all the personality and soul out of it – in order to create something generic enough to serve as a universal spoof of every epic, ever.'"[99] Ain't It Cool News' review questioned why Shyamalan was allowed to write the script, as well as why he was even chosen to direct such a high-profile film after a string of previous flops: "Burdened by [a] never-ending onslaught of expository dialogue awkwardly delivered by actors giving career-worst performances across the board, The Last Airbender is so outrageously bad it's a wonder it ever got before cameras.[102] David Roark of Relevant Magazine accused other critics of having a bias against Shyamalan and gave the film a positive review, stating that its visuals and heart far outweighed the clunky plotting and "awful" dialogue.[103] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian noted an unfortunate linguistic problem that reduced British viewers to "a state of nervous collapse" due to laughter."[110][111] In a question-and-answer session on Reddit with Dante Basco, the original voice of Prince Zuko, when he was asked what he thought of the Last Airbender film, he responded by saying that the show's creators, Konietzko and DiMartino, told him not to see it.
Lower: Final version of animated scene.
The Last Airbender (disambiguation)M. Night ShyamalanMichael Dante DiMartinoBryan KonietzkoSam MercerFrank MarshallNoah RingerDev PatelNicola PeltzJackson RathboneShaun ToubAasif MandviCliff CurtisAndrew LesnieConrad BuffJames Newton HowardNickelodeon MoviesBlinding Edge PicturesThe Kennedy/Marshall CompanyParamount PicturesAlice Tully Hallaction adventurefantasy filmNickelodeonanimated television seriesPrincipal photographyGreenlandPennsylvaniaJames CameronAvatarTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesThe Adventures of Tintinicebergwiped outCommander ZhaoFire Lord OzaiTaekwondoPrince ZukoSouthern Water TribewaterbenderGeneral IrohSeychelle Gabrielromantic love interestSummer BishilPrincess AzulaFrancis GuinanRandall Duk KimKeong SimJohn Noblecomposite characterKatharine HoughtonDamon GuptonHalloweenJesse McCartneyPeopleThe Sixth SenseSlumdog MillionaireEast AsianRoger EbertThe Legend of KorrafilmingReading, PennsylvaniaPagodaMount PennOntelaunee TownshipWilliam Penn Memorial Fire TowerPhiladelphiaPablo HelmanIndustrial Light & Magicstoryboardedthe sixth Harry Pottermatte paintingsfruit batAlice in WonderlandClash of the Titansbox officeThe Last Airbender (soundtrack)The Last AirbenderThe Happeningteaser trailerEntertainment TonightSuper Bowl XLIVdiageticnarrationTHQ Studio AustraliaNintendo DSgraphic novelsDave RomanDel Rey MangaNina MatsumotoNick MagazineAaron EhaszNew York CityBlu-rayBest BuyRussiaRotten TomatoesMetacriticweighted averageCinemaScoreThe Globe and MailOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyChicago Sun-TimesThe A.V. ClubThe Hollywood ReporterVarietyRifftraxSun TimesDragonball EvolutionAin't It Cool NewsUSA TodayRelevant MagazinePeter BradshawThe GuardianBritish EnglishLady in the WaterCollider.comNYU's Stern School of BusinessSlumdogDante Basco31st Golden Raspberry AwardsRazziesTeen Choice AwardsInternational Film Music Critics AssociationYoung Artist Award