The poster was actually pretty cool. I especially love Aang's airbending curling up his staff like smoke.
I'm doing this with as little spoilers as possible, but there's the possibility something small slips out. If you're worried about it, you've been warned. Otherwise, you should be fine.
I also want to say that I walked into this movie fully prepared to like it for what it was. Don't blame me for bias - I'm one of those people who likes both Wonka movies for what they are, regardless of how badass Wilder is as Wonka.
Now, it's no secret that I'm a huge Avatar: The Last Airbender fan irl. I love the animation, the characters, the themes, and the fact that a children's show is so deep and meaningful, especially towards the end. SO, if you're not an Avatar fan, let me sum it up for you:
It's a movie about a world where there are four types of "Benders" - Earth, Water, Fire, Air - and one bender who is capable of bending all four at once. He's the Avatar, and he's there to keep balance in the world. Throughout the movie, the Airbender Aang, the last one due to some serious douchery from the Firebenders (who've started a war) and an accidental SNAFU, begins learning to bend Water and goes to the North Pole to stop it from getting destroyed (in said war).
From a purely movie-going standpoint, the fight scenes are freaking cool (especially during the Blue Spirit and North Pole sequences), HOWEVER: the writing is *atrocious*, some of the cinematography is groan-inducing, the actors are ill-fitted to their parts (with only two exceptions) and everyone keeps pronouncing "Avatar" "AHvatar", which is really off-putting. From a purely movie-going standpoint, this movie is atrocious.
From a fan of the series, however, this movie is BEYOND atrocious. It's the sort of movie you cringe all the way through because it's just so painful. First off, the butchering of the races of the world is horrible enough in its own right, but I'll leave Racebending here for the truly curious on hearing this argument right (seriously. They're awesome. Check it out).
The worst offense, to me, about this movie? How Katara was portrayed.
In the cartoon, Katara is a strong, motherly girl of 15 who comes into her own as a Waterbending Master throughout the series and who would do anything to stand up for what she believed in. She was annoying at times, but she was also a motherfucking BADASS when it came to bending. She was fast and vicious when she needed to be, and she was a master in the truest sense of the word.
Kudos to the artist. See? She's freaking amazing.
In the movie, she's a complete and utter waste of space.
Yeah, not so much.
Not only is she a gray blob completely devoid of any form of fight or spark or personality, she's a completely useless bender. There's a fight where a Firebender (avoiding to say who as to avoid spoilers, but know they're good) is standing in front of her with a fire in front of him (for M. Night changed it that Firebenders had to have fire nearby to bend, which is fair enough and worked in context) and she is SURROUNDED by water. She's in an OASIS. And she doesn't put out the fire. Not only does she avoid putting out the fire, but she totally fails at bending as a whole and can't even block a simple switch-around.
Compared to the show, this fight? Goes on for nearly an hour in the show. (Not all seen, obviously, but still.) And she gives damn near better than she gets. She only loses because the moon (which, for non-fans, strengthens Waterbending) disappears and the Firebender she's fighting can stop her before she can get used to it again.
What.
The hell.
All of the characters have been given an entirely hideous down-grade in character, which is absolutely horrible for a movie based on a show completely driven by strong characters. The only two anywhere near their based characters are Aang (who was AMAZING, actually) and Iroh. There were moments where Sokka (who was actually named Sohka in the movie, and Aang was Ahng. I know, right? Also, Sokka was horribly cast, but that's nothing new for this film) -and I mean actual SOKKA, from the show - would shine through, but then the actor would go back to being as bland as possible. The Firebenders were a JOKE, completely destroying that sense of faceless fear one would feel when they saw the silhouette of the Firelord by giving him a completely bland face.
It was, all in all, a tragedy.
Don't waste your money on this movie. Please. It's really not worth it.
