Review of The Last Airbender (2010) by Von S — 16 Jul 2014

I frown upon the choice of ethnicity of the cast, and not because I'm Chinese either. You would have thought that after Dragonball Evolution, script-writers would beware to keep characters in their rightful ethnicity or otherwise risk the near-unanimous displeasure of audiences and film critics alike.

I was able to move past this elephant in the room after the first half-hour, however, and would have enjoyed the film immensely if the acting by the ensemble cast wasn't so below-par. Many of the lines were delivered unconvincingly and sometimes pointlessly, and it quickly becomes clear that Noah Ringer (among a few others) hadn't yet fully grasped the art of acting as a counterweight to his outstanding martial arts skills.

And though many do say that the film is a condensed-yet-watered-down version of the TV series, I am willing to see this adaptation as a standalone plot, and a well-paced one at that. Add that to the fact that the visual effects team did a superb job, especially with the difficult task of generating element-bending, I will give The Last Airbender a slightly generous yet well-earned rating of 2 out of 5.