Here's the thing with the movie, 95% of my complaints would be minor nitpicks if they didn't constitute the entire film. Little things like no one's name being pronounced like on the show, or Zuko's scar being barely noticeable, or Roku being a dragon. The props, costumes and make-up are pretty bad too, but that's nothing. The movie's actual problem is that it tries to fit the entire book of Water into a single film, and it's a short film, like 90 maybe 100 minutes? So they're constantly throwing exposition and narration at you and merging some plotlines in the weirdest way. Like, after helping out the imprisoned earthbenders, Aang and Katara are given a very familiar scroll of waterbending techniques. Or Aang goes alone to the Northern Air Temple, is betrayed by the only guy there (who isn't the Mechanist) and captured by the Fire Nation, prompting his rescue by the Blue Spirit. It just feels really rushed and unfocused and was probably helluva confusing to people who didn't watch the show.
Also, all the dialogue sounds like a speech, and all the speeches sound really terrible. Bending looks fucking silly in the movie, maybe that was unavoidable to an extent, but on the show the elements moved like they were a part of the benders' bodies. An Earthbender stomps the ground so a rock flies up, then punches the air to send it flying. In the movie, Aang does like 6 seconds of Power Ranger moves and
then there's a wind. Oh, and firebenders can't create fire, despite that being a large source of their pride and belief in their superiority, they bend fire bolts from nearby campfires and torches, ironically making them the weakest benders. Ozai (who gets a lot of screentime in the movie, along with Zhao) actually says that Sozin's comet will give them the power to make fire or something similar. And while we're on the topic of bending-related silliness, remember the oil rig-thing the Fire Nation used as a prison for earthbenders, so they would be apart from their element? Remember how cleverly the kids found earth (coal) for them to use? In the movie, the earthbender prison is a fenced-in quarry with 10 guards, tops. I'm dead serious. A fucking rock quarry. That'll hold an earthbender for maybe ten seconds, if he was a distance from the gate when he decided to leave.
Oh, and there's this really weird subplot about how Aang can't waterbend until he accepts the deaths of the Air Nomads and lets himself grieve. I dunno, maybe it was an attempt to make all bending more spiritual, like Aang had to learn to tackle his problems head-on to learn earthbending. Iroh also seemed to have read ahead, he was bugging Zuko the whole film to give up the hunt and live a happy life outside the Fire Nation.
But like I said, these are asethic and style problems. I could live with them, it's the terrible pacing and shitty dialogue that really sunk the movie. That and the unrealistic expectation people seemed to have that at this point in his career, Shymalan could equal the quality of a nickelodeon cartoon. /rant.
Oh, by the way, tonight's up.
Bato of the Water Tribe
