The Last Airbender

We were excited to see The Last Airbender because of the cool visuals in the trailer - the kid with a glowing blue arrow on his forehead and the computer graphics with fire and water being hurled at each other.

We were puzzled about the introduction that vaguely resembled a cheaper, cheesier version of the Star Wars opening, and even more so when the screen faded to black with the title "Book One: Water".  Logically speaking, why would sane person hit the ice underneath their feet, only to run as the ice crumbles?  And how did the granny return to her hut so the Waterbender and her brother could be told to go and help the Avatar - wasn't she captured by the Fire Nation's Army?  Then there were these gibberish scribbles that look like Chinese or some other Asian language and all these brown-skinned people in Japanese costumes eating donburi.  What messages were the moviemakers trying to convey??  I was most confused about the premise of the movie - wasn't there supposed to be four elements?  After liberating the Earthbenders in a village, the Earth element was just cast aside and there was no mention of it again - even in the animation in the end sequence only Water, Fire and Air were shown.  As if the plot wasn't tacky enough, there was the horrible acting, or lack thereof - the Waterbender and her brother hardly had any expressions and the exiled prince looked more like a hurt puppy than someone bent on capturing the Avatar to clear his name...

We saw the movies in 3D, but none of the scenes were particularly engaging and we came out wondering why we saw it in 3D.  The most exciting parts of the movies were nothing more than what was shown in the trailers.  I could just go on and on and on about what a waste of time it was to see this movie.  No wonder the reviews had given it less than 3 stars out of 10!! (Note to self - make sure to check the internet first for reviews before heading out to the movies next time.)

Despite the huge disappointment last night, I am looking foward to the new Disney/Nicolas Cage movie The Soccerer's Apprentice, which is coming out in 2 weeks.  The trailer looks awesome and I am a huge sucker for Disney movies.  At least Disney movies rarely disappoint.