The Last Airbender (movie review)

Title: The Last Airbender (2010)

I try my best to find the good in things, but sometimes I find it difficult. This movie was an exception as it was very easy to find the good.

Mostly because the movie was so horrible.

How this movie got so bad, I don't know, but it was like somebody took a decent if not good story and gang raped it. Holy cow was it bad. Atop the list of horrors in this movie was the dialog. It was so bad it was like somebody took a Japanese video game and tried to translate it into English with a translator that only knows Spanish. In fact, some of the lines sounded like my 2-year-old son pretending to be a robot.

And then there was the magic system. I know every fantasy world has a different base for their magic, and that's great. But the goofy looking hands and feet dancing around? Did they really need to look so silly to do their fighting? Couldn't they do the martial arts stuff to do physical fighting and then use magic with one or two simple moves?

Despite the horrible movie, there are a few glimmering jewels that, when combined with some popcorn and Junior Mints, might make it worthwhile to watch the movie. As long as somebody else pays for it of course. Those jewels would be a handful of actors that did a great job acting. Yes, their lines were still horrible, but their acting was surprisingly well done. First is Noah Rigner, the last airbender, who plays "innocent" quite well. Then we have Dev Patel, who does a wonderful job of playing the evil prince that has been ousted by his father. And the last was the father, the fire lord, Cliff Curtis. He did well in Trauma on TV and did well in his limited role in this movie.

So save your money and watch it when it comes to TV or Hulu. Meanwhile, you can go read a book. Or wash your dog. Or visit the dentist. Any of these would be more enjoyable than watching this movie.