There have many been many concerns over the film, from “why are they using nonAsian actors??” to “Will Shmalayan really ‘get’ the series or will he just turn out another of his weird twist-ending movies?”
Well, the trailer looks good so far. The actors DO resemble the characters, and the SFX look good enough. Oh and I just heard the movie will be out in 3D (but these post-Other-Avatar movie days that’s almost a given Bandwagon? What bandwagon? )
So far it’s in my to-see list for this year. But I still need to find out about the story first. I wonder if they’ll do the whole series in one movie (that would require a LOT of compression) or try to do it in two or more parts (the latter makes more sense, but if the first part doesn’t do well enough the story could end unfinished.)
(But hey, at least they included Yue, Sokka’s tragic love interest- nice touch!)
I’m pretty sure they’re going to do one season for this film and probably two more for the two other seasons if it does well. I hope it’s good and that it does do well, because ATLA is one of the best shows I’ve ever watched.
I read one review that said Aang is asked to fight the fire god on behalf of the other elements. If that is what they changed the storyline to I’m afraid I’ll be a seething mass of nerdrage if I see this.
It honestly shocks me that people older than 9 watch the cartoon, let alone consider it one of the best shows ever. From the few times I’ve landed on it flipping through channels, it seemed pretty awful… like, sub-Yugioh afwul. If a live action film of it actually makes money, goddamn… Shyamalan is a genius of fucking unbelievable proportions. The cartoon seems so… beyond the threshold of salvageability.
I don’t even want to sound like I’m some super-serious intellectual juggernaught who can’t enjoy stuff like Wall-E, I love that shit. It’s just that Avatar seems so unforgivably bent on being the kind of show only kids under 10 would be undiscerning enough to enjoy. It’s just carelessly put together
The movie just feels unnecessary to me. I mean, what’s the point of making an avatar movie? Here’s when a movie adaptation would be good:
If it’s telling a new story within that world, possibly continuing where it left off. This, clearly, is not doing that, since it’s retelling the very beginning of the series.
When the story is older, or could use a reboot of sorts. This, also clearly, is not the case as Avatar is only a few years old, and recent enough that people don’t need a refresher.
If the story was told improperly, or if the movie will bring something new to what was told. This, I think, is where I take real umbrage, since Avatar, even though i stopped watching after the second season, was a phenomenal series, and there is nothing a live-action movie could do to be better than what the show did. In fact, it almost feels insulting that they’d try.
So, ultimately, I can only conclude that this movie is really nothing more than a money-making ploy*, and thus, I will not support it. This is my logic.
*Before anyone says anything, yes, it doesn’t take scientific method to come to this conclusion. But would you rather I just say “they’re ruining everything!” without explaining the thought process?
Avatar has few more childish episodes, but the first season is palatable and the 2nd and 3rd seasons are very well done. I just fastforwarded through the season 1 eps that didn’t do anything pertinent. The third handles its subject pretty maturely. All of the characters are well fleshed out and interesting. From the trailer I saw, Avatar appears to have the setting and look right - which is very important because the show was very well drawn and the artists did an excellent job distinguishing the martial art styles. What worries me about the movie is really how the actors are going to play out their roles. I worry they’re going to brush over everyone. I also worry they won’t be able to make Appa as awesome. You just can’t not love Appa.
The problem with Avatar is the same as with most American cartoons: they’re by default assumed to for children and therefore MUST be dressed in all of the typical trappings- kid heroes, animal companions, bright SFX, occasional goofiness, etc. Oh, and let’s not forget the stuff that can be marketed as toys.
But through the history of American animation there have been shows that struggled to sneak in some story, characterization, and even surprisingly serious themes “under the radar”. AVATAR is one of these shows, and like most of them you need to pay attention for a while to realize it. Heck, as literate as I am, you would’ve needed a gun to get me to read Shakespeare stuff like MacBeth or A Midsummer Night’s Dream… the show that got me interested? Disney’s GARGOYLES, which mined them for their main plotlines, and in fact did such an amazing job at world-building that on repeated viewings I realized that even small details in some episodes were actually clues of the big reveals to come (like the fact that when Demona captured Xanatos’ assistant, she bound him in iron chains, which seemed excessive until you later find out that he was the Fairy Puck all along!!!) Add excellent production values such as animation and voice talent and you get a series anybody with an open mind can enjoy. Avatar was like that in my opinion as well.
TBH I hated it cuz it was on nickelodeon. How come I am not banned? I thought for sure that thread would do it. I think I am going to try and make my last times here like Leaving Las Vegas. Who wants to be the whore I drink with?
However, consider Totoro, Ratatouille, even Nemo. I don’t know about current Saturday animated shows in the States, but people have been bringing good results working within these limits for years. Not that I’d mind seeing the French model of comics be translated into animation and broadcast everywhere.
Yeah, um… making assumptions of a show’s content based on the way it looks after having seen it for a few seconds at a time while flipping channels is hardly a basis for a well-thought-out opinion. Yes, it’s designed to be watchable by kids, and yes, some of the humor is a bit childish, but the story, characters, world, and design are top-notch. The characters all have depth and conflicting desires, bad things happen to good people, the wrong decisions are made for the wrong reasons. The humor is really well done and the fights and martial arts are well-researched and amazingly animated.
I actually went back and watched Gargoyles a few years ago and found it no more than okay. That’s definitely a kids’ show where they tried to sneak in some adult themes and references. Avatar is an adults’ show that had kid-friendly stuff inserted.
Yeah, um… making assumptions of a show’s content based on the way it looks after having seen it for a few seconds at a time while flipping channels is hardly a basis for a well-thought-out opinion.
Or so it’s popular to believe by people reaching for ways to discredit the legitimate opinions of others. But really, if you don’t like the general impression you get from the first few minutes of a show, no amount of details gleaned through forcing yourself to continue watching is going to change your mind about it. It doesn’t take a whole lot of exposure to something to figure out if you generally like it or hate it, and the whole “you need to watch it for more than a few seconds to form an opinion” thing is really a bullshit argument. You don’t need to take a penetrating whiff of a gallon of shit a 500 lb hog just diarreah’d into a big ol’ festering shit-bucket to know it stinks. Likewise, you don’t need to watch hours of poorly scripted, hastily animated, apathetically dubbed saturday morning cartoons that try way too hard (and fall way too short) to be anime to know you’re not getting a very good deal on your time if you’re over 10. Believe it or not, cartoons are fairly easy to peg for what they are, based on comparisons to shows you’ve watched in the past. Avatar is plagued with shoddy production quality and Yugioh-isms, and as much as you’d love to believe you’ve unlocked some kind of enlightening secret about the show’s enjoyability, it really doesn’t take hours of exposure to figure that out. It’s a show, not a tan.
And goddamn, the reason I feel that way isn’t because I wake up in the morning and tell myself “Wow, today would be a great day to look for excuses to hate things I used to be able to enjoy, so I can appear really mature to my online pals!” It’s because, whether I like it or not, getting older makes it harder to justifiably piss my time away watching shows that just don’t deliver any fresh or relevant content. Avatar isn’t childish because it’s an immature show, although it IS an immature show in pretty much every respect. It’s childish because the huge majority of people who enjoy it are people who don’t have much to compare it to, and most of those people happen to be kids.
That’s not to say it’s bad show that I don’t think anyone should be allowed to enjoy, but honestly… It’s the watching-tv equivalent of beating up a grade four; there was once a time, perhaps, where it might have been relatively cool to do, maybe… but it’s something most mid-20s dudes should probably get past. And that is the reason for my being shocked at the hype it’s getting on this forum.
But really, if you don’t like the general impression you get from the first few minutes of a show, no amount of details gleaned through forcing yourself to continue watching is going to change your mind about it.
It really depends. I was far from impressed from the first few episodes of Azumanga Daioh, but once I got used to the characters I really started liking it much, much more. Plenty of shows evolve from one season to another (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and FarScape come to mind) so your first iimpression is definitely not the end-all and be-all of deciding what a show is like. Certainly if I get the idea from others that a show is badly done or I hate it immensely within the first few episodes, I won’t bother; but if it’s decent and others are saying good things about it, I’ll give it a chance to see what all the talk is about.
Avatar is plagued with shoddy production quality
Correction: It has somewhat variable production quality. Some episodes look shoddy, but more look good, and plenty look breathtaking. The fight scenes are some of the best I’ve seen animated, ever, and very inventive. If there was really bad animation, I never noticed it.
Avatar isn’t childish because it’s an immature show, although it IS an immature show in pretty much every respect. It’s childish because the huge majority of people who enjoy it are people who don’t have much to compare it to, and most of those people happen to be kids.
I simply don’t know how you can possibly say it’s an immature show when you haven’t taken the time to find out anything out about the characters or storyline. And now you’re making statements about its demographic and all the people who enjoy it - where are you getting your statistics from, exactly? It sounds like circular logic - your limited exposure to it makes you think it’s a kids’ show; therefore only kids watch it; therefore it’s a kids’ show.
http://www.spinoffonline.com/2010/04/23/the-last-airbender-trailer-now-with-added-bending/
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