“The Last Airbender” Rises in The Box Office, but Falls Short in Reviews

M. Night Shyamalan has done it again! He has let us down with another movie flop this summer. With much anticipation surrounding the release of “The Last Airbender,” moviegoers were excited to see if M. Night Shymalan could “whoa” us with unbelieveable graphics and a flawless storyline. But without a doubt we were left disappointed when walking away from the theaters.

All of the hype that was created around the film did get people to line-up at the theaters, but left

Photo from Anime.com.br via Flickr

everyone wanting to walk-out half way through the movie. The film’s box office success this past holiday weekend shows that the dedicated fans of the animated series were hoping for something spectaclar. The film raked in $40 milllion and fell in the number 2 spot, right behind the summer hit, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”

But the numbers don’t reflect the disappointment that the viewers expressed after watching a film filled with more narration and dialogue, than meaningful cinematography.

“The Last Airbender” is based upon the Nickelodeon animated series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” The show aired on television for three seasons and is going to be made into a triology. The elements of magic and martials arts were put into real-life action when Nickelodeon teamed up with Paramount Pictures to create the triology in 2007. M. Night Shyamalan jumped on board when he became interested in the animated series, and wanted to be a part of the film’s creation.

Without spoiling the whole entire triology, the story is based in a magical world that is divided into four nations: water, fire, earth, and air. These nations begin to conflict and only one can bring peace to the feud-Aang. He is the last Avatar that has the ability to manipulate all four elements and will be hopefully be able to restore the peace between the dueling nations. So, what can we expect from Aang? Or more importantly, what can we expect from M. Night Shyamalan and the next two installments? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Photo from Anime.com.br via Flickr