History Film / TheLastAirbender

The film's hero is Aang ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY Pronounced Ong]]), a young Avatar and Air Nomad found in an iceberg by Water Tribe teenagers Katara and Soka. Aang learns that his people were massacred by a tyrannical Fire Nation who have been warring with the other societies since Aang was in the iceberg, 100 years ago. Seeking to take his calling seriously, he journeys with his new friends to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master to learn the art. But news that the Avatar has returned spreads quickly, and he is hunted after by the disgraced prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko. The film stars Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jackson Rathbone as Soka and [[SlumdogMillionaire Dev Patel]] as Zuko.

TheMovie has its own official YouTube [[http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAirbenderMovie channel]]. The final trailer can be viewed [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YgaVe19zs8 here]]. There are plans for two more films to be released based on the second and third seasons of the source material regardless of the first film's reception, but nothing has been substantiated as of yet.

''The Last Airbender'' is a 2010 LiveActionAdaptation based on ''[[AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', The word 'Avatar' being omitted, to prevent the title from bumping into the film ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Produced by ParamountPictures, MTV Films, and {{Nickelodeon}} Movies, it is planned to be the first film in a trilogy matching the three seasons of the show. The series, influenced by Asian art, mythology and various martial arts fighting styles, was created by Michael Dante [=DiMartino=] and Bryan Konietzko, written and directed for the screen by MNightShyamalan. Filming began in mid-March 2009; the movie was released in the United States and Canada on July 1, 2010.

''The Last Airbender'' is a 2010 LiveActionAdaptation based on ''[[AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' The 'Avatar' omitted, to prevent the title from bumping into the film ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Produced by ParamountPictures, MTV Films, and {{Nickelodeon}} Movies, it is planned to be the first film in a trilogy matching the three seasons of the show. The series, influenced by Asian art, mythology and various martial arts fighting styles, was created by Michael Dante [=DiMartino=] and Bryan Konietzko, written and directed for the screen by MNightShyamalan. Filming began in mid-March 2009; the movie was released in the United States and Canada on July 1, 2010.

* CharacterDerailment: '''IROH.'''

The film's hero is Aang ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY Pronounced]] [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Ong]]), a young Avatar and Air Nomad found in an iceberg by Water Tribe teenagers Katara and Soka. Aang learns that his people were massacred by a tyrannical Fire Nation who have been warring with the other societies since Aang was in the iceberg, 100 years ago. Seeking to take his calling seriously, he journeys with his new friends to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master to learn the art. But news that the Avatar has returned spreads quickly, and he is hunted after by the disgraced prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko. The film stars Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jackson Rathbone as Soka and [[SlumdogMillionaire Dev Patel]] as Zuko.

The film's hero is Aang ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY Pronounced]] [[DidNotDoTheResearch Ong]]), a young Avatar and Air Nomad found in an iceberg by Water Tribe teenagers Katara and Soka. Aang learns that his people were massacred by a tyrannical Fire Nation who have been warring with the other societies since Aang was in the iceberg, 100 years ago. Seeking to take his calling seriously, he journeys with his new friends to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master to learn the art. But news that the Avatar has returned spreads quickly, and he is hunted after by the disgraced prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko. The film stars Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jackson Rathbone as Soka and [[SlumdogMillionaire Dev Patel]] as Zuko.

* {{Hatedom}}: ''Three'', with some overlap. One objecting to the MightyWhitey RaceLift, another made up of the cartoon's fans saying TheyChangedItNowItSucks, and a third thatjust plain considers it a bad movie.

* {{Chickification}}: [[ActionGirl Katara.]] Oh god, Katara. She went from a [[ActionGirl complete badass]] to the TokenChick of the group who has a bigger potential to get kidnapped than [[SuperMarioBros Princess freaking Peach]]. On top of that, most... no, wait... ALL of her most pivotal and heroic moments a eiether given to Aang or dropped entirely. Way to go Shyamalan.

* {{Chickification}}: [[ActionGirl Katara.]] Oh god, Katara. She went from a [[ActionGirl complete badass]] to the TokenChick of the group who has a bigger potential to get kidnapped than [[SuperMarioBros Princess freaking Peach]]. On top of that, most... no, wait... ALL of her most pivotal and heroic moments a eiether given to Aang or dropped entirely. Way to go Shamalan.

** Katara even more so--at least Aang shows ''some'' emotion for about 2 seconds in the Water Tribe. Katara, however, is (to quote a fan review) "like the secret love child of KeanuReeves, KristenStewart, and a brick wall."

* DullSurprise: Aang in particular.

** Katara even more so--at least Aang shows ''some'' emotion for about 2 seconds in the Water Tribe. Katara, however, is (to quote a fan review) "like the secret love child of Keanu Reeves, Kristen Stewart, and a brick wall."

* Chickification: [[ActionGirl Katara.]] Oh god, Katara. She went from a [[ActionGirl complete badass]] to the TokenChick of the group who has a bigger potential to get kidnapped than [[SuperMarioBros Princess freaking Peach]]. On top of that, most... no, wait... ALL of her most pivotal and heroic moments a eiether given to Aang or dropped entirely. Way to go Shamalan.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: In the series, the Earth Kingdom prisoners [[spoiler:are trapped on a ship out at sea]], and need Aang's help because [[spoiler:they have no obvious earth to bend (metal doesn't count)]]. In the film, the Earth Kingdom prisoners [[spoiler:are in a garden-variety landbound prison camp]], and need Aang's help because [[spoiler:it apparently just hasn't occurred to them that the ground here ''also'' counts as earth]].

* FightSceneFailure: When the [[http://fliiby.com/file/882696/oay44xcmui.html Earthbender prisoners are staging a revolt]], we see six Earthbenders moving in perfect precision and choreography, stomping the earth and releasing a [[ScreamingWarrior mighty battle cry]]... and a rock the size of a football floats by. A seventh one hits a guard with it. Now in fairness to the scene, the six were more likely responsible for two walls of earth that block fireballs, but the awkward camera angles made it look like it took all six men to move the little rock.

* FightSceneFailure: When the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwccNqklC_k Earthbender prisoners are staging a revolt]], we see six Earthbenders moving in perfect precision and choreography, stomping the earth and releasing a [[ScreamingWarrior mighty battle cry]]... and a rock the size of a football floats by. A seventh one hits a guard with it. Now in fairness to the scene, the six were more likely responsible for two walls of earth that block fireballs, but the awkward camera angles made it look like it took all six men to move the little rock.

The film's hero is Aang ([[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY Pronounced Ong]]), a young Avatar and Air Nomad found in an iceberg by Water Tribe teenagers Katara and Soka. Aang learns that his people were massacred by a tyrannical Fire Nation who have been warring with the other societies since Aang was in the iceberg, 100 years ago. Seeking to take his calling seriously, he journeys with his new friends to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master to learn the art. But news that the Avatar has returned spreads quickly, and he is hunted after by the disgraced prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko. The film stars Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jackson Rathbone as Soka and [[SlumdogMillionaire Dev Patel]] as Zuko.

* AdaptationDistillation: The movie ''tries'' so hard to be this, such that fans will notice that nearly every scene has a direct or indirect counterpart to the show. The quality of the execution left a lot to be desired (acting, dialogue, running time) and that is where the backlash comes from. But because of that the novelization, prequel comic and other media tie in materials is generally considered to be Adaptation Distillation.
* AscendedExtra: While he is the BigBad, before the third season of the show Ozai had almost no direct involvement with the storyline, he was TheFaceless in the first season and a FaceFramedInShadow in the second, with only one brief scene that ''wasn't'' a {{flashback}}. The movie, based on the first season, gives him several scenes with [[TheDragon Admiral Zhao]].

* BashBrothers: Aang and the Blue Spirit

* CompressedAdaptation: This is inevitable when you consider that Shyamalan is trying to fit ten hours of a TV series into a regular length movie. The movie manages to condense episodes 1-3, 13, and 19 and 20 (the first season two-part finale) into a rather tight series of events. Episode 4, in which the Kyoshi Warriors and Suki were introduced was originally present but have been cut for theatrical release. Everything else in the show is either simplified, vague, or presented through montage and voiceover.

* ContinuityNod: Hama is given a mention by Gran-Gran as the last waterbender who was taken away by the Fire Nation. Also "The Great Library", where Zhao says he got the info about the Ocean and Moon spirits, is clearly a reference to the episode "The Library" in which Won Shi Tong mentions that a Firebender once visited the place looking for information to help win the war. And Haru's name isn't actually mentioned, though it's pretty clear who he is.

* DemotedToExtra: Momo shows up long enough to be introduced, then occasionally shows up in the background a couple times. You might forget he's in this movie.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:Zhao via onscreen drowning from the hands of four random waterbenders. Complete with seeing his lifeless body plopped down on screen.]]

*FanNickname: [[FightSceneFailure Pebble-Dance!]]

* {{Flynning}}: for about the first half of the movie, it takes a ''lot'' of movement to produce very small amounts of bending. (Fortunately this gets cut down on once the actual fighting starts. [[TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot Bending At The Speed Of Plot]]?) Shyamalan's reasoning is that he interprets Bending as pumping up a lot of chi before actually doing something with the element rather than a natural extension of the body's movements.

* HamAndCheese: Aasif Mandvi plays Zhao pretty similar to how he always plays himself on ''TheDailyShow''.
* HarmlessFreezing: As long as you can breathe, getting encased in ice is a minor inconvenience.
* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey It's That Guy]]: Admiral Zhao is Aasif Mandvi from ''TheDailyShow'', Zuko is SlumdogMillionaire's Dev Patel, Iroh is [[Film/IronMan Yinsen]] in dreads and [[DawsonCasting (strangely enough)]] Sokka is Jackson Rathbone aka [[{{Twilight}} that vampire with a special talent to control people's emotions.]]
*[[HeyItsThatVoice Hey It's That Voice]]: That dragon spirit? [[{{Fringe}} John Noble]].
* {{Hatedom}}: ''Three'', with some overlap. One objecting to the MightyWhitey RaceLift, another made up of the cartoon's fans saying TheyChangedItNowItSucks, and a third that considers it just a plain bad movie.
*HilariousInHindsight: Many said that the Ember Island Players episode from the original cartoon is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfDk3I6di5E prophetic]].
* IdiotPlot: The only conceivable way how the Firebenders were able to take over the three other nations despite needing an actual fire source that could easily be enxtinguished, as opposed to all the other benders, who are almost always surrounded by their respective elements.

* MagicAIsMagicA: An interesting look at how this trope works. While the show never portrayed Firebending inconsistently, the film will be changed so that (like the other Bending arts) they have to have a source of fire instead of forming it from nothing. Master firebenders can still create their own fire, so all in all only the logistics are different. Their war strategy now involves sending flaming boulders into enemy territory so that their front line troops can bend it, among other things.
*MagicalNegro: Gyatso, [[RaceLift is that really you!?]]

* MemeticMutation: Before the movie had even come out, early test screening reviews mentioned a scene that has turned the phrase "punching the fish" [[http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/063/7/3/PUNCH_A_FISH_IN_THE_FACE_by_Booter_Freak.png into a meme]][[hottip:*: He actually stabs it with a knife.]]. Other gems include the pebble dance (the most notorious example of the {{Flynning}} mentioned above [[hottip:*:Six earthbenders. Four seconds of ''kata''. One rock, slightly larger than a human head]]), Kat-tackle (Katara pushing over a random guard and then just standing there), Zhao constantly mentioning the secret library, Ozai's glowing ass (from a screenshot in which the source of light appears to be Ozai's rear end), Yue's [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment line about believing in beliefs]], and her penis hair (how it looks like when viewed from the [[http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx111/aangthony/wtf-tla/101.jpg back]].)

*NeverTrustATrailer: A lot of scenes from the trailers (Including the entire Kyoshi Warriors subplot) was cut from the movie.
* PhraseCatcher: the sight of Sokka poking Appa with his spear may lead to some in the audience chanting "[[AvatarTheAbridgedSeries skepticism, skepticism...]]"

* PlotInducedStupidity: Everyone who isn't a part of the Fire Nation suffers from this. Unlike the series, Firebenders (who aren't masters) need an available source of fire in order to bend it. This is all well and good, except none of the other characters ever think to ''put them out!'' Taken to truly ridiculous extremes when several Firebenders are literally bending from a single source they could not conceivably protect. Someone ''does'' give the order to douse the flames when the alarm bells sound... but apparently, they never got around to it, because all of the fires are still going during the battle.

** The Fire Nation looked like pale-skinned East Asians, but the actors hired are ''brown'', from a variety of ethnicities - Maori, Arab, Persian, South Asian.
** Water Tribe members had blue eyes to reflect their element, but otherwise looked Native American (especially Inuit). However, in the film all the major Water Tribe characters are white (although many of the extras in the Southern Tribe are Inuit).

* SequelHook: Courtesy of [[spoiler: Azula.]]
* ShowDontTell: Narration replaces a lot of things from the 1st season

* SpiritAdvisor: The dragon Aang talks when he is sleeping.

-->'''Uncle Iroh:''' There are a lot of pretty girls here Zuko. You could settle down here, and you could have a blessed life. You don't have to continue this Zuko.
-->'''Prince Zuko:''' ...We'll catch [the Avatar] soon Uncle, then we could think about the pretty girls.

*ContinuityNod: Hama is given a mention by Gran-Gran as the last waterbender who was taken away by the Fire Nation. Also "The Great Library", where Zhao says he got the info about the Ocean and Moon spirits, is clearly a reference to the episode "The Library" in which Won Shi Tong mentions that a Firebender once visited the place looking for information to help win the war. And Haru's name isn't actually mentioned, though it's pretty clear who he is.

* DullSurprise: Aang, constantly.
** Just Aang?