I have seen the show, and thought it was great. Also, I did not see this in 3D, but the 2d, so with that out of the way, let's get on with the show.
This is a magnificently looking film. The special effects are utterly incredible. Appa, Aang's flying bison, looks entirely real and believable. The bending elements look great as well, with the fire moving and looking like fire, and the way the light is reflected in the moving water elements is indescribable impressive. The cinematography is very clean, and the camera moves are incredibly fluid, getting the most out of the extreme budget, all of which you can see on the screen. In one scene, near the end of the film, Aang water-bends some Fire nation soldiers, and the camera is just gliding along with your driven hero as he jumps, flips, and freezes. The blocking is great, and the long takes, with an occasional zoom in/ out flourish, that actually allows us to see everything going on (and this is a a massive, epic scale fight), and the clean look helps. When Aang enters the "spirit world", it's done in a very cool style, with a weird but cool blue-hued out of focus distortion, with a sort of double exposure trick happening. It's a great juxtaposition to the more natural look of the real world, and the overwhelming blue dims out the other colors, again, making for a striking contrast.
The colors just pop, with each tribes color being vibrant, even the dark reds of the Fire nation. The shadows are black, the whites are whiter than snow, the purples are stunning, you get the idea. The costumes are equally as good, with tons of detail clearly being put into them, and the little things, like Katara's necklace, also have great detail. It's Aang's tattoos and air nomad robes that are the best. The tattoos are very detailed, and look real. The flashback scenes, most of which involve Aang telling his new found friends about his people, of which he is the last (as if that's a surprise, it's in the title!), are filmed in a slight golden hue and using fewer camera movements, and we are at an elevated perspective, suggesting looking back at the past and realizing that one must grow up.
The acting is a bit of a mixed bag, but ultimately, it worked for me. Noah Ringer as Aang does all his own martial arts, and with the gloriously long takes, you're able to tell, and it makes that much more exciting. His line deliveries are pretty decent, but he's not 100% convincing all the time. Jackson Rathbone, Jasper from the Twilight Saga films, isn't given much to do as Sokka, but he does do nicely in his small role. His key scene is near the end, and you can really feel his heartbreak. Nicola Peltz, as good hearted, Southern tribe water-bender Katara, has a few scenes of really inhabiting her character, she is however, overall the weakest link. Part of the problem might be that 70% of what she says is expository, part of it is inexperience, and the last part is that the dialog is very overwrought, but she never overcomes these to be anything other merely OK.
Dev Patel as Prince Zuko is great! He's very convincing conveying the pain and emotional turmoil that this character is feeling and sells the constant crisis of destiny he's constantly going through. Playing the honorable, noble, ex-greatest general of the Fire Nation, Uncle Iroh, Shaun Taub is great. He embodies the character fully, and the riddle way he talks seems natural coming out of his mouth. Aasif Mandvi as the conniving Commander Zhou makes for a great jerk-off, and his lack of tact, while still being seemingly polite at first glance, is all fully embodied. As the oppressive, heartless, take-no-prisoners Fire Lord Ozai Cliff Curtis makes for an impressive antagonist. His cool, calculated way of being mad without rising his voice, all makes for a very compelling character.
Now folks, the bad. This movie never shuts up. It's truncated a 400 minute+ cartoon, into just 90, which is way too freaking short. However, not only do they make it so short, Shyamalan and company decided to put in almost every single thing from that 400 minute season one (aka "Book One: Water", the subsequent books are "Earth" and "Fire", in that order, respectively). This means that the movie never stops explaining what just happened, where we are at and why, and because of this character development and story arcs are given a backseat. It's a huge disappointment. The only two characters that are given more than one defining trait, are Aang and Zuko. Aang has so much to deal with, which is a little glossed over, but man, the ending does punch it home, and it's a great ending. Zuko's story is heartbreaking and really brings a great complexity to the character. But we still have a dozen main or supporting characters that get nothing, and it makes the movie a tad disjointed; as does it's predisposition to never slow down and allow us to catch up.
As a director, Shyamalan has done everything right. This is one of the best looking films of the year, and might be the best. I guarantee it's got the best action and cinematography, that we're likely to see all year. As a writer though, he tried doing too damn much. Condensing everything from season 1 into such a short time span is an impossible task, and if you aren't familiar with the excellent, excellent show, you will be left scratching your head. With all that, I do recommend this movie. The visuals are undeniably stunning, the cinematography is beyond superb, and action is great. Just don't expect it to make a lot of sense.
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