Well i was worried that I was gonna get slammed for slamming this film (not that it would have stopped me mind you), but I glad to see we'er all pretty much in agreement. However my issues with the film seem to be a lil different.
I read a CNN review a couple of days ago that took issues with the race of the cast. At 1st I was under the impression that some one was all sour grapes over their race not being shown enough on in a good light. But then I saw Air Bender & IT ALL BECAME CLEAR! I totaly under stood what the CNN reviewer was talking about.
The whole thing was very strange. The HUB of the movie is based on Asian culture & mythology. Yet ALL the main character (that are good guys) that have speaking roles are white. This water bending chick & her brother are the only white people in this villiage of eskimo looking people. Same with the Earth benders. Because they are not part of "this books" plot they are all Ty looking.
I'm not one of those people who have a chip on their sholder cause their own race was not front & center. Hell I'm not even an Air Bender fan, I just went looking to be dazzeled by FX & Martial Art skills. Yet a person like myself with such low expectations were turned off by such outlandish & obvious exploitation of minority races. M. Night used these people as nothing more than "props & back drops".
Its like dude said: "hey you Asian people have a really cool mythology, but let white people showcase it because you just don't look as cool as white people doing it". & what was up with all the "evil fire people" being of Mid East desent???
Its all too clear to me that this was not just a case of casting actors in what ever roll they seemed good at. M. Night was trying to make a statement. & then the speaking!!! FREAKING EVERY ONE talked like they were straight out of white middle class America??? Its not that I wanted them to speak in a forgin language or even a heavy accent. But there was no need to have them sound so........American. I was expecting them to sound like maybe the Asian cast from The Golden Child, or maybe Blood Sport.
I mean this kid after being frozen in an ice ball for over 100 years just pops out talking like he just got back from a shopping trip from "Mall of America". Now I am very much aware that the main reason white actors replace minorites is so the the white American audiance will be able to "relate" to the story better. But in a bizzare twist of irony, the cast was SOOOOOOOO white that it hindered its audiance from becoming part of the story & relating.
Like I said....the whole thing was just.....strange.
Final score: Air Bender gets 2.75 stars out of 5. The FX & Martial Art element was the one & only redeeming part of the whole film.
