Agnew's Mind He's got a long journey ahead of him.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

    by Mike Agnew Jr.

A few weeks ago, after watching Avatar: The Smurf Ferngully, Amanda and I found this original Avatar cartoon on Netflix.  I  say original because it ran during 2004-2008 whereas Avatar just came out in 2009.  But, I'm sure James Cameron would put up a fuss that he thought of it first.  Whatever.  He can have it.  He'll never let go. Anyway, we are not talking about tribal people with plug and play dreads. We are talking about the Last Air Bender. I had heard of this TV show before but wrote it off as another Pokemon/YuGiOh regurgitated kid-hypnotizing crap.  I could not have been more wrong.

From the first episode I was hooked.  Here's the gist of the story.

Avatar starts off as many stories do.  There is great unrest and a chosen leader is born and must lead the people of the world to rise up and overthrow a great evil.  Avatar takes place in a world that is split into 4 different nations: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire.   Goooo Planet!  But before you go looking for Matee and his useless heart power ring, this show is no Captain Planet remake.  There is a power called "bending" that allows the people of these different lands to control their elements.  It is also important to note that not everyone has these powers.  It is just a random occurrence in the different tribes.   This bending power is awesome, it really is.  Sure, it starts off with throwing rocks and balls of water but as the characters learn and train, their bending becomes way more advanced.  Take water bending for instance. Sure, you can move water but what about freezing someone running at you in mid-step?  And how much water is in your body?   What would happen if a water bender started to bend the water inside you?  I like to think of myself as a creative person but some of the inventive bends even made me go, "I would never have thought to do that.  Even the Green Lantern would have been put to shame.

As far as the writing goes, we all know that no show can compare to LOST, (this has been scientifically proven) but Avatar definitely has a very LOST-like/Star Wars-like storyline.  The main character, Aang (sounded out Fran Lang), is a young boy who, as the Avatar, is destined to bring balance to the force.  As the Avatar he is the only that has the power to bend all 4 elements.  Each season of the show, referred to as Books, cover Aang's  journey to learn and master these abilities.

Although the show is named after the Avatar, he is not the main character.  No one really is.  It would be like saying Captain Kirk is the main character of Star Trek or Jack is the main character of LOST.  We root for who we root for.  And like LOST, each character has their own back-story, some even with their own flashbacks.  The stories come together by the end of the 3 book series very nicely.  Along the way, there are many twists and turns and just when you think you have got the story figured out, you will be wrong.

Right now all 3 Books of Avatar are available on Netflix and Netflix on Demand.  I give them 5 out of 5 stars.

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Now, there is a movie that has been released called the M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Air Bender that is supposed to be based on the cartoon series.  Yea... right!  This movie is based on the cartoon like a Steak and Cheese Sub is based on a Philly Cheesesteak.  M. Night took something that was great and original and desecrated it.  This post could be pages long if I felt like getting into everything wrong with this movie.  Instead, I will just list them off and then address M. Night directly.  All the characters names are pronounced wrong.  All the dialogue is monotone and makes no sense.  The movie is dark like Terminator and the Matrix.  The humor is misplaced and trite. These are kids learning to fight not 4 Neo's stomping through bad guys.  And what actually made me walk out on the movie, they exposed secrets, through narration,  that should not  be uncovered until the later books.

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Dear Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan(adingdong),

You gave us the Sixth Sense and for that, we thank you.  It was a shocker and one of the first movies to have such a Planet of the Apes type twist at the end that we all rewound our VHS tapes to find what our eyes had missed the first time.  But, you persisted and decided to make a genre for yourself.  You wanted to be the reincarnation of the great Alfred Hitchcock.  Well you, sir,  are no Alfred Hitchcock.  You have proven time and again that you are short-sighted to what the audience wants and, still, you drag them through the most boring and vain story-lines ever to hit the silver screen.     You add your name to the title of movies like it's a gold star, like it has somehow ascended to your divine status. But again, I say to you... You are no Alfred Hitchcock.  As your final twist you took a beloved and complete story and removed all the mystery and emotion.  You stole the essence.  You missed the point. But all is not lost.  The Last Airbender, at least, took you down with it.  You will never make another film, Mr Shyamalan, and I think you owe everyone an apology.  Get out of my sight.

Mike Agnew, Jr.