Well, here is the movie that SHOULD have been named "Avatar".
I was all excited when I heard about it... at first.
Then I saw who was making it: M. Night Shaymalan....
...
Now I fear it shall be ruined. :/
There is some hope, since the story is already established, that he won't stray too far from the cartoon. I hope not, because his trend has been to make movies with twists that get dumber and dumber with each one.
If he sticks to the story, it could still be good. We shall see.
I recently saw an interview between Shyamalan and Mike & Bryan on a friend's DVD.
If nothing else, he's certainly very... enthusiastic about the movie, and in fact, y'know, the trilogy that he expects to spend the next six years of his life on. In fact, he specifically described being so unwilling to cut anything from the first season's story that his original outline would have been a seven-hour movie. I daresay that's cause for optimism.
I wonder if he'll try to sum it all up in one movie or if it will be a series of movies.
Do note he's not writing this one so be glad...
The original story may not be his, but that doesn't mean he won't make changes that adapts more to his style.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdhhQhqi_AE
Shaymalan made a horrible mistake in his casting decision for Sokka and Katara - Sokka looks too dashing and Katara looks too much like a generic fairy princess, race not withstanding since that can't be reversed - but I actually think Zuko looks passable. And Aang looks pretty close to perfect. (I'm fond of how Shaymalan worked on the tattoos - instead of them being a solid blue paint, they're intricately-arranged dots. If Aang enters Avatar mode I'm wondering how awesome that will look.)
I'm familiar with Zhao's billed actor from The Daily Show. Aasif Mandvi is damn awesome but I'm not sure how I feel about this casting. I think I'll wait and see since Zuko ended up being unexpectedly awesome.
Well, if they can act...
I think if Shaymalan doesn't butcher the movie or the franchise, I might go see it. The more previews that are released, the more I start getting enthusiastic about the movie.
... Ok.... right now I really don't care about the actors. But those battles look freaking sweet.
I saw the one preview. It does look rather interesting, at least from the little it shows. But previews always cherry-pick the best-looking bits. We must see how they'll do on story and acting. At least it's hopeful that they did want to stick tightly to the original story.
Well to be honest, lovely as the Avatar story is, the dialogue is usually kinda corny. :P
As long as there are still a bunch of dumb jokes mixed in with the storyline, and the key components are there, I'm good.
Obviously it isn't going to be word for word with the series. There's waaaaay too much story to do that with. If they can condense about half a season's worth of story into one, I'll be happy. Obviously take out some of the lesser important stuff.
I've never heard about any of this. I'm still holding out for the Tom and Jerry movie experience as directed by Michael Bay. Now that's entertainment.