The twist is Ang is really an alien from the past living next to a Burger King in a corn field and the whole movie is a dream of his.

Wow what-a-twist!

It looks fantastic, but I fail to see how they could possibly cram 66+ episodes into a two hour movie and get any sort of quality. Unless they are planning on a trilogy, but even then they are going to have to cut so much quality material from the story.

Still, I will probably give the movie a chance. M. Night looks like he is trying very hard to get the look and feel right. As long as we don't have any scenes of trees trying to kill people in this picture.

Avatar is one of the finest television series I have ever seen, live action or animated. A fantastic voice cast, great animation and wonderful writing add up to a great time. I highly recommend it.

My reaction, and that of most of the fans that I've talked with, is that this looks pretty good. There are some details I have questions about, but it's a teaser so I'm not really worried about it.

My gut tells me this movie is going to be fun.

@Tom
They aren't cramming 66 episodes into a two hour movie, they are cramming 20 episodes. The First movie is going to be the first "Book" or season. If it does well, then he will do books 2 and 3.

That was nice, and I'm sort of looking forward to it. But since I'm watching transformers 2 tonight and expecting to entertain myself (I can see a lot of R U RETARD WTF OMFG LOLCATZ! coming), I'm totally unreliable and my opinion has no relevance on this blog.

@DE12

Fromw hat I understand they allready have the go ahead to make all three movies.

I don't see it being all that hard to fit the major plot points into a 2 hour movie, one of the best parts about Avitar is that there are so many silly little side stories in each season, the first two season expecially. I am actually excited about this movie.

Also there is no way he can mess it up if he did there would be a mob of 20 somthing girls, turning him into a human burning man. That or they would ram their jeep into him pinning him against a tree so he splits in half and then they all keep chanting "what a twist, What a twist, WHAT A TWIST"

Why did I think this was supposed to be a James Cameron movie? Since it's not a James Cameron movie.. why didn't he do the damn terminator movie!?

There is an interview with M. Night on the special features disk of season two where he talks about the movie. it sounds like he is a real fan who wants to get this right and is working with the creators of the show in order to do so. i thought it looked awesome and i will be first in line opening day.

I love this cartoon in ways most unnatural. I have hope for this one. The guy is a huge fan of the series. His kids are huge fans. I don't think he'll twist it around since he loves the source material so much. Plus, the Fire Nation ships looked pretty dead on.

here this is why you must dislike the movie http://racebending.com/

M. Night is a great director, but he was hamstrung by the belief he could write a screenplay, too. Hopefully with someone else's material he'll pull off something special.

Hmmm, that's tough. As an Avatar fan, I don't think we get enough from a minute and a half preview to accurately assess whether this movie is going to be any good or if it will be accurate to the show. My guess is that with Shyamalan, it has the *possibility* to be faithful to the show, but as one person already said, there were a lot of episodes, so this is going to be a seriously different plot, more likely just "inspired by" the original series. The preview wasn't nearly as awful as those still photos that surfaced earlier. So I'm still not sure if I'm going to want to see this or not. I still haven't seen the new Star Trek movie because I don't want to sit in a theater and watch what I think will be JJ Abrams (who I used to like because of Lost) raping Gene Roddenberry's corpse for two hours... I just really really really really really really wish that Hollywood would start making movies that were original, interesting scripts based on new ideas instead of pre-existing franchises like comic books and graphic novels, tv shows, books, animated series, board games, video games, previous movies that are over 10 years old (I freakin' hate "reboots"), etc...

It looks pretty darn good. And frankly, if you can cram each of the LOTR books into one movie each you can do the same with Avatar. The core story of his journey is relatively simple - you don't need him stopping at every city along the way to make it work.

I have to say, so far I'm pretty excited.

And the twist? It looks like MNight isn't botching it up!

"Now that's a tweest!"

I agree on 6th Sense and Unbreakable as being overrated, and the rest of Shamalamadingdong's films should hav earned him a one way ticket to Gitmo. However, there are 3 things that work in this film's favor...
1) The movie is not designed to have any "twist" whatsoever.
2) The story, characters and concept ARE NOT by MNS.
3) If MNS fucks this up, thousands of "zutara" fangirls will feast on his freshly roasted corpse.

@Mac - There's another movie called Avatar, that's the James Cameron one you're thinking of. It has nothing to do with Avatar: The Last Airbender, it's a sci-fi movie.

The only movie M. Night ever did well was Stuart Little, so may be this one will be good.

"here this is why you must dislike the movie http://racebending.com/"

Oh noes, I didn't know this movie was so evil.

*rolles eyes*

Wow. This might actually avoid turning into the pile of steaming crap I was expecting. He even got the Fire Nation ships right.

The only thing that particularly bothers me is where Aang was when he was practicing in that circle of candles. It could be an air temple, but he was supposed to have been frozen in an iceberg for a hundred years, before the war even started, so if he was in an air temple the Fire Nation ships shouldn't be there at all, since Sokka and Katara weren't there either (at least, as far as I could tell). I'm really just looking for a nit worth picking, though -- it looks awesome otherwise.

And as for the race thing, we're probably going to have to put up with it. At least they didn't try to make Sokka black or something like that, but that fact that Katara is one of the palest creatures I've ever seen bothers me a little. still, it could be A LOT worse.

It looks good. I'd like to see a clip with some of the supporting cast though, to get a better feel for it.

Ha ha ha......bender. Going to have me some fun with that.

Well to the person who said how are 66 ep going to fit in. Its only the first season plus i think they are only be striking huge parts of the story. So it will be 3 movies for each season since much really does not happen so i think its going to bleed a bit in the 2nd season.

Shyamalan's not afraid of going out on a limb to do his own thing; it's admirable, to a point.

george lucas is at the extreme where he doesn't listen to anyone about anything, and maybe that's just any mortal's reaction to decades of ass-kissing, i don't know. but it shows in his stale writing of endlessly repeated stunts and motifs.

on the other hand, the rest of hollywood's falling into the ARTSY-FARTSY FILMS that most of us can't relate to and aren't meant to enjoy, the SEQUEL, which can be enjoyed but is usually just another clone, by definition a product of lazy writing, and, lastly and certainly not the least, the target-audience-FORMULA movies. while the arty film snubs pandering to the point of antisocial relations, the formula movie kisses ass to the point of not having any individual motivation and hence creativity and verve.

shyamalan did more than a little snubbing in Lady in the Water and probly more than a little reclusion in The Happening, but he's done some good work from an original perspective. he took the superhero story, something that has so much writing on it, and still managed to do his own thing with it.

i always look forward to shyamalan's work. pass or fail, i'm fairly certain it's his.

lkmjr, i wouldn't worry too much about seeing aang in an air temple and the fire ships...i think it was just getting them in there for the trailer and not really part of the story.

I'm a huge Avatar cartoon fan. This does look interesting, and kind of rad. I'll leave complete reactions for when I see a trailer that looks a bit more in continuity with Sokka and Katara.

here this is why you must dislike the movie http://racebending.com/

Yay! More self-loathing white people! Just what the world needs! :p

No matter how good or bad it is it'll get pecked to death by either the people bitching nonstop about character ethnicity or the people bitching nonstop about it not being an exact 1:1 replica of a TV show they've already seen.

That said, anyone getting excited about any M. Night Shyamalan project after Lady in the Water and The Happening baffles me, no matter how decent the teaser trailer might look.

There is a part of me that thinks this is really good, but there was a part of me that thought G.I. Joe looked really good until I saw the trailer with the accelerator suit. That and the cartoon whoops so much @$$, it'll be hard to see a different vision of that.

I hope the only twist is that it won't suck.

The trailer is pretty awesome, but for now, we'll just have to wait and see.

I can't bitch about the movie since this is just a teaser but why is M Night Shamly... names on the goddamn title i mean it's like so ego their.

My only reasoning is now is for viewers to see that name and think oh man this is going to be shit.

Cleft, Hollywood isn't making movies specifically to satisfy your tastes... It sounds like you're griping about ass kissing, but inherent in that is the argument that they should be kissing your ass and your ass alone.

Three "artsy-fartsy" films that came out this year, The Brothers Bloom, Away We Go, and Moon were all great fun. Bloom was easy to understand, quirky and funny. Away We Go was able to hit both the hilarious and deeply depressing notes of different family dynamics, from psychotic hippies to self centered jerks. Moon is a rewarding Hard Science-Fiction drama for those willing to pay attention and be invested. All three would fall under "artsy" movies if compared to the generic blockbuster, but none of them pander and all of them try to stretch their wings artistically in different ways. It sounds like you want to reject movies like that for fear of sounding pretentious, but being able to genuinely enjoy a movie experience should exist beyond a narrowly predefined view of what a good movie is.

Teaser trailers never tell me anything. I'm waiting for one that shows Appa, so I can see if he looks cool or is just terrible CG. The kid looks like Aang, though, for being very white.

I hope it's as simple as the show.

Ill be fine with the movie adaptation as long as they dont BS the story with what-a-twists that weren't there before. That and to ge those pale kiddies they cast as noticeably hispanic/ black into the sun a bit.

Ok, forget that it's a cartoon. Forget that it's all about kids and super powers: Avatar: TLAB is a great story. It's an world spanning epic involving war and politics as well as a personal story with likable and flawed characters. There are themes and character arches that can't be done in 2 hours, or even with a couple sequels.

I don't really expect Shyamalan to be able to pull this off, though. Peter Jackson might be able to, but this story is really just as big, yet even more character driven than LOTR. I'll take the kids to see it, but I'll expect it to appeal to them, not me.

The teaser looks very good, but, that's all it is. I love the cartoon (just watched a marathon on Nicktoons Network, yesterday). I HOPE this movie does it justice...

Yay! More self-loathing white people!

Hm, as I said elsewhere, it does look as if they're put actual effort into this, which is more that I was expecting.

The panning shot of the Fire Nation fleet was good, and I'm aactually kind of hopefully as to it being good.

"Templar said:

here this is why you must dislike the movie http://racebending.com/

Yay! More self-loathing white people! Just what the world needs! :p"

Are you really saying that wanting a a story that features people who aren't white to actually feature people who aren't white makes you self-loathing? So, I guess, if they'd cast a black actor to play Kirk in Star Trek and you didn't like it that would mean you hate yourself.

I've never seen the show myself, but it does look like the movie has hope...

BTW, I'm glad the title is "The Last Airbender" without any indication of the the word "Avatar" to make any confusion. Movie titles are something else nowadays... THE Final Destination? Oy...

We don't loathe ourselves, Templar. We just loathe you.

Because you loathe yourselves, and yet cannot bring yourselves to admit it. Hence, the loathing must find another target to be directed at. ;)

Are you really saying that wanting a a story that features people who aren't white to actually feature people who aren't white makes you self-loathing?

That the cast of Avatar is made up of "people who aren't white" is somewhat debatable, as they're not really directly comparable to any other human ethnic group either, but in any event, I suspect that only white people could be so completely superficial as to set up a website griping about fantasy humanoids in a live-action film being portrayed by actors of politically incorrect ethnicities. :p

So, I guess, if they'd cast a black actor to play Kirk in Star Trek and you didn't like it that would mean you hate yourself.

Casting a black actor to play Kirk would be another fine example of white self-loathing. ;)

Rob, as a fan I can certainly recognize that yes they changed some things... but just as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings isn't the LOTR from the books, it does appear that like PJ, Shymalan managed to encapsulate the spirit of the original in his film. That makes me happy. :)

Only time will tell if these first little teasing glimpses, hold up to the story I have become enchanted by. But so far, so good. I mean we don't have any obvious signs of disaster the way the Legend of Chun Li, Transformers or GI Joe had... so I'll remain optimisitic. :)

@Tom, they're planning on this being a trilogy, each movie to comprise a season. You might find this video that was released last year around San Diego Comic Con, of some interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBiGRraX3Fs&feature=PlayList&p=A4CE284F4F43171C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=53

l.s.ramos, artsy-fartsy are movies that are acclaimed for this or that but offer nothing entertaining or insightful. if you found insight or entertainment in those movies, then more power to you.

and my ass if fine, thanks.

Never saw the series, but the teaser has me really intrigued. Lots of people hate on Shyamalan,which is misguided in my opinion, there are so many other directors more deserving of scorn. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs were great films, and ya the guys made some bombs like the Village and The Happening (I actually thought Lady in the Water was a fairly good movie)but very few directors have a spotless record. Here hoping Avatar(Cameron's same titled film included) turn out well.

[quote]That the cast of Avatar is made up of "people who aren't white" is somewhat debatable, as they're not really directly comparable to any other human ethnic group either, but in any event, I suspect that only white people could be so completely superficial as to set up a website griping about fantasy humanoids in a live-action film being portrayed by actors of politically incorrect ethnicities. :p[/quote]

One, the ethnicity of the Avatar characters [b]isn't[/b] debatable to anyone with a working synapse. Everything about the show points to Asian, and only the worst of liars would waste time and effort to deny that fact. Second, you're either deluded or completely full of shit if you think that racebending.com was constructed by "self-loathing white people." If you had actually read any material on the site, then you'd know that there are ties to the Asian-American community. But more important than that is the fact that the message and intention behind the site is universal. You'd see that if you actually took the time to read what they had to say.

Oh, for god's sake. Can we leave the this racebending stuff off this thread and just talk about the trailer? The casting is done so going on about it is pointless. Plus, I'd like to be able to talk about this movie without having whatever people took too seriously from their college sociology classes thrown at me.

This is just a teaser, I wouldn't count it as a 'trailer' per se. That said, the beginning of it with him twirling around seemed rather cliche. However, I do like the visuals, and I'm excited to see this. The animated series was surprisingly well written so this has a lot of promise.

I don't get the "race-bending" crap either. Dev Patel certainly qualifies. Last time I checked India was still part of Asia. Who cares if the lead isn't Asian. As long as he's a good fit for the part.

Oh yeah, the voice of Aang in the TV series is Zach Tyler Eisen, an American.

Whynot bring up the casting? It's still an element to the film, is it not? Fact of the matter is this is a real problem that is bigger than this movie and this unremarkable teaser (there's nothing to discuss about it seeing as how it shows us nothing to truly judge the merits of the film with). Ignoring or trying to ignore the issue doesn't make it go away or help matters in the slightest. In fact, that's the biggest problem with this whole situation. There are too many people that want to ignore it because it doesn't effect them.

@ Ramone

There's a difference between voice-acting and being the physical representation of a character. Zach Tyler Eisen could've been a black boy and it never would've mattered since you only hear his voice. And Dev Patel does NOT qualify. That's another problem I have with this movie since the Fire nation has now been cast as Indian/Middle Eastern while the central protagonists are all white. This wasn't an element in the show, and it wouldn't be as tasteless and disgusting if they didn't white-wash things...

@Skeletor's_Nads, Dev Patel is NOT from the middle east! Look at a freaking map! And anyway, most Indian nationals consider themselves "South Asians."

There are many shades of Asians. Even within Japan there are very fair skinned people. Same goes for China, Korea, etc. I think you need to step back and take a breather. You're talking about a cartoon and frankly the races on the show are extremely questionable.

Case in point, Aang is drawn with big, round, blue/grey eyes:

http://www.cazatrucos.com/imagenes/avatar_the_legend_of_aang.jpg

Ramone

Did you not read what I typed? Let me re-post it so maybe you'll comprehend this time...

"That's another problem I have with this movie since the Fire nation has now been cast as Indian/Middle Eastern while the central protagonists are all white."

That's why Dev Patel being in this movie doesn't give them a pass for whitewashing the cast. And don't try that bullshit "Aang is drawn with round eyes" argument with me. Round eyes don't make you white.

As an avatar fan, I'm unsure how to feel. It definetly looks nice but will this turn it into another movie where people come just to see the special effects and not the storyline. I suppose that Shyamalan could theorectically do a good job, but I'm just not sure. As for the whole whitewashing of the cast, that really annoys me.

WOW!!!! I went to read the comments hoping to find out what the cartoon is about cuz I work really long hours and have enough trouble catching a weather forecast let alone a caroon (that sounds cool). What I got was a friggin argument about politcally incorrect casting. Now once again I've never seen the cartoon but damn people asain or not why does it really matter? In the end they didn't cast a giant alien hunter to play the predator. No one got their panties in a bundle over that! (Except van damme who turned the predator role down) in the end it should matter if the story was told as true to the source material as possible. I would understand if they rebooted Roots and cast jack black to play kunta keinte but an animated series?
Well Rob you didn't see anything to nit pick but hey leave it to the commentors to find one for ya!

Both factions, the ones that want the all-white cast AND the all-Asian cast are completely missing the fucking point. Katara and Sokka are based off the Inuit culture! They're NOT asian. Zuko and many of the Fire Nation are Asian based, but jeez... And I think, if they really needed a Caucasian protagonist so much, Aang can pass off for one... More so than Goku in DB: Evolution.

@Allison

None of the racebending people (from the sites I've seen) have ever said they wanted an all-Asian cast. They are equally angry that there are no Native American actors cast.

I think what most people are mad about is that they didn't even try for a diverse cast.

Anyway, the whitewashing of the cast annoys me, and then recasting Zuko and the Fire Nation as evil dark skinned foreigners is just asking for trouble.

But, just going by the teaser trailer, it doesn't look terrible yet.

Never was much into Avatar. I don't by any means HATE the show, just wasn't my thing. But seeing this preview makes me want to investigate further. The movie looks pretty cool, and who knows? maybe I'll be intrigued enough to go back and watch some of the cartoon.

Well, for a teaser it looks OK, I guess. Shyamalan might be a little more restricted in his ego by audience expectations on the plot, so that seems like a good thing too.

About the race issue, at least there is some ethnical diversity in the cast, and really: you guys seriously thought that Aang WASN'T going to be white?

Well, the visuals are spot on. That's something. Now on to everything else that makes Avatar so fantastic.

when I started to watch the series a couple of years ago, I couldn't stop thinking that AAng was a rip off of Red Tornado, y'know, triangle tatto, green eyes, wind powers, bald head...

Despite the race thing, this movie can rule

It's too bad the film is yet another "Hey, you know how people like Asians? Well, we're going to have a movie based on an asian fantasy cartoon, with asian clothing, martial arts, food, architecture, etc etc... but get this - we'll cast WHITE PEOPLE as the characters in this setting! Yeah! And hey, we'll even throw in some Indians to make you guys happy."

Ah, Hollywood-supported racism.

It's too bad most people here seem to be too dense to even care about it.

I think it's absolute bullshit when people complain about the casting based on ethnicity. I mean, the voice cast of the cartoon was predominately White and nobody said anything then.

That said, the film looks interesting...and I'm not even an "Avatar" fan (I don't dislike it; I just never got into it).

I actually loved Lady in the Water (a whimsical fairytale with El Rey? Helllloooo) and liked the Village (politics ish meh weaknesh), so when I heard M.Night was helming the Avatar movie, I was excited! His sense of humor, his wonderful directing style, combined with my favorite cartoon in the last ten years... I was in hog heaven...

Then they cast the damned thing. This trailer is the perfect teaser for the movie. Although I would love to see Apa or Momo in a tiny cameo, it's perfect. The problem is the kid. He doesn't look like Aang, and he can't fight!

What's wrong with getting a little Chinese martial arts master, like they did in Iron Monkey?

quit playing the race card.
move on. if you don't wanna see the movie, don't. You don't have to.
the voice actors are all white.
except for zuko.

really, you should move on though. find a cause that matters. This, doesn't.

Lonestarr said:

I think it's absolute bullshit when people complain about the casting based on ethnicity. I mean, the voice cast of the cartoon was predominately White and nobody said anything then.

Uh, you can't see the voice actors so it's not the same thing.

ender@, this isn't 'playing the race card.' They DELIBERATELY set out to cast white actors into the lead roles, as the casting calls were worded as "Caucasian or other Ethnicity'. If they wanted to be inclusive, why place Asians and Inuits into the 'other' category?

Those of us who oppose the cast will be BOYCOTTING the movie.

A 40 something year-old woman does the voice of Bart Simpson. Should we cast HER as him in a live-action version of 'The Simpsons'?

So racism isn't a cause that matters? Movies like this one help shape people's attitudes of what's normal and acceptable, particularly the kids and young teenagers who are its target audience.

I dare you to tell that to the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) and the East-West Players.

2010?!?! But I want it NOW!

ender said:

"quit playing the race card."

Why is it whenever someone uses this phrase they invariably turn out to be idiots?

"move on. if you don't wanna see the movie, don't. You don't have to.
the voice actors are all white.
except for zuko."

As others have mentioned you can't see the voice actors. Just so you know, Mako, James Sie, Sab Shimono, Lauren Tom, and Phil LaMarr aren't white either.

really, you should move on though. find a cause that matters. This, doesn't.

Actually, it does. For most of us our first and sometimes only exposure to other races and cultures is TV and movies. It's a shame that in a movie like this, aimed at families and kids, they chose to cast only the villains as dark skinned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54i1GvKCdYk

This kid could've been a pretty good Aang with some coaching for his acting...

Eh.

It's better than Dragonball Evolution.

Granted, that's not exactly a huge compliment in any conceivable regard.

Comparative-wise, it's not quite AS shit.

Then again, Avatar isn't exactly high-end entertainment. It's about a step and a half above Xaiolin Showdown. Which is also not exactly a huge compliment.

Nothing will save Avatar from having the stupidest name ever.

Airbender? WTF?

Don't care what it means or what an airbender can do, it still sounds really really stupid

At least Aang's stunt double is Asian. And a CHICK!!! Double Deuce!!!

One, the ethnicity of the Avatar characters isn't debatable to anyone with a working synapse.

Here we see "anyone with a working synapse" being used as a synonym for "nerd-raging twit".

Everything about the show points to Asian, and only the worst of liars would waste time and effort to deny that fact.

Don't be pathetic. The characters in the show are not Asian, they're Southern Water Tribe, or Fire Nation or Air Nomad or whatever, none of which is an existing ethnicity in our world and all the representatives of which among the main cast appear visibly white.

Second, you're either deluded or completely full of shit if you think that racebending.com was constructed by "self-loathing white people." If you had actually read any material on the site, then you'd know that there are ties to the Asian-American community.

Right, like the Russian Communist party had ties to the Chinese version.

But more important than that is the fact that the message and intention behind the site is universal. You'd see that if you actually took the time to read what they had to say.

Oh come now, it's obvious that emotionally-maladjusted fans declaring themselves to be the rightful custodians of any given intellectual property and the treatment of it is quite a universal phenomenon.

Penny Arcade, I say to you, sir. Penny Arcade!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2009/20090624.jpg

Uh, wow it actually looks promising for a teaser trailer.

And there better be some serious cabbage carnage in the movie, or I may have to demand my money back!

(Didn't we cover the 'Hollywood is stupid' race issue ad nauseum in the other thread?)

Here we see "anyone with a working synapse" being used as a synonym for "nerd-raging twit".

Oh, if only that was the reason why this upsets me. See, unlike assholes like you, I feel the pangs of a social conscience. I look at a group of people being fucked over, and I think of it as wrong. More importantly, I see the fact that heroic roles and central focus are rarely if ever afforded to people of color in mainstream film without some sort of caveat (such as a white co-star or a limit to the bells and whistles to usually come with such a role like a love interest), and that is reason enough for me to see this film and films like it as insulting. So, why the fuck are you trying to argue against that?

Don't be pathetic.

Don't pretend to be stupid...

The characters in the show are not Asian, they're Southern Water Tribe, or Fire Nation or Air Nomad or whatever, none of which is an existing ethnicity in our world and all the representatives of which among the main cast appear visibly white.

...shit, too late. This is a horse-shit excuse for white-washing the cast of characters. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Round eyes don't make any of these characters white, and this bullshit argument is the only justification you can muster and it's embarrassingly flimsy. Nothing about the show lends any credibility to the idea that these characters are white. With overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the burden of proof is on people claiming that the world of Avatar isn't inhabited by Asian people. Good luck...

Right, like the Russian Communist party had ties to the Chinese version.

Apples and oranges, dude...moving on.

Oh come now, it's obvious that emotionally-maladjusted fans declaring themselves to be the rightful custodians of any given intellectual property and the treatment of it is quite a universal phenomenon.

While your attempts to marginalize a legitimate argument are fascinate, they only serve to destroy your own credibility. Your argument boils down to the bullshit claim that the characters "look white" even though everything about their world is distinctly Asian right down to the letter, literally. I didn't bother to read the comic, but that's because you found it. Anything coming from you on this issue doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

@Skeletor's_Nads

Let's back up, shall we? My point was that Dev Patel is Indian and therefore an actual Asian was cast. Since his character ***SPOILER*** eventually becomes good ***END SPOILER*** I think we can dismiss any negative association. And I'm sure Mr. Patel is glad to be acting in such a big film, especially playing such an interesting character.

Now, if you took the time to read what other people wrote--and stopped re-posting your own comments--you'd see that I never said Aang's eyes made him white. Just that his race was questionable. Therefore casting the film didn't need to play to any specific interpretation. That goes for most of the characters on the show.

I can't believe for a second that you are truly as dense and self-important as your comments have come across. I know your intentions are in the right place. This is your chance to prove me right and show that your username is in fact, ironic.

Let's back up, shall we? My point was that Dev Patel is Indian and therefore an actual Asian was cast. Since his character ***SPOILER*** eventually becomes good ***END SPOILER*** I think we can dismiss any negative association. And I'm sure Mr. Patel is glad to be acting in such a big film, especially playing such an interesting character.

They address this on racebending.com as well since Zuko only sees the error of his ways through the guidance his uncle and the now-white heroes. That's not exactly a positive, and there's still the matter of the vilified dark skinned people and the glorified white people. Patel's casting does nothing to change that...and he was the star of Slumdog Millionaire. Playing the role of Zuko is not so big of a privilege that this is overshadowed.

Now, if you took the time to read what other people wrote--and stopped re-posting your own comments--you'd see that I never said Aang's eyes made him white. Just that his race was questionable.

I read everything you guys say. That's how I reply, and this statement is bullshit. I'll explain...

Therefore casting the film didn't need to play to any specific interpretation. That goes for most of the characters on the show.

This is in defense of casting white actors in the roles of the main protagonists, so the problem is that you're pretty much saying that the characters "don't look Asian" and thus are white by default. In saying that you're also ignoring the fact that the entire world that Aang and the rest of the Avatar cast inhabits is unquestionably Asian. The characters' names are Asian as well, so your claim that their ethnicity is questionable holds a lot less water than you think. There is far more reason to think these characters are Asian than any other ethnicity.

I can't believe for a second that you are truly as dense and self-important as your comments have come across. I know your intentions are in the right place. This is your chance to prove me right and show that your username is in fact, ironic.

What does my username have to do with any of this?

Well, I had hopes, but I see you proved me wrong. I'm sure you've convinced a lot of people with that argument.

Good luck!

Ramone,

I won't apologize for not accepting complacency in the face of social inequality, and that's exactly what this situation is. If you see it as anything other than that or misread what I've had to say, I don't think I really give a shit.

Thanks for the well-wishes though...

ringer and patel both have black belts...isn't that awesome

ringer looks more like aang than the kid in the youtube video link above...
is uncle iroh ever really a bad guy in the show?
keong sim has been cast as "earthbending father"...meaning toph will most likely be of chinese descent...
i don't want to defend whitewashing if that is the case, but maybe it isn't...we haven't seen all the tryouts...maybe the people cast were cast because they played the roles the best...it appears as if the creators of the show are working closely with m. night and i would like to think they had a little input as to who would be good for the movie...if not, m night is a big fan himself, maybe he has an idea of who would be a good fit...for instance, starting with two blackbelts and going from there...i think that one of the assumptions made in the whitewash argument is that the kids that got the roles don't deserve them...but maybe they do. maybe they are the perfect fit. i hate to bring it up, but there was a lot of controversy over the choice of ben kingsley as well (not that i'm saying these kids are on that level), and that was one of the greatest performances ever. i don't know if it is the case, but i hope that what i said is true. i hope everyone who got their role got it because they deserve it, and not merely because of skin color. if that is true? if they did get their roles because they were the best people for the job...what then?
i'm still going to be first in line on opening day. i hope to see you there.

and yes i am aware that kingsley was half indian and half english descent. doesn't change the fact that there was controversy, or the fact that he nailed the performance like sparky sparky boom man in the western air temple.

more bending, less outright kung fu. the bending styles are INSPIRED by real martial arts not just "oo look, fire comes out of my hand when i do a normal kung fu routine"

got turned off with the cast they've selected but im hoping that the movie would turn out ok. its just that the animated characters played a big role with the whole story and made it interesting to watch. most live movies that have been made from games/animations make their own version of it and they forget why people are interested in them in the first place. only a few did really good with their own twist.

After reading a few comments being dismissive of the racebending involved in this movie. I just thought I would share a story. A Asian father told me that when his son found out about the casting, his son said to him "Does this mean I can't play as Aang anymore."

My friend who is black upon telling it to her little brother who didn't know about the casting got upset because the characters in Avatar where some of the few POC characters that he could relate to.

Someone summed up the casting as proving the idea that white people might like your culture, your food, your language but they don't like you.

It may indeed be a good movie (doubtful but it may be true.) but at this point its not even an argument to me, that The Last Airbender is a lot of other negative things as well.

My entertainment is not worth the suffering of other human beings especially children who are learning a hard lesson in racism as it relates to hollywood.

skeletor's nad- I don't know why everyone is attacking you for making perfect sense. I agree with you 100%.

For the people who don't believe Aang is Asian, here's what I don't understand.
This is the same thing as Lord of the Rings, How can you prove the characters are white. I can argue that there is no possible way to prove that frodo is white, and that he is a hobbit. Yet on the silver screen the cast is white, you know why?
Because in Lord of the rings their culture is derived from medieval europe. Every one would be complaining if all the cast in lord of the rings were asian. Having them as white makes them more believable that this world could exist. This makes sense in support of the environment and overall the world they are in. But somehow this is different for avatar according to many(but really it isn't)
Then people say that everyone in avatar has big eyes. This is a type of drawing in anime, really no one in real life has eyes that big, but that is the style of the drawings.
I agree with skeletor that this is racist. This is an insult to the many Asian and Native americans fans, and to the fans period.
Well it's just to bad then. It doesn't look like paramount will change its mind. That's a shame I really liked the tv show, but this movie doesn't portray it at all.
to those who don't get it, that's okay find go on. I mean no disrespect.

My children and I have watched every Avatar episode since the beginning. This looks very promising. There is much excitment in this household for this trilogy.
Also the fact that they put Mr. Shyamalan as director has me very excited. I have enjoyed all of his movies and can't wait to see what sort of ideas he has to add to this story.
Also I give the teaser trailer 5 out of 5. It looks perfect.

It looks like okay movie but if M Night is not making this movie have a part 2 or be a trilogy than they took out some really cool charcter like toph and azula (Zuko's sister)