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The Last Airbender (2010)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 2.8/10
Reviews Counted: 174
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 163

Despite flashy special effects, The Last Airbender squanders the potential of its popular source material on an incomprehensible plot, laughable dialogue, and a joyless sense of detachment.

Average Rating: 2.8/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 30

Despite flashy special effects, The Last Airbender squanders the potential of its popular source material on an incomprehensible plot, laughable dialogue, and a joyless sense of detachment.

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Movie Info

Suspense auteur M. Night Shyamalan takes a break from crafting original screenplays to tell this tale of a 12-year-old boy (Noah Ringer) who provides the last hope for restoring harmony to a land consumed by chaos. In a world balanced on the four nations of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, people known as the Waterbenders, Earthbenders, Firebenders, and Airbenders have mastered their native elements. Though the masters can each manipulate their native elements, the only one with the power to

PG, 1 hr. 43 min.

Action & Adventure, Kids & Family, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan

Written By: M. Night Shyamalan

In Theaters: Jul 1, 2010 Wide

On DVD: Nov 16, 2010

Box Office:$131.6M

Paramount Pictures

The Last Airbender Trailer & Photos

More Photos (45)

Cast

Noah Ringer
Aang
Nicola Peltz
Katara
Dev Patel
Zuko
Jessica Jade Andres
Suki
Jackson Rathbone
Sokka
Shaun Toub
Uncle Iroh
Aasif Mandvi
Commander Zhao
Cliff Curtis
Fire Lord Ozai
Seychelle Gabriel
Princess Yue
Katharine Houghton
Katara's Grandma
Francis Guinan
Master Pakku
Damon Gupton
Monk Gyatso
Summer Bishil
Azula
Randall Duk Kim
Old Man in Temple
John D'Alonzo
Zhao's Assistant
Keong Sim
Earthbending Father
Isaac Jin Solstein
Earthbending Boy
Edmund Ikeda
Old Man of Kyoshi Town
John Noble
The Dragon Spirit
Morgan Spector
Lead Fire Nation Soldie...
Karim Sioud
Fire Nation Prison Gua...
Manu Narayan
Fire Nation Head Prison...
Kevin W. Yamada
Earth Kingdom Prisoner
Ted Oyama
Kyoshi Villager
Ritesh Rajan
Fire Nation Soldier
George DeNoto
Teahouse Child
Manuel Kanian
Nervous Prison Guard
Christopher Brewster
Kicking Firebender
Ryan Shams
Lead Archer
Jeffrey Zubernis
Water Tribe Soldier
Brian Johnson
Water Tribe Soldier
J.W. Cortes
Fire Lord Attendant

Critic Reviews for The Last Airbender

All Critics (174) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (165) | DVD (4)

[T]he film works so hard to explain its plot developments that it scarcely has any time left over to dramatize them. Exposition has not merely vanquished mimesis, it has burned its homes to the ground and sown salt in its fields.

July 2, 2010 Full Review Source: The Atlantic

| Comments (9)

Christopher Orr

The Atlantic

Top Critic

Stilted dialogue, wooden acting, glacial pacing, cheesy special effects, tacky-looking sets, ugly costumes, poorly staged and edited action sequences, all shown in murky, cut-rate 3-D.

July 2, 2010 Full Review Source: New York Post

| Comments (39)

Lou Lumenick

New York Post

Top Critic

A dull, boring, poorly acted, limply written and thoroughly unappealing fantasy, featuring bland characters locked in a struggle of no interest.

July 1, 2010 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comments (6)

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

M. Night Shyamalan's big-screen live-action version of the popular Nickelodeon animated TV series constitutes a form of Chinese water torture in which tin-ear line-readings take the place of drips.

July 1, 2010 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal

| Comment

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

Please, Hollywood, if there's to be another Airbender movie, hand the job to some efficient hack, and not to a once mesmerizing artist who's lost his way.

July 1, 2010 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comments (77)

Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

The Last Airbender is like a Care Bears movie that got waylaid in the fourth dimension. It's insufferably silly.

July 1, 2010 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor

| Comment

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

This is a kid's movie that doesn't seem to realize that it's a kid's movie.

April 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Movies.com

| Comment

Dave White

Movies.com

Bad acting, overstuffed exposition and running time far too brief for the amount of plot shoved into it reduce The Last Airbender into parody of a big summer film as Shyamalan manages to hit every single fantasy film pothole.

March 29, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net

| Comment

Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

The Last Airbender is swollen with portentous mumbo jumbo and realized in the most simplistic and mundane ways imaginable.

March 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

| Comment

Mark Pfeiffer

Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

The Last Airbender is a horrific mish-mash of genres that follows a depressingly large number of dead ends in adapting its source material.

February 1, 2011 Full Review Source: What Culture

| Comment

Mike Edwards

What Culture Source: What Culture

Kiddie-strength action scenes drag the film down, but the kiss of death is Shyamalan's gratuitous use of earth tones and the general dull, drab look of the film. ... drastically reduces the intensity of the 3-D effects

January 31, 2011 Full Review Source: Las Vegas CityLife

| Comment

Matt Kelemen

Las Vegas CityLife Source: Las Vegas CityLife

An amateurish mess.

January 18, 2011 Full Review Source: iAfrica.com

| Comment

James O'Ehley

iAfrica.com

Is it a masterpiece? Oh god no, but... I'm intrigued to see where the next film goes...

January 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed

| Comments (14)

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

The constant references to 'benders' can't help but elicit sniggers from British audiences ... the plotting is stodgy, the dialogue stinks and the acting is wooden.

January 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Talk

| Comment

Jason Best

Movie Talk Source: Movie Talk

As an exercise in making conservation fun it makes you want to eat a McDonalds, set fire to the packaging and laugh in defiance at the film's lumpen, patronising tone.

December 14, 2010 Full Review Source: SFX Magazine

| Comment

James McMahon

SFX Magazine

As far as children's entertainment goes (and it is children's entertainment), it could be a lot worse.

December 7, 2010 Full Review Source: Window to the Movies

| Comment (1)

Jeffrey Chen

Window to the Movies

The film is an unmitigated disaster, a putrid patchwork of the original series stitched together by wretched performances, bad creative decisions and a story that's all exposition, no depth.

December 4, 2010 Full Review Source: IGN DVD

| Comment

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

Mere words can barely describe the sheer inanity on display.

November 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Aisle Seat

| Comment

Mike McGranaghan

Aisle Seat

...provides no drama, no suspense, and no excitement; just a series of almost random actions. (Blu-ray Edition)

November 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

It's a nice movie to look at, as long as you ignore the characters, plot, and action.

November 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment (1)

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

It seems as if a good film could be made out of The Last Airbender's tale. But this is not that film.

October 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Quickflix

| Comments (5)

Simon Miraudo

Quickflix

The characters are completely uninvolving, the narrative incomprehensible for the most part, and the performances seem to reflect the bewilderment of the plot.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia)

| Comments (8)

Margaret Pomeranz

At the Movies (Australia)

Why do the water tribe have so much difficulty defeating their fire opponents when the battle takes place on the ocean?

September 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Flicks.co.nz

| Comments (5)

Andreas Heinemann

Flicks.co.nz

Unspeakably bad dialogue delivered by excruciatingly bad actors in a plot so illogical and stupid it kills unicorns.

September 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Channel 10 Australia

| Comments (6)

Marc Fennell

Channel 10 Australia Source: Channel 10 Australia

Shyamalan tells the story like a syndicated news journalist, reporting events with detached direction and lifeless, plot-driven screenwriting.

September 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Cut Print Review

| Comment (1)

Anders Wotzke

Cut Print Review

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Last Airbender

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Never having seen the tv show i can say this. It was not a bad movie. Wasnt great just interesting. I like fantasy type stuff so this was a good show for me. A pretty unique story thanks to the tv show ive been told. But supposedly the director did not capture it. NOW knowing many people who did watch the show. I hear

June 29, 2010

John Manard

Super Reviewer

The Last Airbender one of the worst films ever made, Shymalan better get back on track or he will suck forever. How do you ruin soure material, I mean he couldn't even get their names correct, he got rid of almost all the characters, and none of the episodes were in this movie from Season 1. The acting sucked, they

February 26, 2011

Brad Wright

Super Reviewer

The Last Airbender Quotes

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1. Aang: I don't know how to bend the other elements.
– Submitted by Laura A (6 months ago)
1. Princess Yue: It is time we show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.
– Submitted by Dallas R (6 months ago)
1. Commander Zhao: Again, I offer my condolences on your nephew burning to death in that terrible accident.
– Submitted by rob g (10 months ago)
1. Uncle Iroh: [to Zuko, after Aang has escaped] It was not by chance that for generations people have been searching for him, and now you have found him. Your destinies are tied, Zuko.
– Submitted by rob g (10 months ago)

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Latest News for The Last Airbender

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