Wish I could bend my mind to forget.

After having an upsetting argument with someone, what's better than drowning yourself in a stupid movie?  Ali and I attempted this with The Last Airbender.  I didn't really have any interest in seeing the movie when it debuted in theaters because I had no investment in the cartoon series and none of the actors interested me.  Let me just say, 15 minutes into this movie, I was really jonesing for some hard liquor.

The dialogue and its delivery are painful.  Sadly, there's a lot of talking, as well as standing and staring.  I couldn't understand half of what Jackson Rathbone said because he either talked with a clenched jaw or tried to speed through his lines.  And that pony-tail, AAGH!  Dev Patel wins my "best" vote in this group of young actors.

The most entertaining parts of the movie are the element-bending battles.  Earth vs. fire was pretty cool.  And the dragon spirit Aang kept chatting up was like a cross between Falkor, Aslan, and Yoda (you know I just wanted an excuse to stick these pictures together).

The film caused a stir by casting white actors in Asian/Native-American roles.  I was certainly confused when I noticed that Katara, Sokka, and their grandma were the ONLY phenotypically white people in their relatively small, isolated village.  I mean, are we to infer that this family has always been a part of this particular village?  Is their family inbreeding?  Do the filmmakers understand genetics?  But okay, I might be willing to suspend disbelief in the face of incredible acting...Mmm, yeah, NO.  Right or wrong, I think M. Night Shyamalan did miss a good opportunity to cast young Asian actors in these roles.  However, there are two Indians, an Iranian, and a Maorian with lead speaking parts, which is very nice to see.

Bottom line: Unless you really, really like the cartoon, I think you need not bother watching this -- EVER.  Turns out, people were NOT over-exaggerating the suckage of this movie.  But alas, it did make me forget my troubles for a few hours.