The Legend of Aang

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Movie
German title The Legend of Aang
Original title The Last Airbender
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2010
length 99 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
JMK 10
Rod
Director M. Night Shyamalan
script M. Night Shyamalan,
Michael Dante DiMartino ,
Bryan Konietzko
production Frank Marshall ,
Sam Mercer ,
M. Night Shyamalan
music James Newton Howard
camera Andrew Lesnie
cut Conrad Buff IV
occupation
synchronization

The Legend of Aang (original title The Last Airbender ) is an American feature film from 2010 . Directed by M. Night Shyamalan , who also wrote the script and acted as producer. The feature film is based on the "first book" of the television series Avatar - The Lord of the Elements and can be assigned to the genres of action and fantasy films . The film was released in German cinemas on August 19, 2010 in both a 2D and a converted 3D version.

action

In a world in which the elements water , earth , fire and air can be controlled ("tamed") by certain people , the Fire Nation begins an unscrupulous war against the other nations. The only hope that the war will end is that the Avatar (Lord of the Four Elements) will return. There can only be one avatar at a time, because this one draws his power, his knowledge and his experiences from the previous incarnations of the avatar. The task of the avatar is to keep the peace between the four nations - but 100 years ago the last avatar suddenly disappeared.

One day, fourteen-year-old waterbender Katara and her fifteen-year-old brother Sokka came across twelve-year-old Aang, who was frozen in the ice with his flying sky bison. They free him and take him with them. But the forces released during the liberation of Aang attract the attention of the Fire Nation Prince, Zuko, who is in search of the Avatar. Years ago he was banished by his father, Firelord Ozai, for a breach of respect and may only return with honor when he finds the missing Avatar. Prince Zuko thinks that the powers must have come from the Avatar himself, and lands with his ship in the village of Qatar. One of Zuko's soldiers notices Aang's unusual tattoos, which indicate an Air Nomad origin - although the Air Nomads were wiped out by the Fire Nation after the Avatar's disappearance. The soldiers take Aang with them, but he escapes from Zuko's ship by taming air.

Meanwhile, Katara's grandmother suspects Aang may be the avatar and supports her grandchildren's plan to free the boy from Zuko's violence and to accompany him on his way. So Katara and Sokka set out on the flying bison, Appa, and meet Aang just at the moment when he has successfully escaped the soldiers. Together they fly to the southern air temple - Aang's home. Only now does Aang begin to realize that he had been frozen for over 100 years and that his friends were all long killed at the hands of the Fire Nation soldiers. Overwhelmed by this realization, Aang enters the avatar state , revealing to the world that he is the current avatar.

After arriving in the Earth Kingdom, Aang tells his two companions that he can only master airbending and that he must first learn to tame the other elements. Fortunately, during a battle with Fire Nation soldiers, the three of them come across a scroll describing various waterbending practices. Katara and Aang try to learn the steps together, but they soon realize that Aang needs a real teacher. For this reason the group is traveling to the North Pole. Zhao, a general of the Fire Nation, is also on the way there: He wants to kill the moon spirit and thus deprive the waterbenders of the basis of their taming. He is also traveling with Zuko and his uncle Iroh, who are skeptical of Zhao's mission and are still on the lookout for Aang.

He definitely wants to visit the Northern Air Temple and sets off there on his own. As soon as he arrives, he meets an old man who pretends to be wise and then betrays him to Zhao. Aang is overwhelmed, but a masked man, who the soldiers call the "Blue Spirit", frees him. On the run, the blue ghost is hit and loses its mask. Aang realizes that Zuko is his savior.

Arriving at the North Pole, Sokka falls in love with Princess Yue and Katara and Aang improve their waterbending skills under the guidance of Master Pakku. But soon after their arrival, Zhao's fleet attacks the city. Zuko manages to get through to Aang and kidnap him, but Katara freezes the prince. Meanwhile, Zhao kills the moon spirit, whereupon the moon turns red and the waterbenders lose their skills. But Iroh knows that Yue has a part of the moon spirit in her, as she was once born dumb and lifeless and was then bathed in the source of the moon spirit, which then gave her life. At Iroh's request, Yue sacrifices her life to the moon spirit, which she had received from him back then, in order to breathe new life into the spirit. Zhao, on the other hand, is drowned by waterbenders and Aang is able to push back the attacking Fire Nation fleet with the help of a giant wave.

When news of Zhao's death and Iroh's betrayal reach the Fire Lord, he instructs his daughter Azula to find the Avatar and bring it to him.

background

The avatar lives in a cycle. When an avatar dies, he is reborn in the next nation in the cycle (fire-air-water-earth). When the war began - a hundred years before the time the film is set - just before Aang was born, Avatar Roku, from the Fire Nation, was alive. He was a good childhood friend of Fire Lord Zosin, who later started the war . Zosin had told Roku at his wedding that he was planning to expand his empire, whereupon Roku replied that he would never hear about it again. When Zosin occupied the first small city of the Earth Kingdom, Roku attacked him and Zosin realized that his plans of conquest would stand no chance as long as Roku lived.

One night, around 15 years later, during which everything remained calm, the volcano erupts on Roku's home island. He fights alone against this force of nature and does well, but at some point the volcano begins to bring him to his knees. At that moment Zosin rushes to his aid, who had noticed the smoke from a few kilometers away. Together they conquer the volcano, but when Roku inhales a huge gush of poisonous gas, he remains lying down and asks Zosin for help. When he sees Roku on the ground, Zosin suddenly feels his plans are within reach and leaves him behind. Roku is engulfed in the glowing lava.

At the same moment Aang is born, he is now the new avatar. The monks who raise Aang in the southern air temple know that he is the avatar and want to tell him on his 16th birthday, but the approaching war prompts them to act earlier. Aang is overwhelmed with the situation. When he hears that he is to be taken to the eastern air temple because his best friend and teacher, Monk Gyatso, has a bad influence on him, he flees out of fear and gets caught in a terrible storm in the middle of the sea. He and his bison Appa are torn down. His Avatar state alone, which instinctively switches itself on at that moment, saves him. It forms a sphere around itself, from which it is only released a hundred years later.

Shortly after Aang fled, the Fire Nation attacked all of the air temples in the hope of killing or capturing the new avatar, who had to be an air nomad since air comes after fire in the cycle. With the help of a comet that makes a firebender so powerful that no one can stand in its way, they wiped out all the air nomads, but Aang was already gone.

Emergence

On January 8, 2007, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies announced that M. Night Shyamalan had been engaged to write and direct the first part of the planned film trilogy based on the television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The successful American television series Avatar - The Last Airbender is based on historical East Asia and was inspired by Japanese anime. Shyamalan's movie title choice Avatar: The Last Airbender resulted in a lawsuit with James Cameron , who owned the rights to the title Avatar for his science fiction film. The film producers therefore shortened the title to The Last Airbender .

In an interview in SFX Magazine , Shyamalan said that he heard about the TV series through his two daughters. He saw the incredible world that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had created and knew that it would definitely be exciting to make a real film out of it. He also said he was drawn to the show's spirituality and martial arts and would also be writing the script for the second film.

The two creators of Avatar DiMartino and Konietzko were enthusiastic about Shyamalan's decision to film their series.

The first auditions took place in early 2009. According to Shyamalan, Jason Isaacs as Zhao and Jesse McCartney as Zuko were the preferred cast. In February 2009 it was announced that Dev Patel , the star from Slumdog Millionaire , would play the role of Zuko.

Pre-production began at the end of 2008 and filming began in March 2009 in Greenland with a budget of 150 million US dollars. After two weeks, the film crew flew back to the USA to Pennsylvania on the east coast to continue work there on April 2nd. It was also shot in Vietnam .

Accusation of racism because of the occupation

The cast has been criticized from many quarters, as all the good main characters, including Aang, Sokka and Katara by whites, the entire Fire Nation, however, are played by Arabs, South and East Asians (with the exception of Avatar Roku from the Fire Nation, a good character and again played by a white man, Ben Cooke ). A well-known critic is, among others, Roger Ebert , who described the cast list as "wrong" and pointed out young Asians who could also have played the leading roles.

Because of this, Shyamalan was also called a racist . Jeff Yang of the San Francisco Chronicle stated: " Avatar is Asian - but why not the cast?" Derek Kirk Kim also wrote as an example that one should imagine a film that is set predominantly in African culture: the protagonists wear African clothing and hats, eat African food and live in houses with African architecture: But all actors are white. Kim said that was why he didn't understand the choice of white actors. Hired actor Jackson Rathbone responded to this review: “I think this is why I cut my hair, shave and get a tan. And that's why I'm convinced that the audience will believe in this film. "

Prequel comic

A prequel comic was released in 2010 as a prelude to the film before it opened in theaters. It has not yet appeared in German.

title published (USA) action script drawings
Zuko's story May 18, 2010 Michael Dante DiMartino,
Bryan Konietzko,
Dave Roman,
Alison Wilgus 		Dave Roman,
Alison Wilgus 		Nina Matsumoto

synchronization

The dialogue book was written by Benedikt Rabanus and the dialogue was directed by Jan Odle . The synchronizing work took place at FFS Film- & Fernseh-Synchron , GmbH in Munich and Berlin .

role actor German speaker
Katara Nicola Peltz Gabrielle Pietermann
Aang Noah Ringer Maximilian Belle
Sokka Jackson Rathbone Roman Wolko
Uncle Iroh Shaun Toub Ole Pfennig
General Zhao Aasif Mandvi Alexander Brem
Prince Zuko Dev Patel Sebastian Winkler
Princess Yue Seychelle Gabriel Maren Rainer
Fire Lord Ozai Cliff Curtis Michael Lott

Differences between series and film

  • The pronunciations of the names are different.
  • Much of the storyline has been deleted or changed for the film, including the liberation of the Earth Kingdom villages.
  • The landscapes of the Fire Nation, its capital and the spirit world look very different in the film.
  • The taming movements in the film are presented differently and are no longer based on different martial arts.
  • Most of the time in film you can only tame fire when fire is already there.
  • The relationship between earthbenders and the size of the element has changed disproportionately.
  • Important characters are missing in the film or are merged:
    • The Kyoshi warriors do not show up, although they were initially announced.
    • Avatar Roku didn't appear in the movie as expected. It has been replaced by a talking dragon.
    • Aang's reunion with King Bumi was completely omitted.
    • Jet and his freedom fighters are not shown.
  • Some protagonists look completely different in the film and behave e.g. Sometimes different, including General Iroh:
    • He plays Paisho occasionally, is musically gifted, and (at first) fat and has a gray beard.
  • In the film, Avatar Aang is in the spirit world during the Avatar states.

reception

US reviews

The legend of Aang started in the USA on July 1, 2010 at the same time as Eclipse - Bis (s) zum Abendrot in 3,169 cinemas and grossed over 16 million US dollars on the first day. On July 5, grossing was $ 69.3 million, below the studio's expectations. On September 29, 2010, the film jumped the 300 million US dollar mark.

The film received an overwhelming majority of negative ratings from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes , The Legend of Aang has a rating of only 6% on the Tomatometer based on currently 11 positive and 164 negative reviews with an average rating of 2.9 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film also received mostly negative reviews with a Metascore from 20.

Roger Ebert gave the film a half star rating out of four and described it as "an excruciating experience in every category I can think of and in others waiting to be invented." He criticized the acting performance of the leading actors as "bland, stiff, awkward and unconvincing", the plot as "incomprehensible" and the characters have "no personality". The special effects are also "miserable" and the 3D conversion is a "disaster". USA Today's Scott Bowles rated the film mostly positive and said Shyamalan had delivered convincing fight scenes. The Legend of Aang would be a good movie for kids - but not necessarily for adults. However, he adds that the weak script makes the actors' performance seem wooden. Stephanie Zacharek from MovieLine was also positively surprised, who admired Shyamalan's way of capturing the martial arts and martial arts of the series. Overall, however, the film is “tiring”. Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman praised the way the film was made, but criticized the actors for not giving viewers a chance to identify with them. Variety magazine criticized the casting, soundtrack, and cluttered effects that made the film boring. And The Hollywood Reporter said the film lacks the substance of the series. However, he praised the acting quality of Noah Ringer.

Even with the fans of the series, the film does not meet with much approval. Reelz Channel reporter Chris Underwood's initial reactions to the Los Angeles midnight screening have been consistently negative. In particular, the implementation of the characters and the story was criticized, which is not based enough on the original and is generally too rushed. The Los Angeles Times also reports that viewers agree with critics. According to a survey by CinemaScore , the film received an average rating of “C” at the midnight screenings, which is considered a bad mark overall.

German-language reviews

Franz Everschor from the film service believed that Shyamalan's implementation of the television series was darker, more ambiguous and more serious. The director delights himself in the fairytale-like pre-programmed embodiments of good and evil, in the redeemer figure who unites Christian and Buddhist elements, in the archaic power of history and in the myth of fire and water, which has already occupied him in earlier films. He also wrote that the characters and storylines were not suffocated by the CGI effects, as they would be in most of the films this summer. The legend of Aang is not a masterpiece, the actors are too statuesque and the overflowing dialogues too wooden. However, he did not deserve the rigorous rejection that the film experienced in the USA.

The film magazine Cinema wrote that Shyamalan had once again succeeded in making a decent entertainment film - and The Legend of Aang is clearly different from his previous films. This is a child-friendly martial arts adventure with convincing young actors, but superfluous 3D technology.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung said: “Even if the dialogues sound a bit wooden like exposure at the beginning (“ Since you are my sister, you know… ”) and even if the virtuosity of Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone are quite the opposite to little Noah Ringer - moved below the freezing point, you don't want to reluctantly let yourself fall into this spiritually disguised adventure that routinely plays with the elements of the fantasy film. The story is also much less blurry than was the case with the last Shyamalan films. There is only one thing that may confuse the longing for harmony and the preached non-violence: that even for chief spiritualist Shyamalan, a life in peace and solidarity can only be achieved by conquering the four elements, i.e. by man's power and dominion over nature is to have. "

The Frankfurter Rundschau wrote: “You have to want to believe that the elements here obey the human spirit to the word. But since when does trick technology decide about the quality of a story? And this is far better than is usual in the fantasy genre. However, we should expressly warn against the widely advertised 3D version of the film. 'The Legend of Aang' was filmed using conventional recording technology and 'extrapolated' to the three-dimensional effect after completion. Unfortunately, this transfer turned out so badly that the fantastic strangeness of this world seems to be drowning under the sooty veil of the firebenders. "

Gross profit

At a production cost of $ 150 million, the film grossed $ 319.7 million worldwide. As of October 31, 2013, DVD revenues in North America were $ 30.4 million.

Sequels

While the first film was being shot, M. Night Shyamalan was already writing the script for The Last Airbender 2 (AT). Shyamalan said that in the second and third films - as in Avatar: The Lord of the Elements - Azula will be Aang's great opponent. The Kyoshi warriors would also appear for the first time in the second film. The second film will be darker than the first, while the third will be ambiguous. The second film was already planned for 2012, but will probably not be made in the future either. Shyamalan announced that there may be a second part from his side. However, he is not sure whether he would prefer to make a less elaborate film in the near future.

Awards

The film won several awards at the 2011 Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst film performance of the year. The Legend of Aang received the Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Supporting Actor. He was also recognized in the new category of the worst use of 3D technology.

The film was in the preliminary round for the Oscar in the category Best Visual Effects , but was ultimately not nominated.

Noah Ringer and Seychelle Gabriel were both nominated for a Young Artist Award . James Newton Howard, composer of the film music, won an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award in the category "Top Box Office Films" in 2011 and was twice awarded the International Film Music Critics Award in the categories "Best Original Score for a Fantasy / Science Fiction / Horror Film ”and“ Film Music Composition of the Year ”nominated.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for The Legend of Aang . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2010 (PDF; test number: 123 569 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for The Legend of Aang . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Schuker, Lauren AE: 'The Last Airbender' to Get 3-D Treatment. In: The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved April 24, 2009 .
  4. ↑ «The Legend of Aang» - 3D disaster in fur hats. (No longer available online.) August 18, 2010, archived from the original on September 5, 2012 ; accessed on April 6, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Pamela McClintock: Shyamalan's 'Avatar' also to bigscreen. In: Variety . Retrieved April 25, 2009 .
  6. ^ M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender Gets Release Date, Director Update, "Avatar" Dropped From Title. (No longer available online.) In: / FILM. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017 ; Retrieved April 25, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slashfilm.com
  7. ↑ Nickelodeon's Avatar Returns to Restore Peace to The Four Corners of the World and Prepares to Face Off With the Fire Nation Once and for All. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 7, 2009 ; Retrieved April 25, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.viacom.com
  8. ↑ Mike Szymanski: Shyamalan Unveils Airbender Secrets. In: Sci Fi Wire. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009 ; Retrieved April 24, 2009 .
  9. ↑ Larry Carroll: Shyamalan Eager To Transform Image With 'Last Airbender'. In: MTV. Retrieved April 25, 2009 .
  10. ^ Mike Szymanski: Avatar Creators Praise Night. In: Sci Fi Wire. Archived from the original on March 24, 2009 ; Retrieved April 25, 2009 .
  11. ↑ George Hatza: 'Sixth Sense' director shooting new movie in Reading beginning Thursday; Pagoda to get a close-up. In: Reading Eagle. Retrieved April 25, 2009 .
  12. ↑ Jay A. Fernandez: Four more land 'Airbender' roles. In: The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 25, 2009 .
  13. ^ Internet Movie Database : Full cast and crew for Last Airbender
  14. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.racebending.com
  15. ↑ Actor Casting In M. Night Shyamalan's Upcoming New Film Raises Racist Concerns ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Retrieved May 26, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.icelebz.com
  16. ^ Naomi Tarlow: Protesters oppose "whitewashing" in new Shyamalan film. (No longer available online.) In: Daily Pennsylvanian. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009 ; Retrieved May 26, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com
  17. ↑ Jeff Yang: 'Avatar' an Asian thing - why isn't the cast? In: San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved May 26, 2009 .
  18. ^ Derek Kirk Kim: New day in politics, same old racist world on the silver screen , Retrieved May 26, 2009
  19. ↑ Larry Carroll: 'Twilight' Star Jackson Rathbone Hopes To 'Show His Range' In 'Last Airbender'. In: MTV. Retrieved May 26, 2009 .
  20. ↑ The Legend of Aang. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on July 11, 2018 .
  21. ↑ The Last Airbender. In: Box Office Mojo . Retrieved July 7, 2010 .
  22. ↑ THE LAST AIRBENDER Fared Worse Than Estimated on Monday: Box Office. In: Alt Film Guide. Retrieved July 7, 2010 .
  23. ↑ The Last Airbender. In: The Numbers. Retrieved September 12, 2010 .
  24. ↑ The Last Airbender. In: Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved July 4, 2010 .
  25. ↑ The Last Airbender. In: Metacritic . Retrieved July 4, 2010 .
  26. ^ Roger Ebert: The Last Airbender. In: Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved July 4, 2010 .
  27. ↑ Scott Bowles: Shyamalan's 'Airbender' has some good elements. In: USA Today . Retrieved July 2, 2010 .
  28. ↑ Stephanie Zacharek: A Few Nifty Visuals Can't Rescue Exhausting Last Airbender. (No longer available online.) In: MovieLine. Archived from the original on July 2, 2010 ; Retrieved July 2, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.movieline.com
  29. ^ Owen Gleiberman: The Last Airbender | Movies. In: EW.com. Retrieved July 2, 2010 .
  30. ↑ The Last Airbender Review - Read Variety's Analysis Of The Movie The Last Airbender. (No longer available online.) In: Variety.com. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 2, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.variety.com  
  31. ^ The Last Airbender - Film Review. (No longer available online.) In: Hollywoodreporter.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2010 ; Retrieved July 2, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hollywoodreporter.com
  32. ↑ Neil Miller: Last Airbender Angers Fans, As Expected - Film Review. In: Film School Rejects. Retrieved July 4, 2010 .
  33. ↑ Patrick Goldstein: Audiences agree with critics on 'Last Airbender': It's a stinker. In: Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 4, 2010 .
  34. ^ Franz Everschor: Mazes of Fantasy: The new films by M. Night Shyamalan and Christopher Nolan. (No longer available online.) In: Filmdienst . Archived from the original on August 23, 2010 ; Retrieved August 3, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / film-dienst.kim-info.de
  35. ↑ The Legend of Aang. In: Cinema . Retrieved August 9, 2010 .
  36. ↑ The Return of the Avatars. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . Retrieved August 5, 2010 .
  37. ↑ Michael Kohler: In the Tierra del Fuego . In: Frankfurter Rundschau of August 19, 2010, p. 31
  38. ↑ The Last Airbender. In: Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 31, 2013 . (English)
  39. ^ The Last Airbender - DVD Sales. In: The Numbers. Retrieved October 31, 2013 . (English)
  40. ↑ Brian Warmoth: 'Last Airbender 2' Will Be 'Darker,' M. Night Shyamalan Says - Movie News Story | MTV Movie News. In: Mtv.com. Retrieved July 12, 2010 .
  41. ↑ M. Night Shyamalan on possible sequels to "Unbreakable" and "The Legend of Aang". In: film starts. Retrieved June 2, 2013 .
  42. ↑ Legendary bad. In: sueddeutsche.de . February 27, 2011, accessed February 28, 2011 .
  43. ↑ http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/the-academys-15-movies-chosen-for-the-visual-effects-shortlist/
  44. ^ The last Airbender Awards. In: Internet Movie Database . Retrieved September 2, 2015 .