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Anime, not anime-- you guys are interested in the film, so why shouldn't I share with you some of the first images available from M. Night Shyamalan's Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action film?

The two shots come courtesy of USA Today and feature Noah Ringer as Aang-- apparently he was already ready for the role, too, because he's shaved his head in the past to keep cool in the summer for tae kwon do, in which the young actor is a black belt –and Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel as Zuko, the airbender and firebender, respectively.


What do you think? Win, fail, or "eh"?
36 Comments
ComradeCrash on May 22, 2009
:( As a big fan of this....I am sadden by these pics.
GodLen on May 22, 2009
I'm actually excited by these pics, is that wrong of me????
gia online on May 22, 2009
@ComradeCrash: What don't you like, out of curiosity?
JediAutobot on May 22, 2009
The pics were better than I thought they'd be
ethan on May 22, 2009
I love that this is being done by M Night Shamalan.

But WHY is Ang white?  
gia online on May 22, 2009
@ethan: Because all the Asian kids are busy being sloughed off to piano lessons and baseball games while cramming for tests and studying for straight-As?

/stereotypes.
Acer online on May 22, 2009
The pics dont look half bad.
Dream on May 22, 2009
Judging from the pictures, it's looking okay so far. But where is Zuko's scar? I recall his father scorching one side of his face.
Pyro on May 22, 2009
Being a big fan of Avatar, I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic.

"But where is Zuko's scar?" - Maybe this scene is before that moment?

What I really want to see is the rest of the cast.
SYLiENT on May 22, 2009
I nearly fan raged over this yesterday....

Cast is racist, the costumes are horrible (in my honest opinion... I'm sorry, they have the budget to make the armor for Zuko and to pick a different color that doesn't nearly wash Noah Ringer out. They have the outfits in the show already. They really didn't need to edit too much.), Frank Marshall being an ass on Twitter, and just the way this whole thing has been handled is unacceptable.

OH, here are more horrible costumes.

Water Tribe: http://lastairbenderfilm.com/2009/04/03/of-the-water-tribe/
Fire Nation Soldiers: http://lastairbenderfilm.com/2009/03/29/first-photo-of-fire-nation-soldiers/

Granted they're alright... But Water Tribe is decked out with fur and fur trimmings... The Fire Nation armor... God, wrong influence guys.

... Remember kids, never sign a contract where you give up artistic/creative license. It'll be sold to some big wig company who will then make a live action movie verison of it where the studios will rape it for all it's worth.

@ethan: 'Cause Hollywood thinks Asian actors aren't marketable and that white people can't identify with them. :/ Seriously, look what happened to 21! White washing and token asian. If you interested in the whole "Asian Actors in Hollywood" check this out - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=99D263D1B8B2558D&search_query=The Slanted Screen . Very well done documentary.

@Pyro: I have a feeling the scar won't come into play till the end of the first movie. ... Which is sad since it's been present since episode one and was a driving force in "The Storm".
HeeroYuy on May 22, 2009
.....in my opinion I'd say this doesn't look that bad. Those of you getting super hardcore rage on it just over these few pictures REAAAAAALLY need to ease off a bit. And no offense to anyone, but from the little bit of Avatar that I have seen, he didn't seem all that asian to me. The other characters sure, definitely, but Aang not so much... granted, he definitely wasn't that flamboyantly white either, but sheesh, why is it always racist whenever a white guy does anything yet whenever it's anyone else it's not! Maybe it's everyone else that needs to be a little less scrutinizing about race...
He almost looks as much Spanish as he does Asian to me...
He almost looks as much Spanish as he does Asian to me...

Black_Rose on May 22, 2009
Reminds me a lot of DB Evolution for some reason.

Artistically it looks a lot like it, and the reactions I'm seeing are the same as when the first few DBE pictures came out.

But whatever, I hate M. Night Shamalayan and Avatar anyway.
Devilly on May 24, 2009
Not bad but not that good either and they really should have casted a Asian guy for Zucko
Sigue on May 24, 2009
Those look... A lot like Avatar. The series should be a lot easier to adapt into a Hollywood format than Dragonball was for various reasons and these pictures seem to support that.
Newten online on May 24, 2009
Where are the Avatars blue arrow stripes? >_>

And wtf this site has no Avatar pages *runs off to make some* And before someone says it's not Japanese, doesn't matter, neither is the Teen Titans.
transgojobot on May 25, 2009
Honestly, HeeroYuy, you should see more of Avatar because it's series' mythology is knee-deep is Asian culture; from Inuit to Korean and Chinese, just to name a few. The series never name-drops the specific races and ethnicities it draws its inspiration from, but they are front and center.

In my opinion, the Hollywood "whitewashing" of the series' cast was disappointing, but not altogether surprising. The producers, including Frank Marshall, missed a fantastic [and rare] opportunity to put young, Asian-American faces at the front of a big-budget, summer kids' flick. I can't even think of the last Hollywood movie that featured Asian-American kids as the leads; does one even exist?

At the very least, The Last Airbender could have been the first. And it may have shown Hollywood that it's okay (and likely profitable) to put Asians in leading roles who aren't named Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
Sigue on May 25, 2009
transgojobot said:
Honestly, HeeroYuy, you should see more of Avatar because it's series' mythology is knee-deep is Asian culture; from Inuit to ... [more]
They didn't seem particularly asian in the first place. The water dudes were kind of mocha, but nobody really looked asian. Gran Torino recently starred young Asian-Americans, and there must be more Hollywood movies that do that I simply can't name off the top of my head. I'd understand if any of the characters actually looked asian, but while its mythology and culture draw from Eastern traditions, its characters sure as hell don't look it.
Void_Wizard on May 25, 2009
Newten said:
Where are the Avatars blue arrow stripes? >_>And wtf this site has no Avatar pages *runs off to make some* ... [more]
Teen Ttians doesn't have a page, lol and American shows like that and Avatar won't be getting a page on here.

The costumes look meh and I'm no fan of Avatar.
Newten online on May 26, 2009
Void_Wizard said:
Newten said: Where are the Avatars blue arrow stripes? >_>And wtf this site has no Avatar pages *runs off to ... [more]
Actually Raven and Starfire have character pages, there just isn't a page for the series yet. And I'm pretty sure Gia is OK with stuff like Teen Titans and Avatar, otherwise the character pages would have been deleted (she knows about them) and she wouldn't be posting articles about Avatar.

Right Gia?
Deacon_Sephiroth on May 26, 2009
M. Night.....makes.....terrible....movies

That's all there is to it, this will suck relentlessly, and make me want to kill myself.
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