Folding Ideas - The Last Airbender

S3E4
Originally uploaded June 14, 2013

[@ryanspercussion]

“The monks named me Aang.” The parents named me Ryan.

[@SinHurr]

Or did they? Grandma, VSauce here.

[@joshraid1550]

It’s an obviously forced way to show the audience that he was raised by monks due to the need to force exposition.

[@jordankellyparrott7819]

I actually auditioned for this movie back in the day when I was trying to act (for Zuko which I remember thinking was a terrible fit for me) and I read the scene where Zuko talks to the kid and gives his backstory. I literally remember thinking that these were obviously dummy sides so there were no script leaks and that was why it was terrible. Than I saw the movie and realized, "Oh shit, no. That was the just the real script."

[@omgharajuku]

Oh gosh...no wonder the acting was so terrible. The actors were probably physically cringing at the script and found it difficult to take any of it seriously

[@GdoubleWB]

Should've known, "Second Draft" isn't in Shyamalan's vocabulary.

[@joshyoung1440]

​@@GdoubleWB you deserved more accolades for that joke, well-done 🤣

[@Juliett-A]

"Actually Katara's response makes sense if you read it like someone trying to be polite when confronted with unintelligible madness." That line really made me laugh.

[@DannleChannel]

I hate to admit it, but Aang’s answer as to how he got there also makes sense in the context of him being unaware he’s a hundred years in the future and the other characters have never seen an airbender or a flying bison before. In the world he left - which is where he believes he is at that point - “I ran away from home” would’ve been a perfectly reasonable answer.

[@pebblessyou]

@@DannleChannel No it's not. Katara asked "HOW did you get all the way out here", not "WHY did you get all the way out here". Appa being able to fly isn't a secret Aang can't tell her about, it's just something Katara doesn't know. Even if he thought they knew about flying bisons - which would be an unreasonable assumption as this clearly isolated tribe probably doesn't know much about another isolated temple other than that they've been genocided - he doesn't answer the question.

[@DannleChannel]

@@pebblessyou I don't think you've seen the show or the movie. Your comment is exactly why the Aang's answer makes sense. A hundred years in the past, which is where Aang thinks he still is in this scene, flying bison were common knowledge. If you saw an airbender at the south pole, they would've obviously gotten there on a flying bison, because that's how they got around. Aang doesn't know that's changed. At this point in the movie, Aang himself doesn't even know the other airbenders are dead. It wouldn't make sense for him to assume Katara DOESN'T know about airbender monks or flying bison. During this scene, Aang is under the impression he only left the Airbender temple, at most, a few days ago. And, a hundred years ago, the southern water tribe - Katara's tribe - was not small or isolated, and neither was the air temple Aang is from.

[@pebblessyou]

​@@DannleChannel In my comment I made it clear that all this doesn't matter. Even if the southern water tribe owned flying bisons themselves and everybody was a flying bison expert, Aang's answer would still be nonsensical. The question is "how did you get all the way out here" (7:34). His answer, "I ran away from home", doesn't answer the 'how' of the question. His answer explains WHY he was all the way out there but nobody asked that. If you told me you went on vacation to Ethiopia and I asked you "how did you get there?", if you would answer with "to take time off of work" I'd be almost overcome with sadness and disappointment as I respond with a sullen '"Oh, I see". I still don't know how you got to Ethiopia and Katara still doesn't know how Aang got to the south pole. We're just trying to be polite and feign interest while you guys are getting straight to the drama

[@brettbenicio1194]

I guess im asking randomly but does anybody know of a method to log back into an instagram account..? I stupidly lost my password. I would appreciate any tips you can give me

[@charliecartwright4371]

"The avatar would have to be an air bender" Aang: Bends air "HoW iS hE DOiNg tHAt?"

[@TMWriting]

If you want a clear example of the ineptitude that this film was built on, Katara says something to the effect of "Aang told us he was an air bender who got trapped in the ice running away from home" and then in the next scene ASKS HIS NAME. That alone is why I can never watch this movie without feeling ill.

[@bigtimetimmyjim6486]

Ong*

[@secretname3897]

@@bigtimetimmyjim6486 I thought it was Ung, but defs not Aang, that's just outright incorrect and silly

[@dustyyshellz1320]

Lmfao that’s insane

[@itxi]

The narration is clearly taking place after the events of the film, it's not complicated to understand

[@JohnJohnson-vq7ze]

@@itxi But his name wasn't even said to the audience at that point.

[@steveejohnson7932]

Saying "That leaves only the director, writer and producer," Cut to M. Night Shamalon's credit got me good.

[@stephenallen4635]

some of my favourite lines "shes a bender" "are you an air, bender boy?"

[@YayapLives]

*immediately followed by by air-bending* "How is he doing that?"

[@tmzissupergay]

*H E ' S M A K I N G F I R E O U T O F N O T H I N G!*

[@pathofthetrickster]

We need more benders!

[@TwelvetreeZ]

Oh GOD

[@soupalex]

I haven't seen this film yet but I'm considering [not paying for it] and watching it while completely blotto. "Should we try it!?"

[@AmaranthOriginal]

What I hate most about the movie is the way they took bright, interesting, fun characters and turned them into cardboard cutouts. And if it was just the kids, I could believe that maybe this was the best they could do. But the adults of A:TLA were also (usually) like this, and everything is dull and stunted. I mean, how do you screw up Iroh?

[@pathofthetrickster]

Uncle Iroh is the best character in the cartoon! I don't know why they made him Spanish and gave him a minute of screen time in the movie!

[@Tuckerscreator]

Spanish? His actor is Iranian.

[@pathofthetrickster]

Well I'm pretty sure he's Asian in the cartoon , so that's still wrong , isn't it ?

[@pathofthetrickster]

Don't even get me started on Zuko !

[@GweiTheLeafChild]

Off camera, the actors seem actually energetic, and closer to the original characters. Their poor acting seems more of a fault of bad directing.

[@lilyme3]

I just appreciate how you keep showing the cartoon as a "this is how you should have done it." XD

[@TheSchaef47]

Probably because Avatar is one of the best cartoon productions of a generation. It wasn't just churning out some wacky adventures for empowered kids, it told a powerful story and built a huge world for the characters to inhabit. It had drama and stakes to interest adult-level viewers without being too heavy or violent for kids. All the characters are interesting, and even when their motivations aren't immediately clear, you do learn them over time. And most of them get some real hero moments, especially people like Bumi and Toph. It's for reasons like that I was super excited that Joauquim dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery would be developing the new Voltron series (which, by the way, is also amazing). One other thing I felt the movie really got wrong, was that in their haste to make The Three the centerpiece of the action, they didn't spend a lot of time on Zuko, and I always felt like Avatar was more Zuko's story than Aang's, in the way Ferris Bueller was more Cameron's story than Ferris'. Granted that doesn't come out much in Book One, but if you are planning on making all three movies, you have to establish him as a character of significance early on. Both he and Iroh IMO just blended into the scenery for most of their screen time. Everything the movie does wrong only serves to emphasize how the cartoon did it right.

[@lunabearsong2043]

@@TheSchaef47 Funnily enough, Zuko was almost not in the show. He's a last minute addition, and I couldn't be happier for a last minute decision. 😌😌

[@politicalnerdV]

One of the best shows of all time got turned into one of the worst movies of all time...

[@darcyvalka9370]

Sokka doesn't blink once in this video. It's crazy

[@eddiedingle767]

Kristen Stewart apparently doesn't close her mouth Jackson Rathbone doesn't close his eyes. I see why one was more successful than the other

[@ARiter]

I wasn't thorough but I think think he blinked exactly once 1:44

[@bruceusername]

@@ARiter I don't think they closed all the way. Probably just pretending to blink to appear more human

[@katekursive1370]

The orange chair is NOT happy.

[@alex_nita]

hhahahahaaaa....

[@LeviathanMech]

22:00 just realized what you meant. lol.

[@davemarx7856]

[ò ó]

[@alejoparedes2388]

Now I can't un-see it.

[@HumanityAsCode]

It's cool to see how Dan's style has changed over 7 years

[@Ghostface2point0]

It seriously feels like M. Night drunkenly skimmed over a Wikipedia summary of the show and immediately wrote the script. He missed ALL of the intricacies that made the original show tangible and amazing.

[@kamilee4123]

DJ Beard He actually was a fan of the show. Which makes the fact that this movie is soooo bad, especially with the way the characters are written, even more baffling.

[@Ghostface2point0]

Kami Lee for the sake of my sanity, I will choose to think he never ever ever ever saw a single minute of the show.

[@IQuarent]

Actually, the fact that he saw the show and then made a terrible movie is fairly easily explained; horrible creative decisions. The best example is the pronunciation of the main characters name. He knows DAMN FUCKING WELL how it's properly pronounced. However, as a big flashy Hollywood director, he researched the entomology and felt that, in order to give the best experience to the viewer, it needed to be changed. I mean, he knows so much better than the creators of the source material, right? Another example is changing the way firebending works. Firebending is borderline overpowered in the show. The ease of learning, the number of firebenders in comparison to regular population, and the sheer destructive force place it highly in its COMBT effectiveness when compared to the other benders(Korra goes into how earthbending is actually far more useful in practicality). In the narrative of A:TLA show, this makes perfect sense, because how else would a relatively small nation be able to take over the entire world? Wouldn't it make sense for fire to be made from nothing, like air would be? All fire needs is oxygen in order to be created, technically. But no, not according to this director. Firebending can't be OP; it needs to be comparable to earthbending and waterbending, which both rely on the element of choice be close at hand. Fuck the symmetry of firebending and airbending being elements not needing physicality to be conjured, compared to the other two. Fuck the idea of firebenders being seen as ESPECIALLY dangerous. Hollywood director Mr. Shyamanlan knows better. These types of creative decisions, OBVIOUSLY fueled by IMMENSE arrogance, leads us to the creation of a film that is not only shit in comparison to the source material, but also on its own merits as a film.

[@wadespencer3623]

+The Amazing G I think in addition, it's got the same problem as the Fullmetal Alchemist movie that came out. You HAVE to hit the big moments that all the fans want and you've only got so long to do it. Of course, you don't actually have to hit them, and you really should change up the plot structure instead, but that's what the executives think.

[@chapablo]

I'm a big fan of lasagna, doesn't mean I know how to make one. ... I mean, I do, and it's delicious, but you get my point.

[@SiraSpirit]

"The monks named me Ong" is still bothering me. Why does he say it like that? Why doesn't he just say "I'm Ong"? Did someone else name him Bob? I can't just let this goooo

[@rickhaavisto9023]

The only way that makes any sense at all is if that wasn’t his birth name...but it was clearly his birth name...

[@Spike-hl2mw]

Aang

[@SiraSpirit]

@@Spike-hl2mw It's pronounced Ong, apparently.

[@liriodendronlasianthus]

@@SiraSpirit as a Chinese person, I'm just gonna say if they wanted accuracy, it's "AHNG" like "Ahh Real Monsters".

[@abbie_joan]

@@liriodendronlasianthus the original cartoon pronounced his name as "Ayy-ng" this movie tries to act like it's being more culturally accurate to a show that takes its inspiration from more than one culture

[@Sam-el2we]

Watching a terrible actor say terrible dialog is like staring into infinity

[@GweiTheLeafChild]

The abyss stares back

[@samuelbattershell3413]

All overseen by terrible directing, begotten by terrible writing, compounded by terrible editing, so on and so forth

[@Sam-el2we]

I'm pretty sure an abyss has better acting

[@insertcheesypunhere]

Samuel Walker No, it's more like going through a black hole. Google spaghettification.

[@Jabadamazo]

Thank you Rich Evans.

[@bonzupippinpaddleopsicopol7334]

That “dramatic” Sokka and Yue exchange gives off mad prequel vibes

[@swimmyswim417]

Don’t you know? Staring at each other without blinking for an uncomfortably long period is a sign of true love.

[@juljul184]

I also don't understand why the main cast were whitewashed, but then the fire nation is Indian, though the fire nation actually reflects Japan. Earth Kingdom is clearly China. Air nomads are Tibetan monks and water tribe is Inuit people.

[@carolserra3049]

Yuliya Hulyk yeeees i at least just saw non white ethnicities through the cartoon, there were even native american ones, that movie was such a shame

[@juljul184]

Yeah I'm pretty sure there are very little or no white people at all in that cartoon. Like he did so many stupid and unnecessary things with the casting.

[@juljul184]

Yeah like I'm all here for representation and I like Dev Patel, but like the whole thing is such a convoluted mess. He literally had the whole show right there, written and drawn for him. The casting decisions are such a mess. And also, if you noticed, the water tribe was cast correctly, except for the two leads like,,,,,thats a little suspicious lol.

[@carolserra3049]

Yuliya Hulyk funny how 2/3 of the main characters were conveniently white right? they had the opportunity to represent many ethnicities and they totally lost it, its just sad

[@juljul184]

Yeah it's so bizarre that M. Night would do that, as a man of color himself like,,,, he did such a disservice. The main cast, save for Dev, weren't even that good. They could have had really talented actors of color play the roles of Katara and Sokka and Aang. But whatever I guess what's done is done.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

Having mostly watched this channel one bit at a time and in no particular order, I'm somewhat baffled by this strange, talking, paper robot before me. But it's making a lot of good points while speaking with a soothing, familiar voice so I guess I'm here for it!

[@1492irina]

I think this film was the first time I actually cried from frustration. My brother and I were obsessed with the show, I mean OBSESSED. Katara was my favorite character of all time, I was really into the Asian culture side of it, I had a crush on Zuko... My point is I was REALLY hyped for the movie. We went to see it the first day it was out and my little 11-yo heart was just... crushed. Seriously.

[@andeggbreaks]

1492irina Who didn't have a crush on Zuko

[@Butterflier00]

people who aren't into guys romantically....? in that case...there still would have been people with squishes on zuko.

[@joemuis23]

I'm so happy I never got to see the movie

[@jazz4778]

+TehMomo For the record, I'm not into guys romantically but I did kind of have a tiny little crush on Zuko. Don't ask me how that makes sense.

[@Kayley199514]

Same. I actually remember being so hyped for this movie, but I fell asleep somewhere around the earth bending scene. My brother and I left the theatre and told our parents that we shouldn't have seen the movie. To this day, I have never been able to sit through the movie because not only is it boring as fuck, but it breaks my heart to see this amazing story so mangled.

[@ChristoTitan]

Why is it so close to his faaaaaacccceeee.......

[@kairaine]

@Alexander E I like this. I'm going to believe this from now on.

[@theenglishman]

What’s wrong with this shot of your FAAAAAACE?!

[@totallynameless8861]

@Alexander E Unfortunately, even that is too generous. If you look closely, you can see parts of the arrow when he moves his head a little. In looking for that arrow, I noticed another really annoying character design choice: Katara has elastic hair ties.

[@EvanSol919]

Because Koh was the cameraman and he was waiting for Ong to make an expression so he could steal the Ahvatar's face.

[@totallynameless8861]

@@EvanSol919 Some say he's still waiting to this day....

[@SquareWaveHeaven]

"He's making fire out of nothing!"

[@ArloMathis]

Not within the context of the movie, in that universe, bizarrely, firebenders must grab their fire from elsewhere just like everyone else.

[@lucas.guarana.cardoso]

burgundy cat Well, actually they can manipulate fire, not produce it. It's a "big reveal" in the animation when someone can produce fire, just like it is when there's the capacity of bend thunder. But in the movie just sounded lame. Edit: I was wrong, in the series they can produce fire. 🔥

[@syn010110]

literally every firebender in the original ATLA can conjure flames at will, the "unusual" abilities were conducting/producing lightning (which became more common in the intervening years between ATLA and LoK) and combustion-bending (which stayed rare, only the assassin and P'Li being known combustion benders) there's a piece somewhere out there that states it was Shyamalan who insisted that firebenders have to start with fire because it was "unfair" that earth and waterbenders needed material available to use their powers.

[@StorytimewithLurkette]

@@syn010110 Azulas blue fire was also unusual, no one could make their fire hot enough for that until her IIRC. And I think Iron being able to bend fire with his mouth was unique? Or at least strange? But yeah, not being able to produce their own fire flips the balance of power so much its ridiculous. Water benders have the air/blood/plants/ocean/ice, air benders...well, duh, earthbenders admittedly get the short end of the stick if they arent strong enough benders to "grab" the earth through another material such as wood...but firebenders just have fire. And like, electricity and molten earth. Neither of which are very prevelant. Did Shymalan really watch the whole cartoon? Cause it was pretty heavily shown that benders werent limited to the obvious material; Katara with sweat and Toph with metal for example. :/

[@Tamaki742]

@@StorytimewithLurkette Well, theoritically firebenders manipulate heat and energy, which they usually draw from solar power. This makes sense as to why they can basically take over the world in the show, while in the movie, I don't even believe that they already took over the Earth Kingdom, let alone the entire world.

[@hamman_samuel]

"Even though I've watched it 4 times..." That's self-torture

[@SinHurr]

Self admission to his own personal Gitmo

[@newsystembad]

My guess for the non-scene where Aang introduces himself is that they got halfway through filming the movie, realized that at no point had he said his name, and clumsily went back to redo it. That line sounds like it got ADR'd in.

[@poppyseed1987]

4:40 HE'S WATCHED IT 4 TIMES?!?!?!? Oh you poor man...

[@Butterflier00]

i've seen it once.... i tried to watch it a second time for laughs....but it was too painful...

[@sitabita262]

I can't even get past the opening text scroll.

[@ThaliaLemon]

Every analysis I see tearing apart this *terribly made* godawful mess of a movie Makes the world a better place

[@bassemb]

"WE NEED TO SHOW THEM THAT WE BELIEVE IN OUR BELIEFS AS MUCH AS THEY BELIEVE IN THEIRS."

[@politicalnerdV]

I love how the "Lazy Episode" is still smarter and more insightful than the vast majority of media criticism on KZbin.

[@steveconnolly9585]

M. Night was at the recording studio where I work for about a week, and I had soooooooo many questions for him. Since he was a client and a super nice guy I had to bite my tongue. He did open up a bit and say he had gone through phases of his career where he wondered if he had no talent whatsoever, if he was a terrible artist, etc., but all creative people go through that shit. I'm glad to see he seems to be turning things around. Also, "I need a spiritual place to meditate" is the best worst line hands down.

[@pepi7404]

"Is there a spiritual place where I can meditate" sounds like a flowery way of asking for a toilet.

[@sottosopravoce]

@@pepi7404 It is now, at least in my house.

[@Xirrious]

Everywhere is a spiritual place if you make it one!

[@grayjaket]

I never had any interest in the Planet of the Apes movies until I watched almost the entirety of Rise of the Planet of the Apes on a airplane, with no sound, just over someone's shoulder. It was almost entirely understandable without sound, and it hooked me. War is the superior movie (and a great movie all around), but I'll always love Rise for its visual communication

[@Mariana16562]

“The most confusingly inept film I’ve ever seen” perfectly encapsulates how I feel about this film. It’s not the worst film ever, but the talented people behind it somehow made it not work at all

[@Maddy-wv9th]

I forgot Dev Patel was in this. I’m so glad he’s finally getting offered the kind of roles he deserves.

[@asmodiusjones9563]

My own opinion is that of all the bad things about this movie, the absolute worst is that it took a few amazing actors like Dev Patel, Shaun Toub, and Asif Mandvi, and squandered them. The few scenes they were together were like a completely different movie.

[@akirnoraychaudhury4420]

I laughed out loud because I thought the text at 5:02 said "Poop editing". From your description, it would have been appropriate. :)

[@supermonkeycollider]

Ang totally sounds like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football when he goes all Avatar!

[@evilclownattack]

Even worse, he looks like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football.

[@Pluveus]

So, my first video from Folding Ideas was the flat earth one, an then the fifty shades one, then this one. Holy crap the channel has changed a lot from a performance standpoint over just a few years.

[@camelpimp]

Well, I'm just glad that Yue found a nice girlfriend after this

[@paradoxacres1063]

*:D*

[@morganjones4281]

Did you have to play that Aang scream so many times? My poor ears!

[@oldmoviemusic]

ugh, i know...i was going crazy hearing that damn scream..i could barely stand it.

[@newrecru1t]

It was a quality NOOOOOO.... but not as good as the Vader NOOOOOOOO....

[@morganjones4281]

With a good dosage of added physical pain :(

[@jonknight4616]

Yeah, it was horrible to so many degrees... and he kept cutting it in!

[@platinummyrr]

It *was* a list of the worst moments..

[@SnowCat-nu7gj]

I have theory about the name thing. In a better movie, one with tighter editing and a faster pace, the idea that Katara kinda did just go with this kid because he seemed to need help and helping people is an innate part of her character would make sense. If there was no breathing room for her to find out anything about him. She has a very short conversation with him where he unintentionally dodges her questions and is the interupted by an invasion of the people who killed her mother. On paper, I could see that working. The problem is it's so incompetently done that everything drags so it makes no sense that she doesn't have time. It's also hurt by the added narration implying they had some conversation on appa

[@josephforjoseph]

"open their word holes and make noises at one another." I bow to the greatness of this sentence

[@DenkouNova]

coming here from the NFT video, possibly the most influential Internet video I've ever seen, and seeing Foldy is a bit of a culture shock

[@bravetherainbow]

giggled silently at work when "#1 EVERYTHING" faded on to the screen

[@TwelvetreeZ]

Re the bad diologue: Only people from the UK may get this, but one thing that always got me about this movie was how they kept saying 'bender' - for context, British school children in the early- to mid-2000s used this as a playground insult, usually meaning someone was gay (I know, I know, we were total shitheads aged 12). So when I saw this in the cinema, and near the start Sokka's grandmother (I think?) uttered the words "Ever since I knew you were a bender", I turned to my friend and we lost our shit. I just couldn't take the movie seriously after that...

[@imaginaryboy2000]

Well at least you got SOMETHING out of this

[@bigboi1004]

I'm here from the future to put this comment in a museum. Behold the first and only person to have smiled while watching The Last Airbender!

[@Saironi]

I would love to see you do a Shamalan deep dive, because honestly im curious about how he seemed to start so strong and end up so bad

[@kiryn5977]

Idk if you'd still be interested in an answer, but I think Just Write's Last Airbender videos do a pretty good and fair job of answering this question.

[@hyrulphicsound]

It's telling that I never got through this movie -- I made it 15 minutes in and then had to stop because I was screaming too much-- but I have managed to get through over 3 hours of youtube videos making fun of or criticizing this movie.

[@Drudenfusz]

I even paid for this to watch it on the silverscreen... and yet the only positive I have to say about this film is that it made me curious to check out the cartoon. So, I cannot imagine how bad all the people must have felt who knew the TV show first and then got that horrible film

[@bookfan1239]

Drudenfusz Lemme tell you firsthand. The anticipation for the movie was great. I couldn’t wait to see everyone on the big screen with people acknowledging my favorite cartoon from my childhood. Sure, some details may have been a little fuzzy at the time since it’s been years, but I was sure that it would still live up to what I remembered. Then I actually watched it. Picture the most disappointing experience you’ve ever had and multiply that by 10. That’s pretty much how crushing it felt to me at my tender age of 11.

[@liabw05]

SAME 🙋🏿‍♀️

[@rabidrabids5348]

I grew up on the cartoon, and I think I saw the movie. It's so bad I can't even remember if I actually saw it.

[@DerrillGuilbert]

Watching this in 2019, I can't understand why you would watch this movie 4 times. You poor, poor man.

[@renpotter1606]

one of my nitpicks about this movie is that m night shyamalan is an indian man, so presumably he knows the difference between ethnicities of colour, yet he casts cliff curtis (a maori man) as ozai, dev patel (an indian man) as his son zuko, and shaun toub (a persian man) as ozai's brother iroh. wtf? suddenly all brown skinned people are interchangeable/??

[@insertcheesypunhere]

Renee Potter Oh god it was worse than I thought. I knew about the whitewashing and casting of people of color as extras or villains, but to mix that many ethnicities in the same FAMILY is ridiculous. It would be marginally excusable if they were, say, Chinese and Japanese. Marginally. But to mix a Polynesian, a Western Asian, and a Middle Eastern...*bangs head against desk*

[@trequor]

If that's your biggest problem with this movie then i honestly dont know what to say

[@kittikats]

There's two ways to look at it: You cast complete unknowns for the main roles so you're going to need experienced / known actors in the other ones and Hollywood is a pretty pale place. Di .. versity? Is that a new restaurant? OR Hey, you cast unlowns in the lead spots. Maybe you can also cast ethnically correct unknowns for the supporting roles. Or ethnically correct main roles ... which maybe harder with child actors.

[@rattyeely]

M. Night Shyamalan keeps putting weird little racist things in his films. I guess he just doesn't care

[@michaelwelch9123]

Really late to the party here, but i saw TLAB on opening night, never having seen Avatar, i was dating a girl who was a fan of the show. Don't remember the preceding dialogue, but the leader of the 🔥 nation asks Aasif Mondvi a question, the music ratchets up, camera pans closer, pause....."No" is all he says. The entire theatre erupted in laughter.

[@JGandthe2kk]

This is giving me ptsd of when I saw this in theater

[@pathofthetrickster]

You poor poor soul. I'm so glad I didn't see this at the cinema

[@classactionsteve]

Juan Guzman why didn't you walk out? was it just too fascinatingly bad?

[@minithegoose1918]

Juan Guzman I actually saw this in theaters and actually walked out and got my money back. Only time I have ever done it.

[@ShirDeutch]

I demanded my money back but they wouldn't give it back. Though I complain about the fact that the movie was "in 3D" but other than one shot of a table nothing was actually in 3D, not about how bad the actual movie was.

[@bkr1895]

My parents took me a kid even after I told them I thought it was gonna suck. Guess who was playing the I told you so game on the way home

[@KissyFishy0]

i went to an advance screening of this movie, and i was so excited about it, and there was a q&a after with somebody (maybe editor? no clue anymore but it wasn't m night) and i just remember everyone in the room being dumbfounded and then the questions were like "why did you do this" and everyone was upset.

[@MegaKaitouKID1412]

"random exposition" Mnight, look at the source material. I know they had more time to show, but they spent literally less time showing than you did telling! Thirty seconds of narration. Zoom on Sokka failing at hunting, quick exchange, anger, AANG. Not that hard. "the fact that Sokka and Katara are forced into adulthood doesn't have an effect on their character arc" I feel like it made it in because it was a huge part of both of them in the series, but never did anything with it because, yeah, no character arc at all. ALSO: the dialogue in Avatar: The Last Airbender was so good because, save some moments of narm, it was very REAL. It was concise, smart, witty, and interesting. It was a huge part of why the show was so good-- really, I'd say it was the characters that really made it, but good dialogue is a part of character so yeah. And Mnight would have done well to take a page out of their book. Concise, but smart/witty/interesting. Instead, we get lines like, "Is it okay if you tell me your name" instead of a "I'm Katara", "I'm A-Ahh-Ahh *sneeze, flys up in the air* I'm Aang." Or even just, "I'm Katara", "I'm Aang" would have been better and saved him more screentime to use for other things later compared to "Is it okay if you tell me your name?" Not to mention "The monks named me Aang." IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO NAMED YOU. DID THEY ORIGINALLY WRITE "I'm named Aang" AND THEN SOME STUPID ENGLISH FIRST YEAR UNDERGRAD EDITOR GO "No, passive voice is against the rules, we must add a subject to the sentence that does this verb of naming!" OR SOME SHIT?

[@shineinouzen7412]

Lol nice post. Yeah Avatar had epic dialogue. "I know you can do it Aang... for you have done it before" "Some friendships are so strong, they can even transcend lifetimes." "Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source." "Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations, can help you become whole." "You rise with the moon. I rise with the sun!" "It just keeps blowing up in my face! Like everything always does!" "Selfless duty requires you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world" "I'm just a guy with a boomerang, I didn't ask for all this flying, and magic!" "They don't know whose going to be sitting on that throne, but I know... And you know." "We are all one people, but we live as if divided." "I'm beginning to wonder whose really the blind one around here." "Flameo Hotman." And most epic of all... "MY CABBAGES!!!!"

[@shineinouzen7412]

What funny is that, even with all the exposition in the movie, the audience learns next to nothing about the characters or the world. Watching 2 min. intro to the first Avatar episode would tell them more. And that is great exposition with awesome visuals to boot.

[@rat488]

literal facepalm after "There is a spiritual place... The city was built around this place...." UGH.

[@ChrisLeeX]

Love your subtle comedic delivery. Laughed so much.

[@andrewxu3602]

The budget that went into this movie was almost certainly larger than the budget that went into the entire show.

[@stellabelikiewicz1523]

Yeesh, that’s depressing 😕

[@enzorocha2977]

The thing is, Shyamalan defends this film by saying critics don't get it (or something similar). But flail as he might, the evidence against him is overwhelming.

[@jaydun6106]

God, this whole film is literally Nickelodeon's feature length version of Jar Jar Binks.

[@MrTombombodil]

My favorite part of this is the bits showing how the show did such a clean and elegant job of delivering on these relationships, moments and sequences.

[@Nelster]

Aang has large nostrils. And this video was very educational on what makes good movie editing.

[@consentclub614]

Why does this comment kill me

[@Nelster]

@@consentclub614 I’m so sorry 😞 please don’t call the cops.

[@TheGreatUnwashedThing]

To add another point to the reason why the audience should have been shown Aang getting trapped in the ice - it is the first time the audience is shown the Avatar state and it is one where it is harmful to the main character. (Which I think is a good way to avoid deus ex machima.) You would think that if you have a scene which is a) important to the character's emotional/moral state at the start of the film and b) shows their super-powered god mode, it would get priority for being in the film.

[@lizardlegend42]

@Naukumaija Mau-mau for context this movie had a higher budget than any of the Lord of the Rings films individually. It cost $150 million not including marketing. Yet somehow it still faced absolutely massive budget restrictions when it came to the effects. Don't ask me where on earth that money went, I don't have any idea

[@SinHurr]

God that'd be like making a Dragonball movie then skipping over OH WAIT

[@agentjr]

I saw The Last Airbender once what feels like a lifetime ago, and this video is... Cathartic I'm really enjoying going through your backlog

[@Dryniel]

Man, if only there was some sort of show that didn't make all these mistakes. If only...

[@mehmeh2255]

Daniël Dekkers If only.... If only there was a tv show Emnight could have used as an excellent storyboard....

[@extremelyhappysimmer]

i mean aangs scream sounded genuine enough. like he was actually distraught. not like some under acted scream where theyre just kind of talking louder

[@HieronymusHeim]

"where they open their word holes and make some noises" :D

[@vt_973]

Dang, I can't even look at the footage without cringing.

[@Lorefall]

You've watched this movie 4 times!!! wow... your a trooper

[@indiestripper5374]

What I just don' t understand is how did it get this bad. This film breaks literally every rule I've learned in film school. How did a famous director do this badly. Like does he just not know how to make a good movie???

[@kneau]

Lack of twists? I’m being sincere; endeavoring to adapt intellectual property other than his own (regardless how creative/intransitive), seemingly became an observably taxing exercise in coloring within the lines.

[@Djiril922]

It occurred to me watching the cartoon show that this is essentially "Game of Thrones" for kids (in terms of how much time it put into creating a richly detailed world and characters with complex inner lives, not the sex and violence.) There was no reason to try to condense the first season into a 2-hour movie.

[@euansmith3699]

The use of the Planet of the Apes clip with the sound off really got me giggling. It was a great device to sum up your earlier points.

[@brianmarini1888]

you watched this FOUR TIMES?! How? What drugs did you use?

[@mehmeh2255]

Brian Marini The intent rage to find all its flaws and tear it to shreds on KZbin

[@Pandaemoni]

1:16 The seat cushion behind the narrating box-puppet looks angry.

[@geekjokes8458]

just be grateful that they didn't get to azula

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

M. Night Shyamalan is a textbook example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Look it up.

[@DoveAlexa]

Honestly, it makes me want to look up his background more than anything. When and where did he pick up The Village way of making your characters talk?

[@aninditafarzana2773]

I heard it was a bedtime story for his kids

[@schwarzerritter5724]

+cheezemonkeyeater Maybe? He did make some good films when he started out and then went downhill. Maybe it is the same way it was with George Lukas. Eventually he got so confident that he stopped asking for advice and surrounded himself with yes-men.

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

The weird thing is, even his first two films have some serious flaws to them. There dialogue is really awkward at times and there are a few directorial moments that are off, but the plots for those are so well done that you don't notice. But then his third film, he just starts falling apart. My guess is that he had less control over the editing and cinematography in the first two films and then the studios decided to let him handle everything, to their detriment. But that's just a guess.

[@darKILLusionnn]

At least Split seems to be a decent movie. That's just what I heard though.

[@uchihaitachifan00666]

you poor man having to watch this film 4 times as if once wasn't bad enough.

[@phantomkitten73]

We have The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and then we have just about everything else... Shyamalan is a man that just broke.

[@hypnauticasleepsounds9329]

Still love the classic videos

[@annietrinity1833]

I usually love videos making fun of bad movies. But everything I've seen of your videos has been so intelligent so far I was genuinely disappointed that this wasn't a dissection of the original TV series. I'd love to see that.

[@SinHurr]

"A:TLA is the single greatest piece of animation to come out of the Western hemisphere." Easy, done.

[@lacidar3752]

This video drew my attention to how much narration katara gives. I hear the reason for the whitewashing was a producer demanding his daughter (katara’s actress) get the role and logical extension from that. This makes me feel like she had a line quota.

[@187btokes]

Would you have called it black washing is her character was black? Probably not. I thought in today's culture it was understood that it shouldn't matter what race the OC's characters were. They are fictional right?

[@cdshop1301]

"Is there a spirtual place, where I can meditate?" got to me for some reason

[@Furore2323]

Did you have a happy cat on your lap the whole time you were recording dialogue, or are my headphones dying? :P

[@FoldingIdeas]

+Furore2323 No, this apartment had a lot of sound problems, and I was only there for a couple months.

[@Furore2323]

I figured, I was being a silly. But I do like how you respond to peeps who ask you a question. BEST WISHES FOR YOUR MOVIE! I hope it really goes well in every way.

[@Furore2323]

PS. I also hope the whole crew got to eat a lot of poutine.

[@purplestonehenge4501]

That last line was just perfect =)

[@BloodyRomance1313]

Everything about this movie pisses me off. I remember paying a lot of money to see this in 3D on the opening day. I've never been more disappointed. Shyamalan can literally suck it.

[@FrankLightheart]

The more I think about it, the more I realize that no one gave a single fuck when they made this. Shyamalan may have fallen from grace as a movie director, but even at his worst he was still capable of better than his job on "Last Air Bender". It's so puzzling. He seriously should've known every single one of these points you brought up, but he did them anyway. That's why I suspect the movie turned out like it did because no one really bothered to put any real effort into it. They didn't care. "Avatar" deserved better than that.

[@spacecadet9663]

God, the opening to this series and the aesthetics of the puppets is giving me some major Mystery Science Theater 3000 vibes.

[@aturchomicz821]

Geee I wonder why🤔

[@spookyspoots]

Witty, scalding, yet fair

[@flushnutch1605]

Really though, everything this movie should have been, the cartoon is. We'll always have that so i'm content with this movie sucking.

[@masonthewarriorful]

Open their word holes and make noises🤣🤣

[@leandervr]

Cool an episode on one of my favorite shows! ... Oh fuck, I'd managed to forget that this abomination happened.

[@aprilk141]

Yo! That robot's chair is staring at you.

[@artemiswalsh126]

I just noticed that one extremely close-to-the-face shot doesn't show his tattoos at all. Do you think that has something to do with it?

[@kentcampbell122]

god you looked so young in this video, such a square jaw

[@aturchomicz821]

Ouch💀

[@julian281198]

This movie is like this one time in school you had to read a book for and the teacher wants you and your friends to make a movie about it. You and your friends have never read the book nor have any interest in making a movie about it. One person reads a summary about the book and makes some bullets point of the stuff that should be in the movie. After filming this mess you notice that this whole thing doesnt makes any sense and a lot is missing so you add some extra scenes, to provide some kind of structure and a minimum resemblance of the original. Then comes the day of the Premiere and you decide to skip school this day, because you dont want to face the embarrassment.

[@starmanda88]

>open their word holes and make noises at each other That's really all you need to know lol.

[@iKadaj]

this is hilarious xD "wow. look at that interesting thing. over there. on the right." hahaha

[@ToriHiragana]

"The monks named me Aang." WHO INTRODUCES THEMSELVES LIKE THIS?? Did they take this script from a 6 year olds writing assignment? That's how you'd a stray dog you brought home

[@x3no]

Seeing this movie as a young adult with my girlfriend who was also a major fan of the animated series like me, very early in the movie we looked at each other and knew already that this was going to be a horrible horrible movie. We’re long broken up now but still occasionally text each other and ask “Remember when we saw Last Airbender together in high school?” and share a good laugh. I have a similar text thread with a girl I briefly dated and saw Suicide Squad with

[@EvanMorgan0]

I got excited but then realized it was about the movie. rip.

[@acehealer4212]

I appreciate someone being honest about making a low effort video whining about a movie they didn’t like. I also appreciate beating the dead ostrich-horse that is The Last Airbender. Lord knows this movie deserves it.

[@jlachman381]

And now we finally have another adaptation so we can argue about which one is worse!

[@allison576]

For the first time I know why the channel icon looks like that

[@lolwatchthis6039]

I have a hard time believing that this shit is real.

[@paradoxacres1063]

It looked like a bad parody of the show, to be honest.

[@Conservative4]

It is bizarre, isn’t it? We dissect the faults, the causes, and the blame... but we still don’t have the “why?”. How was this brought into existence the way it was? WHY did M Night think these were good ideas? He’s made better movies. WHY did everyone let him do this? *WHY* did he reproduce an entirely different script? Why did *HE* reproduce an entirely different script? None of it feels in any way like it was ever supposed to exist. It fell out of some hole in a universe where everyone lost their minds. SOMEONE TELL ME WHY THIS WAS MADE THE WAY IT WAS.

[@matthewmuir8884]

Here, let me help you: there is no The Last Airbender movie within the walls of Ba Sing Se. The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laoghai.

[@AliceDiableaux]

Aaaahh I clicked on this thinking it would be about the best tv show ever made and it's about the movie!! Nope nope nope