the last airbender

So, M. Night Shyamalan Still Wants to Make ‘The Last Airbender 2’

the last airbender 2

Before we go any further, let’s get my opinion straight. I’m speaking to M. Night Shyamalan directly when I say, STAY AWAY FROM AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. FOREVER.

There, that’s all I wanted to say, aside from the rest of this.

Strangely, some people don’t blame the once promising director for the insulting mess that was 2010’s The Last Airbender, including Shyamalan himself. We’ll get to the lunacy of that, but first I should mention that this is still a minority opinion. A terrible opinion, but a minority opinion all the same.

Venture Capitol Post posted an article yesterday with an unforgivably misleading title that shocked and scared the eyes of hopefully only tens of readers:

‘Avatar: The Last Airbender 2’ Confirmed: Director M. Night Shyamalan Defends 1st Film from Longstanding Criticism.

Um…No, this movie is most certainly NOT confirmed. Obvious clickbait headline isn’t just clickbait. It’s actually beyond clickbait, transcending into a full on clicksnare.

the last airbender 2
This will teach readers to skim my lede.

Nowhere in the article does it say that The Last Airbender 2 has been “confirmed.” They don’t even get the name of the movie right in the title, which should be the first red flag.

No, this article only covers a few link shares to other articles published over the last few months that point out Shyamalan’s interest in continuing the franchise. In fact, I can’t find anything new or relevant in this article to explain why it even exists. So let’s keep going!

‘Avatar: The Last Airbender 2’ director M. Night Shyamalan continued to defend his first film from long-standing criticism. He is also reported ready to push through with a sequel.

Source? Nope. There’s no source for this at all. Venture Capital Post just asserts this and moves on like it’s not the biggest bombshell fans of the animated series have seen since the first reviews for The Last Airbender came out. Who edited this?

According to Movie Pilot, the filmmaker was not to blame for the Nickelodeon cartoon adaptation’s failure with critics and audiences alike.

First, it’s Moviepilot, not “Movie Pilot.” Also, they’re shamelessly sourcing an opinionated article not written by Moviepilot staff, but written by someone who’s never seen an episode of the show they’re talking about. I’m not making that up.

Let’s jump over to that “Movie Pilot” article and see what writer Rohan Mohmand has to say (and yes, it’s ironic he shares the name of Tenzin’s son).

M.Night Shyamalan is an original thinker.

Nope, nope, keep going. You can do it, Jon.

I still haven’t seen the respective show,

Wow. Yeah, so Rohan sings Shyamalan’s praises for a few paragraphs, citing that the early success for the filmmaker based on his only two widely accepted movies, The 6th Sense and Unbreakable (a case can be made for Signs, but not a good one) lends to the fact that the failure of The Last Airbender has nothing to do with him.

Because directors don’t make both good and bad movies, according to Rohan. Especially when they’ve made like five abysmal movies in a row. You know what came out before The Last Airbender? Oh, just a little train wreck called The Happening.

In that movie, the “original” Shyamalan presented a world where plants make us kill ourselves. And that’s when we learned that originality doesn’t necessarily make something good.

Today, it has been almost six years since its release, and whenever someone brings the subject of The Last Airbender it is Shyamalan to blame.

Is this a surprise? He’s writing this like it’s not valid to blame the person who spent the most time making the movie happen and overseeing its execution for how bad it is. Granted, not every movie is bad because of the direction, but how can you argue that The Last Airbender doesn’t suffer from its many Shyamalanisms?

the last airbender 2
“Let’s do ANOTHER closeup so we can see how bad the scar is!”

But Rohan’s not finished. He cites an interview Shyamalan had with IGN about this (sorry about the inception-level article sourcing. It’s not my fault, I’m only the director of this article).

This is from Shyamalan, explaining what went wrong with the movie:

“My child was nine-years-old. So you could make it one of two ways: you could make it for that same audience, which is what I did, for nine and 10-year-olds, or you could do the ‘Transformers’ version and have Megan Fox. I didn’t do that.”

First, that last line, “I didn’t do that” wasn’t cited by Rohan for some unexplainable reason, so I added it. Second, what world does Shyamalan live in?

You know what else was made for nine and 10-year-olds? Avatar the Last Airbender, which is considered by many to be one of the greatest animated series of all time. But it’s not geared toward people who like Transformers, so Shyamalan had to “adjust.”

What kind of backwards opinion is this? Your movie sucks because you made it for kids? Have you ever seen a Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks Animation movie? You think those movies are hits because they appeal to adults ONLY? No, they appeal to a wide demographic. Kids AND adults can watch a movie like Beauty and the Beast.

the last airbender 2
Which was ONLY the first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture. That’s all! 

In what universe do you have to believe that if you shoot for a wider demographic, you end up creating something akin to Transformers?! You know what, I actually can believe that someone as deluded as M. Night Shyamalan believes he’s making bad movies because he thinks anything else is Transformers. That’s the same delusion that must be related to his obvious and utter failure to understand how to make a kids’ movie, or why a good kids’ movie is good. 

Rohan (hopefully) digresses:

Defending his film, there’s nothing that we can do, for as the director, and also as a fan of the show, Shyamalan has all the rights. But, the question is, is he really the person to blame for the failure of The Last Airbender?

YES. Is this a trick question?

The answer to the question above is a “no.”

I hate everything.

Shyamalan is not to blame for the failure of the film. In fact, he is owed an apology.

Should I punch my computer now?

Last summer, Joblo penned a piece spreading the word, the story behind the making of The Last Airbender, divulged passionately on the AvatarSpirit.net forums.

So now we’re officially sourcing forums.

The story, however, is no longer available on the forum.

I wonder why.

It was published by someone who worked on the production of the film and the increased attention got her concerned as her career was going to be in jeopardy.

How do you know this? And can’t you also argue that she took it down because it was full of false information skewed by her opinion? Nope, let’s just take this at face value and source it as evidence.

I’ll give you the gist. This person claims that 80% of the decisions for The Last Airbender came from the producers, including the casting of the girl who played Katara.

last airbender 2
Yeah, I don’t remember her name either.

She argues that this casting was nepotism on part of the producers, and it resulted in them having to alter the ethnicities of many other characters, leading to the major backlash this movie suffered from before it even came out. None of the characters looked the part.

Only later would we realize that none of the actors acted the part either. Katara herself lost all of her best moments from the show (holding her own against Zuko, giving the inspiring speech to the earthbenders), and Sokka’s cleverness and wit was replaced with…brooding and being serious all the time.

the last airbender 2
Your meat and sarcasm guy.

Of course, Rohan would know this if he had watched an episode of the show.

The disgruntled forum hacker blames everything on the producers. The lack of budget, the story changes, the effects not looking right. Basically, she props up the basic challenges of any film as something that the director couldn’t control.

Except, we’re not talking about a novice director. We’re talking about M. Night Shyamalan, who at this point in his career DID have clout as a film director. I can understand a newcomer like Colin Trevorrow getting steamrolled while making Jurassic World, but you can’t give someone like Shyamalan the same pass.

And this unknown person claims that Shyamalan just gave up because none of his ideas went through. In other words, he didn’t do his job of upholding good ideas, so he’s the victim.

You know who else “gave up” on their movie? Josh Trank with Fantastic Four. You know why everyone still blames him, even after writing that cringe Tweet? Because he’s the director. It’s his JOB to salvage what the producers pick apart.

the last airbender 2
“I wanted to give you good direction, but the producers said I can’t.”

And blame the producers all you want for getting in the way. You CAN’T, however, blame them for the execution. You can’t blame the producers for the gross mispronunciation of the characters’ names. That was from Shyamalan. You can’t blame the horrendous closeups and terrible camera work. That was from Shyamalan. You certainly can’t blame the bland dialogue and writing that comes from every other Shyamalan movie and is present here (because he wrote it).

What, were these the same producers who made The Happening happen?

So Rohan concludes, claiming that Shyamalan is classy for taking the responsibility and not blaming anyone else. That’s fine. But you’re in a dream within a dream if you really think he’s not to blame for why this movie still causes physical and emotional pain for any fan of the show who’s reminded of it.

Back to Venture Capital Post, who is spinning the wheels of what you can get away with in an article that does no real work:

It is undeniable that Shyamalan is a master writer-director in his own right with successful supernatural films under his belt including ‘Lady in the Water’, ‘The Village’, ‘Signs’, ‘Unbreakable’ and 1999’s cult favorite ‘The Sixth Sense’.

No.

Just…no. It is not “undeniable.” It is, in fact, incredibly deniable that Shyamalan is a “MASTER” because only two and half of those movies were well-received by critics. Lady in the Water? Seriously? The movie that received a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes before it was “cool” to make fun of Shyamalan?

Look, I love The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable as much as anyone. And I didn’t “hate” Signs and The Village. But to call the man a master is hyperbole, and saying it’s “undeniable” is transcending hyperbole. 

the last airbender 2
How do I sleep at night? 

But Venture digresses. The writer points out what Rohan did — that Shyamalan said to IGN once that The Last Airbender is made for nine and 10-year-olds instead of everyone who else who watches Transformers, which is why “you don’t get it.” Virtually ignoring every other kids’ film that has proven the exact opposite.

Then Venture rightfully acknowledges that the creators of Avatar (Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante Dimartino) don’t even acknowledge that The Last Airbender even exists. Yeah, it’s the Lake Laogai running gag that us fans have been using to cope for five years now, and it’s pretty effective.

According to Den of Geek, Shyamalan planned to push through with a sequel as evidenced by the introduction of Prince Zuko’s sister, Azula, at the end of the first film.

Wait, that’s not according to Den of Geek, that’s painfully obvious from watching the movie. Did you really have to source a website to know that they planned to make this a trilogy? Is this real life?

However, despite previous news that he had already penned a first draft for the follow-up, no updates have come up since then.

This sentence flies in the face of the earlier one in this article, which claimed that the sequel WAS reportedly happening. Oh, and it also clashes with the headline of the entire article. This is real life.

You’re probably wondering why I’m going to so much trouble to rip these articles apart, and it’s for a few reasons. The biggest is that I don’t want someone to stumble across them and take them in as actual reporting. This is a PSA.

the last airbender 2

Second, I love this franchise more than any other on television. I love the characters. I love the animation. I love the world they created. I love the comics. I love the spin off. I love the fan art. I even love the pilot episode. OK, the video games are hit and miss, but I still enjoyed playing them.

So I’m going to dissent with writers like Rohan who let their love of Shyamalan get in the way of honest criticism. And for the most part, he does a good job of explaining why he loves this director and wants him to succeed. I have no problem with that, even though I disagree.

My main issue is with a website like Venture Capital Post for all of the reasons I’ve already gotten into. And if you come across garbage articles like this during your time on the Internet, then I hope you do the same and call them out for it. We deserve better.

On that note, I’d like to welcome you to Lake Laogai.

I’m Jon and thanks for reading this. You can subscribe to my posts by clicking “Follow” in the right sidebar. Or just say hey on Twitter! @JonNegroni

Dissecting the “Legend of Korra” Book 2 Trailer

www.nick.com
http://www.nick.com

The first trailer for the new season of Legend of Korra is finally upon us. Let’s take a close look at these latest revelations!

00:01-00:31 The first 30 seconds of the trailer give us the title of the Book, which is “Spirits.” Though we already know this, the trailer gets off to a great visual start featuring one of the bending circles in a great animation style. Because it’s blue, the circle is reminiscent of the spirit world, which is fitting of course.

00:32-00:33 A brief look at Tenzin and Korra as they meditate. Judging by the rest of the trailer, they are probably entering the Spirit World together.

00:34-00:38 Next we see Unalaq performing some waterbending moves in the middle of the night, probably in the North Pole. Unalaq is Korra’s uncle and the chief of both Water Tribes.

 00:38-00:40 Here we see Korra riding Naga in what appears to be a parade. It’s at night, so the parade is probably for her arrival, and the scenery suggests that this is the North Pole, explaining the crowd being celebratory.

00:40-00:41 The same scene cuts to Korra’s father, giving more evidence to this being the South Pole, but he has a somber look on his face as he looks on the parade. He is the only familiar face we’ve seen in this scene.

00:42-00:43 Hey, it’s Asami! And she is crying for some reason. Another clip from Comic Con shows us a brief glimpse into the first episode, where we see Asami  being told that Future Industries is going bankrupt due to her father’s crimes, and it’s up to her to save the company. There’s  no indication whether that’s what she’s worried about here, though.

00:44-00:46 The animation style changes here, and we see Wan for the first time. From what we know so far, Wan is the first Avatar who lived 10,000 years ago. He became the Avatar by being the first human to travel to the Spirit World. In this scene, Wan is wearing a dog mask and is fighting two warriors. One of them looks like a sumo wrestler crossed with a samurai. The scenery is very reminiscent of oriental art, kind of like the video game, Okami. In the fight scene, Wan makes quick work of his opponents using a spear.

00:46-48 Here we see Korra and Mako (I think it’s him) riding a plane into a blockade. Asami is probably the pilot. We now know that dark spirits aren’t the only obstacles Team Avatar will have to overcome this season. What’s troubling is that these look like the ships from the United Forces, led by Bumi and General Iroh.

00:49-00:50 We see Unalaq again shrouded by a blue light as he walks forward. I’m getting major vibes that he’s a bad guy for some reason. Maybe he’s a little jealous that his brother is the one who gave birth to the Avatar?

00:51-00:53 Now we see Tenzin air gliding around a waterfall. He has some strange light in his hands, maybe a lantern since this is at night. We are definitely at the North Pole, since that waterfall looks exactly like the ones we saw in Avatar: The Last Airbender. There’s something going down the waterfall, but I honestly can’t tell what it is. It almost looks like some kind of boat. We also see a figure on a rock, but I can’t make out who that is at all.

00:54-00:56 Next we see Mako and Bolin in what could be the North or South Pole. They are running towards an odd light with tendrils. They run into the light and vanish, leading me to believe that this is some kind of portal to the Spirit World.

00:56-00:59 Immediately, we see Korra and Jinora (Tenzin’s oldest daughter) meditating by a tree. As they sit, Jinora is covered by a green aura that isn’t around Korra. The scene changes behind them to reveal the Spirit World, a light green hill with odd vegetation. It looks like Korra has found a way to transport her friends with her to the Spirit World. I’m excited that this season will be using Jinora more, as she is bound to be a great addition to Team Avatar.

1:00-1:02 The trailer reveals a dark spirit to us that is running on a hillside close to a city at night. I’m more convinced now that we’ve been seeing the North Pole all this time, since that is definitely not what the South Pole looked like in Book 1, plus it makes sense that the North Pole is more technologically advanced. During this scene, the dark spirit runs toward the camera at a crazy speed.

1:02-1:04 Here we see Korra going into the Avatar State. Behind her is a fence and what appears to be some kind of festival, though we can only see huts. We see her levitating as she transitions.

1:04-1:05 The scene then changes to a murky body of water as Korra rises out of it, much like she was moving in the last scene, though there’s no scenery connection between them. This is a setting we haven’t seen in the trailer yet, though it could be related to the blockade.

1:06-1:07 Next, we see a battle between two small ships at night. This is a tough scene to dissect since it’s so dark, but two things are clear. One of the ships is using literal fire to attack the other,  so it’s likely a firebender ship. The other ship reveals a blue logo on its back, suggesting that this is a water tribe ship. I’m trying hard not to make any assumptions, though.

1:07-1:08 The scene changes to a winter forest, and we see crystals being hurled off camera. The scene might take place in the spirit world judging by the odd shape of the trees.

1:09-1:10 Here we see Korra in a dark cave, probably in the North Pole, striking the ground, which is glowing. Judging by how icy the ground looks, this could be the spirit oasis from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

1:11-1:12 Okay, this next scene is a little trippy. We’re back in the past again during the time of the first Avatar. We see what appears to be the Spirit World as Wan discovers it for the first time. We see what appear to be animal spirits running from something in the first scene, and Wan is watching them in the background. We then see Wan close up, worried about something. We also see air currents rushing from the background towards Wan. It almost looks like something is airbending towards him. Also, he is accompanied by what appears to be his animal guide. It looks like a reindeer with odd horns and is carrying his belongings.

1:12-1:14 Now we see Korra in a forest surrounding by small, purple spirits that almost look like will-o-wisps with eyes. She begins to follow them somewhere.

1:14-1:16 This next scene shows Mako in what is probably Republic City. He is firebending against something we can’t see, and it looks like he is in his police uniform.

1:16-1:18 We then see Korra earthbending and waterbending (her hair is down for some reason) in a rocky plateau.  Something weird is going on with the sky, as it is shades of purple, suggesting that this could be the Spirit World, which wouldn’t make sense since you can’t bend in the Spirit World. Some kind of cosmic event must be happening, like their version of the “northern lights,” which is why we see Korra in her warm clothes.

1:19-1:20 Here we see two waterbenders gliding down a cliff with ice casings around their feet. The setting looks similar to the one we just saw with Korra. Though we can’t see the face of one of the benders, we know that the other is Eska or Desna, Korra’s cousins. They’re fraternal twins, and it’s likely that this scene shows both of them.

1:20-1:23 Next, we see Korra falling down a waterfall in a cave. This could be the same waterfall we saw earlier with Tenzin, but the scenery looks different.

1:24-1:26 Yay, it’s Jinora again! Here, she is riding a flying spirit over what looks like the Wan Shi Tong’s Library from Avatar: The Last Airbender (and I just realized that the first Avatar is named Wan, like the Owl Spirit). We can see a figure on the walkway, but I can’t tell who it is.

1:26-1:27 Now here’s a beautiful shot. We see a fleet of United Forces ships with the sun rising on the horizon. I’m so excited to see how far they push the visuals this season.

1:28-1:30 Back to Mako! Here we see him fighting something off-screen in front of the glowing tendril portal that we saw earlier, but Bolin isn’t here at the moment. Still, this is definitely what was going on right before they jumped into the portal.

1:30-1:31 Ugh, the trailer is being repetitive. We’re back to that scene where Korra (with her hair down) is waterbending in that North Pole plateau with the strange lights.

1:31-1:32 Next we see Asami driving a boat in Republic City with Mako in the back seat. Asami swerves the boat and we see Korra flying in the air right behind her. I can’t really tell what just happened, but it seems like Asami swerved to avoid Korra.

1:32-1:33 Now we see Wan in the Spirit World again facing a giant spirit frog. I have a feeling his arc is going to be pretty interesting.

1:33-1:34 It’s Wan Shi Tong! We see him land in front of Jinora, as intense as ever. Is he the spirit of Wan, the first Avatar? Or is he a spirit named after Wan? It’s hard to tell, but an interesting catch is that Wan Shi Tong says he is “the one who knows 10,000 things” in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Is there a link between that and how Wan existed 10,000 years ago?

1:35-1:37 The scene cuts to Wan (interesting) firebending at those air currents we saw earlier. They look like air dragons here. If he’s firebending, then either you can bend in the Spirit World, or we were never there in the first place, and that last scene was just weird-looking animals running from spirits.

1:37-1:39 Here we see Tenzin and his siblings, Bumi and Kya, being pushed off of a cliff by a red spirit we haven’t seen yet. It almost looks like the one we saw in the library earlier with Jinora. They look like they’re in the Earth Kingdom here.

1:39-1:41 The scene changes to Korra in some kind of Avatar vision. She’s surrounded by a purple aura in the starry sky. This is very similar to what Aang saw when was mastering the Avatar State with Guru Pathick in Avatar: The Last Airbender. We see other Avatars flashing before her. First we see Roku, then Kyoshi.

1:42-1:45 Next we see a giant crocodile spirit chasing Korra and Jinora underwater in the Spirit World. It pretty much swallows them before the scene cuts.

1:46-1:47 We then see Korra staring at something offscreen in the middle of the day. We see shards of what appears to be ice and/or water falling around her.

1:47-1:49 This scene shows Mako doing police work in Republic City. This is part of the scene where he catches a group of bending criminals in a truck. He slides his motorcycle in front him since he’s, well Mako.

1:49-1:51 Here we see a strange, yellow light expand and explode like fireworks in a forest. It looks like Korra is underneath it, but I’m not sure. Tenzin, Bumi, and Kya are watching from the side.

1:52-1:53 This is a quick shot of Bolin in a winter forest like the one we saw before. He is clearly fighting someone, possible near that spirit portal.

1:53-1:54 Next we see Eska and Desna waterbending on a body of water, very similar to the one Korra was levitating out of earlier in the trailer.

1:55-1:59 We then see Wan getting hit by what looks like spirit energy and it’s going right through him. This looks just like the spirit energy Aang used to “spiritbend” in Avatar: The Last Airbender, when took Ozai’s bending away. This is likely the process for how Wan became the Avatar, the first bridge between the human and spirit world.

1:59-2:00 We then see a quick shot of Korra doing bending forms in front of a tree, similar to the one she and Jinora were meditating in front of.

2:00-2:01 Here we see Unalaq again fighting against an unseen firebender. He’s inside what looks like some kind of prison. This is also another allusion to a possible conflict between water and firebenders, or it could just be Korra and/or Mako being at odds with him.

2:02-2:04 I definitely love this scene where we see Wan being the Avatar. He is between what looks to be humans and spirits who are probably in the middle of a conflict. He rises in the air, bending every element in an orb, exactly like the one Aang used to defeat Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender. We now know that Aang called upon Wan’s experience when he defeated Ozai.

2:04-2:10 The last scene! It’s a bit confusing. We see Korra in her Republic City attire touching a ball of spirit energy in what looks like the plateau from earlier. What’s weird is that her clothes indicate this is a scene removed from the plateau scenes we saw earlier, since she was wearing her warm clothes in those scenes and had her hair down. But the lights in the sky look exactly the same. I’m not sure what to make of this scene. As Korra touches the ball of energy, she goes into the Avatar State and the trailer fades to black, telling us that the season will be starting in September.

I have to say this is not my favorite trailer from the Avatar series. For one thing, it was missing the iconic soundtrack they’ve used throughout the series and replaced it with a somber one that changed little throughout the trailer.

Some of the scenes were odd or didn’t really fit, but I was pleased by all of the revelations. The scenes with Wan and Wan Shi Tong (if they’re not the same person) were the best, but the Korra scenes were pretty lame and underwhelming.

Still, I’m glad we got to see something besides dark spirits, and we definitely learned a lot about what the plot will be focusing on for Book 2. I can’t wait!

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the “follow” button in the top-left corner.

Don’t forget to check out New Professional News, a list of headlines essential for any new professional, updated daily at 8am.

Retronalysis: Can We Reboot “The Last Airbender” Already?

2 years ago, we were handed one of the worst movies of all time that was depicting one of the greatest animated series of all time. Our feelings were hurt when The Last Airbender (TLA) failed to capture the greatness of Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA).

With the rising popularity and success of the animated series’ successor, The Legend of Korra, it’s high-time that Hollywood try again with the Avatar series while the timing is still good.

By the way, I spent a lot of time talking about social media last week, so expect this week to be a little more entertainment-heavy.

Now, let’s get some basic points out of the way. ATLA is my favorite animated series of all time. Debuting in 2005, this show had everything I could possibly want in a sprawling epic.

Amazing animation (it is an American cartoon animated in South Korea), deep and interesting lore, a high-stakes storyline (making it accessible for an older audience), some of the most memorable characters on television, and even humor.

So, making a movie out of this show should have been a cinch. As we understand it, the show’s studio gave Hollywood a lot of freedom with the story, over $150 million was put into its production, and the show lends itself very nicely to a trilogy since it was made with three seasons.

The movie even had M. Night Shyamalan directing it.

Well, okay, all of these things ended up being a negative. Hollywood ruined the story because they had too much freedom, they spent way too much money on the wrong things, making three movies meant changing the length of the story to keep up with aging actors, and M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed it.

If you haven’t seen the movie or know what I’m talking about, watch these videos that recap everything wrong with the movie pretty perfectly (SPOILERS from here on out).

The question being asked by some is whether or not Shyamalan will follow-up this disaster of a movie with a sequel the movie begged.

Obviously, no one outright wants it, but the movie did manage make $300 million worldwide. So, the movie does make sense financially, if not critically.

Still, that’s no guarantee the sequel will manage to pull off the same magic, especially if none of the first movie’s mistakes are corrected.

That said, I have two possible solutions that would please everyone.

We should either reboot the first movie or go the way of The Incredible Hulk (Most people did not like Ang lee’s Hulk that came out in 2003, so 2008’s The Incredible Hulk served as an unofficial sequel to the 2003 film).

A reboot is the nice solution, because it would take less effort to rework the movie’s mistakes.

Here’s my wish-list for a reboot:

1. Change the writers. The animated series had different writers for almost all of their episodes. Tapping into their talent for a movie just makes sense, especially since they’re the biggest reason (along with the creators) why the series was successful.

2. Pronounce the names correctly. Shyamalan decided that the names in the show were not pronounced correctly in Asian. That was misguided, considering the show takes place in an alternate world influenced by Asian themes, not Asia. Changing the pronunciation did nothing but annoy all of the show’s fans.

3. Change the casting strategy. In the movie, the Fire Nation was depicted by Indians, the Water Tribe was caucasian, the Earth Kingdom was chinese, and the Air Nomads were diverse. This doesn’t make sense alongside the show at all.

The Fire Nation was clearly influenced by the Japanese, which we see in their culture, architecture, and how we find out later on that “firebending” originated with dragons. So, why not carry that over to the movie? Also, a Japanese actor playing Zuko would be way more interesting.

The Earth Kingdom makes way more sense as the “diverse” nation because they are largest. Even the show implies this, since Zuko and Iroh were able to pass as Earth Kingdom refugees in season 2, and many of the characters in this part of the world look very different from each other.

The Water Tribe is composed of two separate tribes, the North and South Pole. You can get away with having Europeans depict the North Pole, but Katarra and Sokka should just be darker skinned like they are in the show to please the fans. A “white” Katarra is just too much of a change, and our pop culture could really use more diversity anyways.

Also, Dev Patel would’ve made a far better Sokka than Jason Rathbone. Sokka is humorous and very animated. Patel’s “Anwar” in Skins was one of the most animated characters in that show, so why not give him a character with more to do?

Finally, the Air Nomads should be Chinese for the same reason that the Fire Nation should be Japanese. They clearly represent Tibetan monks, and we’d have an easier time casting a child actor for Aang who can handle all of the physical stunts throughout the trilogy.

4. Rework the plot. The first season of Avatar is the most challenging to compress into one movie because almost every episode is “standalone.” It’s basically about a group of friends travelling the world having various adventures.

That said, the movie left a lot of really critical characters out, including the Kyoshi Warriors and King Bumi, who play major roles in the other seasons. 

Here’s how I would break it down: The first act would focus on Aang, Sokka, and Katarra. We needed that more in TLA, which glossed over major character development points.

The second act should introduce us to the Kyoshi Warriors and King Bumi, who could be Aang’s method of receiving his world-saving mission from Roku. This could all culminate with Book 1’s most important episode, The Blue Spirit, which teaches us a lot more about Zuko.

Finally the third act would focus on the North Pole, giving us more time to commit to Yue’s character, Aang’s confrontation with Koh, the fight between Zuko, Katarra, and Zhao, and Aang’s epic fight against the entire Fire Nation navy.

5. Make the movie longer. Yes, this is a kid’s movie, but that didn’t stop us from letting Harry Potter have at least 2 hours, and there’s really no other way to tell the show’s story.

I’d go on, but you get the point. A reboot would be a much-needed, major overhaul of the 2011 iteration.

As I said before, we could also just skip the reboot and do the sequel as an unofficial follow-up to the reboot I just described. After all, season 2 of the show was far more like a serialized saga with major set pieces, making a movie easier to create.

Or we could leave ATLA alone and just skip to a prequel for Legend of Korra. After all, who wouldn’t want to see a young version of Korra mastering water, earth, and fire?