Earlier this week The Last Airbender opened in the cinemas, it is based on an Anime style cartoon which tells the story of a young boy named Aang the last of a race of humans who can manipulate (bend) air and happens to be the current incarnation of the avatar, who is the master of all four elements and the bridge between the human world and the spirit world. Thus I take this opportunity to write a review about the animated cartoon which has inspired the movie.
The story revolves around Aang who was frozen in ice for a hundred years without realizing it, a hundred years later when the ice is broken thanks to Katara and Sokka and Aang discovers that he is the last of the airbenders. Afterwards the story starts to follow his attempts in mastering the other three Elements (Water, Earth and Fire) in order to stop the Fire Nation which is waging war on the entire world.
The Story is cut in to 3 parts called books, each book named after one of the elements Aang is trying to master and in that book he begins learning the said element, book one is called Water, book two Earth and book three Fire. Each book contains at least one major war which helps the main characters to grow and mature.
there are 7 main characters that appear in all three books however an eighth joins in the second book, i found the adding of a new character in to the original group an interesting move, though sceptical about it at first the new character fit in the group perfectly, like ebony and ivory fit Dante in the DMC Games.
The story is what I would call a serious comedy, there many comic events, actions and reactions throughout the story however the main plot elements remain of a serious nature which happen to reflect a world at war with the Fire nation on one side and the Earth kingdom and water tribes on another. Some of the plot elements could be shown to reflect the current world, but that’s politics and those who wish to discuss please do.
It is the first time in a very long while that have I found an American cartoon that I thought this is worth watching, the story is enjoyable, there is a comedy, romantic factor and action, all which complement each other and make the experience enjoyable and does not boar the viewer.
It gets a 9/10 in my books, with the missing mark being on the fact that some episodes are nothing more than filler episodes.
