Just saw the movie. It was fine.

I think the primary issue has to do with people's inability to generously disassociate the movie form the animation. And I'm saying this honestly because I initially had that attitude at the beginning of the movie.

I read a few "reviews" before hitting the theatre and %90 of them began with the message somewhere along the lines of "I really loved the cartoon!" -- and that's where the problem lies. The movie may be based on the cartoon, but it is not the cartoon; it is not animated, not given the luxury of a series of episodes, nor is it full of explosive expressions, which is what makes the characters who they are in the cartoon.

"The acting was mediocre." They are kids. And, frankly, they did well for their roles. Has it been lost in consideration that a majority of the voice-acting used in the cartoon is done by adults? And that the physical acting in the cartoon is not all that physical after all? They're drawings. Voice-acting and animation makes for a more highly controllable presentation in comparison to live-action.

"The only highlight was the action, and there was few action scenes." Bullshit. I don't remember where I read that, but I was remembering how absurd that sounded when I found myself satisfied by the amount of action taking place. Yes, the effects were a highlight... but the action was far from rare... and, might I add, the choreography was surprisingly good, considering the intricacies involved in some of their real martial-arts-based movements.

"It was too fast paced." That's right. I agree, it was fairly fast paced. However, I also remembered, again, that it was not the cartoon, which had the luxury of a dozen episodes to gracefully present the plot. In this case, the beginning and middle were fast-paced (in comparison to the cartoon) to cover more ground and set-up the main conflict -- all within the trime-frame of a single sitting. I found that if you can somehow manage to forget the cartoon, you can appreciate the scenes more.

"The casting was racist." I don't think so. I'm asian; I would've liked to see more asian actors... but I didn't mind... because the casting was not entirely bad. Some people think Ang should be pure asian... but there are a number of qualities needed to be filled in order to match the character of Ang: he had to be young, childish yet mature, fluent in english, and preferably capable of acrobatics or martial arts. The kid had it. Not to mention, he had genuine martial arts skills, and is half asian. And his two inuit companions? How many blue-eyed inuits will you find that match most of the qualities needed for the roles?

Shymalan was not simply mirroring the cartoon. He was attempting to convert the world into a more realistic dimension. There are people saying there were not enough East Asians... but I saw East Asians! I also saw Caucasians, African Americans, Indians, and Latinos. Note: There were hardly if not no black characters in the cartoon. I saw a literally ethnically-mixed cast. The fact that people are accusing him of racism is kind of ironic.

In the end, I do wish there were more ambient scenes, though that's just my taste. There was a lot of missed content from the cartoon, and I think that's what irked the hardcore fans the most. Taking into consideration how difficult it is to recreate the same attachment developed in the cartoon under significantly more limited circumstances, I think people should be a lot less anal about the whole thing...
The graphics and settings were beautiful, the characters were mostly accurate, and the action was not lacking.

It is not the series. It is not prodominantly composed of East Asians. It is not as graceful as the animated version... but its not all as horrible as the parrots gossip it is, either.

Just my opinion.

The reviews I read mostly blamed the acting on the script they had to work with. But yes the fact they were kids was also hinted at.

While you were satisfied with the action, the anime had much more to offer than action. It was a humanistic tale with a surprising amount of drama for something aimed at 6-12 year olds.

I dont know... they managed to successfully translate the Lord of the Rings books. Its not an impossible feat to accomplish. Difficult but not impossible.

Its not as simple as that. Throwing in token minorities doesnt counter accusations of racism. The fact is that it was a world based on Asian folklore and mythology so naturally Asian leads should have been considered (if you dont agree then I pose my Lord of the rings question to you... would a tale based on European myth and folklore go down well with you if it had a cast of Asian and Africans?) so it is puzzling why Asian actors almost make up none of the cast.

Though as I said before, if M Night Shyamalan reimagined the world then that takes care of criticisms of racism regarding the casting but it also asks the question... why would the film NEED to be reimagined? I suspect that this had more to do with making it marketable to an America that may not respond well to a cast made up mostly of Asians rather than a decision that had any racist agenda behind it. But the decision itself to cave into such a demand is still racist and thats another reason why people are saying its racist.

Again.. It seems Lord of the rings got it right...

I saw the movie tonight.

The acting was awful. Kids can act. They just didn't hire kids who could act.

For a movie that was over an hour and a half, there is maybe 15 minutes of actual action. That action is impressive, especially at the end, but it wasn't always easy to follow.

It was fast paced, which made me lost. I never watched the cartoon before. I wasn't sure who I was supposed to care about or why.

Considering this isn't set on planet Earth (right?) I don't know how it is racist.

Again... I havent seen the movie and am unlikely to go to see it considering the tsunami of bad reviews it has got.

But what I was hoping for was an Eastern epic with the scale of Lord of the Rings full of beautiful martial arts choreography and special effects in the same vein as Stormriders.

The Storm Riders (1998)

I address how it is racist in my reply to Jaydalert. And others have addressed it too.

If that is what you were hoping for, then skip it.

I don't have a context in seeing the original to say it is or it isn't racist. It was placed in a different world. People call Star Wars racist... it's not a battle I am going to get into.

EDIT:


I will address this comment, though. There is nothing to say Americans won't watch movies starring Asian people. The success of Asian actors and Asian movies in the US is testament to that. I think you are barking up the wrong tree with this theory.

Well then know this. The original was set in an Asian inspired world. Everything from the culture of the inhabitants, the architecture, to the kung-fu, they even use kanji.

First of all its not my theory in that I didnt make it up. I read it on the net and quite a few people think it. The site racebending.com puts it forward and many reviews that Ive read have hinted that this might have been the case. I think the theory makes sense though.

Second of all let me rephrase. Im not saying that Americans are not willing to watch Asians in lead roles or Asian themed movies.... just proposing that the STUDIO made a marketing decision to remove the Asian influence to make it MORE appealing. I dont think its that far fetched. I mean I cant really explain it any other way... M Night Shyamalan had a rich and detailed world with rounded characters to work off of, not to mention an already established worldwide fanbase so why would he go and change it?

Well, I think most of the other points have been addressed and hands up, I haven't seen the movie, but as MMM says, I don't think age excuses poor acting. A rubbish script can bring down a good actor, but you can be young, and still be talented or have experience. Look at the kid in Australia (more convincing IMO than Kidman). Ditto Whale Rider. Ditto Empire in the Sun. Actually I don't think any of them were well-known or established actors/actresses at the time either.