First Look at Airbender; New Ponyo Trailer

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
By: Thomas J. Mclean

Paramount has released the first trailer for The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action adaptation of the popular Nick animated adventure series.

The film, which stars Dev Patel, is due out July 2, 2010, from Paramount. Here’s the trailer:

Also, Walt Disney has released a new trailer for its Aug. 14 release of the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo.

Reader Comments

• shakeem winn : writer n artist : winn ltd.

  Tuesday, June 23, 2009

  The trailer to Avatar is full of atmosphere and the special effects look interesting but the character of Aang is severly miscast. The fact that he is caucasian and not asian in this clearly asian mythological world takes me right out of the experience. It makes it hard for me to believe in this character. It would have been better if they did an animated version of the film instead of live action. However, Ponyo looks amazing. Can\'t wait to see it.

• shakeem winn : writer n artist : winn ltd.

  Tuesday, June 23, 2009

  It\\\'s ashame that in this day and age hollywood refuses to take a chance and give the minority a lead role in a big budgeted picture such as this. Avatar had a huge fan base who knew these characters were ethnic and accepted it. For, just as white american kids dream about being important and saving the world so too does Asians, African Americans, Hispanics and any other diverse group whose growing up in this country. This was Paramount\\\'s one chance to break down a huge barrier just as nickelodeon had done when it first aired this amazing show and they failed miserably. I\\\'m so dissappointed in the studio system right now i can\\\'t even tell you!

• Spectator D. :

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009

  To actually WANT it to be of a particular race is racist commenting in itself. It is sad when certain people don\\\'t get their way, but one has to remind themselves that a movie is like theater; it is up to the director to decide how to best interpret a work for stage. The key word is \\\'interpret.\\\' It is the choice of the audience whether or not they wish to see the performance. It is okay to be critical. In fact, any stage act should be at the mercy of the audience. And maybe, just maybe, Mr. Shyamalan will be able to judge better the next time he touches a brand which has garnered such a formidable following. We will only tell by observing the numbers come premiere night. Otherwise, the teaser looks good. I\\\'m not too happy about the latest trends in music scores, which are starting to sound as if cut from the same mold (and quite forgettable at that), but the visuals are indeed captivating.

• Rex Hindrichs : Artist : Tengu Entertainment

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009

  Looks better than I expected but not quite as nice as I was hoping for. Hopefully the martial arts in the actual movie is more graceful and the coming year of post-production work goes a long way.
  
  Ill reserve judgement for now.

• Bekka : Artist :

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009

  Ponyo looks wonderful. The title screen looks a little much like Nemo\'s, but it\'s fine.
  
  As for The Last Airbender.. It looks like it\'ll be just fine. I always pictured Aang as a little Caucasian boy, while the Fire and Water Nations had more of the Mongol/Asian look. I just wish the trailer said more about what\'s actually to happen in the movie.

• Rosemary : Animator :

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009

  I agree that The Last Air Bender should have been a cg film. The cg has come a really long way and it doesn\'t take as long as it used to make movies. I understand that todays economy is hard. But I still believe that is should have been an CG. The Ponyo sounds awsome can\'t wait to see it. I\'ll still go see The Last Air Bender but I am already disapointed with it. Should have been CG all the way.

• Joshua : Writer :

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009

  The animation of Ponyo looks incredible. The story looks stupid. What is this, a girl running with giant fish chasing a car?
  As much as I would like Aang to be asian, there\'s no doubting the fact that a majority of america is white. You don\'t see tourists in China complaining that all the movies have Chinese leads, hm.
  M. Night made a pretty good casting choice. Heck, you\'re not gonna find someone who looks exactly like Katara or Sokka (and definitely not Zuko) anyways.
  Aang could have been asian, but the investors probably wouldn\'t allow it.

• shakeem winn : writer n artist : winn ltd.

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009

  This is for Spectator D. So, if Peter Jackson had cast everyone in the Lord of the rings multiculural instead of European that would not have been a problem for you right? I don\\\\\\\'t believe that for a second and neither does anyone else who read that comment. What made Avatar appealing to it\\\\\\\'s fans was that for once there was a compelling fantasy story that had minority characters as the lead instead of white. Don\\\\\\\'t get me wrong i\\\\\\\'m a huge fan of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings. They are both wonderful stories but to myself who is african american as with many of fans of fantasy whose ethnicity is non european. Avatar was a huge leap forward in showing that Hollywood was beginning to accept diversity in that kind of storytelling. This has been a pet peeve among minority sci-fi/fantasy fans for years. It just took this movie and internet access to show it. All in all i believe all of this controversy surrounding the film is a good thing for, with controversy comes change.

• shakeem winn : writer n artist : winn ltd.

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009

  To Spectator D. I absolutely agree with you about the scores attached to the latest films of the pass couple of years. They are forgettable partly due to the fact that non of the main chararcters have signature themes.

• H :

  Saturday, June 27, 2009

  @ Joshua : Writer : \\\"You don\\\\\\\'t see tourists in China complaining that all the movies have Chinese leads\\\"
  
  omg.. that is such an idiotic comment. fact of the matter is, chinese directors/producers don\\\'t make movies based on american culture. in regards to your example, the whole Avatar scenario would be equivalent to the chinese making a movie george bush and casting a chinese actor for the part.
  
  the majority of protesters are complaining because of all the ethnocentrism behind the the casting and the fact that many industry figures claim that no one would watch a movie with a serious chinese leading actor who can actually act (eg: is not a stuntsman)