The Family on the Train (A Quick Observation)

It was the family's first trip out of town. The three of them sat eagerly on the train, anxiously wondering if their fortunes would change in Melbourne.

To show his independence the son sat on a different set of four seats to his parents. But as soon as he heard the conductor announce that the train would be stopping at more stations and picking up more passengers he quickly rejoined his parents and sat next to his father. Despite their rough appearance, or maybe because of this, the family had interacted with few people outside of their little unit. The thought of sitting next to a stranger was just too much for the son.

As the train departed the station, the whole family played around with their own iPhone, the father and son showing each other the games they were playing and trying to beat the other's high score. The mother stared sullenly out the window listening to music through bright green earphones that matched the Monster can she was drinking from. Of the three of them, she was the least excited about their move to Melbourne. Probably because they were moving with only the clothes on their backs, their iPhones and whatever money they had in the pockets.

Not the best new beginning.

Especially when moving to a big city like Melbourne.

But she knew that it was their only choice. That they had to hope for the best once they arrived. Hope that at least one of the three could find find work go support the rest.

They all knew that their chances of finding working were bleak. But no one voiced this fear. Choosing to ignore that they could be stuck in a big, strange city with the friends or family and without any food and shelter. Without a way back home.

This was their last chance to survive.

None of them were willing to acknowledge that this venture could , and most probably would, fail. The consequences were too dire for them if it did.

At the Movies: The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender movie is an appalling adaptation of the animated TV series.

There was no character development, and the audience was shown what happened without any explanation why and sometimes even how. Just this is what happens next, nothing behind what the characters might have been thinking or feeling, which in the TV series is the main factor behind their decisions.

But besides the complete lack of character development, there was also so much more missing from the movie.

I understand that the creators only had a couple of hours to squeeze the entire book into. But that's just another reason why the movie shouldn't have been made ... or they should've split the book into two movies like Warner Bros have done with the last Harry Potter book. Maybe then there would've actually been some character development as well as other important things that were in the TV series but not in the movie, like the Kyoshi Warriors.

If they do decide to make the second book of The Last Airbender, it's going to be almost impossible for them to introduce the Kyoshi Warriors, which is going to ruin the future Last Airbender movies.

They also really should've included Aang's trip to the Crescent Island to visit Avatar Roku's temple ... oh, wait, that whole trip falls under character development. Never mind that then.

But the characters in The Last Airbender were mere shadows of their TV series counterparts. Zuko just comes across as extremely bipolar. Sokka is just weird and not at all funny (they didn't seem to realize he's the comic relief). And Katara is even more useless than Cat Woman in the sixties Batman movies (Cat Woman at least managed to pose a genuine threat to Batman at times). In the TV series Katara is a powerful Waterbender and almost kills her North Pole Water master when she tries to prove that she's worthy of learning Waterbending from him (yet another important thing the movie completey skipped).

Only Aang seems to keep his character from the TV series, although in the movie he's not as happy go lucky as he is in the TV series. They didn't quite catch his irrepressible trickster (yip yip!) nature. But still, Noah Ringer did an amazing job as Aang.

In total, The Last Airbender was completely lacking as a movie. It's a complete waste of two hours, and hopefully it won't have its two sequels.