Entering a world of nonsense

M. Night Shyamalan, it is time you are stopped.

I’m not talking about the crimes against humanity that you committed with “Lady in the Water” or “The Happening.”

Instead I am referring to a travesty in the making that is near and dear to my heart.

That is the plan to turn one of my favorite cartoons, “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” into a live action movie.

Most of what Mr. Night has done in the past has been crap, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because of how excited I was at the prospect of seeing Avatar in live action.

Now that excitement has been almost completely wiped out.

Casting has just recently been released for the key actors in what rumor put it would be a three-movie epic. Fitting since the cartoon series had a three-season run.

Now for those of you not familiar with the world of Avatar, here’s a brief rundown.

It all centers around the Avatar, a 12-year-old airbender called Aang. Okay, technically he’s 112, but he was frozen in ice for 100 of those years so we won’t count that.

Basically it’s Aang’s job to save the rest of the world from the Fire Nation, which has been at war with the other three nations for those 100 years.

The Air Nomads have already been extinguished leaving just the Earth Nation and what remains of the Water Nation.

Each of these nations has their own unique forms of bending and the Avatar is the lone person with the ability to master all four elements.

That is what makes him basically the ultimate badass in this world.

Anyways, moving on, the entire series has a strong Asian influence as all the nations study martial arts and seem to surround themselves in the Asian culture.

It was pretty much an assumption that the roles would not be filled with Asian actors since it’s an American movie, but this is just ridiculous.

The role of Aang is being played by an unknown kid from Texas. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since he at least is a karate expert so that should help.

I’ll also give a chance to the actors tabbed to play Sokka and Katara, Aang’s two companions along the path to saving the world.

But where I draw the line is the talk about having singer Jesse McCartney play the role of Zuko, the banished prince of the Fire Nation.

Now, for all I know, the young Mr. McCartney may in fact be an excellent actor, but he is no Zuko.

Zuko is arguably the biggest badass in the Avatar world behind Aang and his father, firelord Ozai. Uncle Iroh and Princess Azula have an argument as well, but that’s neither here nor there.

The point is, Zuko’s casting is crucial to the success of these movies, and if Jesse McCartney is the best we can do, you may as well cancel the project right here and now.

There’s no way a pretty boy singer can pull off that role, and to try to pass McCartney off as Zuko is just flat out insulting to fans of Avatar – preteen girls not included.

It would be like having Hugh Grant play Darth Vader or something like that. There just would not be the same level of fear there.

Now, word is this part is still being negotiated so hopefully something comes up and Mr. Night is not allowed to ruin this movie with this casting decision.

I would have no problems with the part being played by an unknown, like they’re doing with Aang, as long as it’s someone who can pull it off.

A miss on either of those two characters spells death to the movie’s chances.

And to Mr. Night, if you screw this up, you may as well choose a new career.

It’ll take a special level of sucktitude to not make this movie a success, but if your casting is any indication, you are well on your way to doing just that.