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Whites ‘R’ Us
Handsomely-mounted nonsense that lacks thematic content and a decent story. The plot makes no sense and simply borrows from Eastern cultures to create a mish-mash of styles in the hope of hiding the emptiness within.
As so often in these Hollywood, so-called, marvels, what we see is essentially oxymoronic. Lacking a deeply-rooted culture themselves, Whites appropriate the superfice of others' without understanding the essence. There is a desire for harmony (confused here with nature's homeostasis, but really a form of National Socialism), but this means relying on heroes to fight ones battles since pacifism inherent in harmony does not breed many battle-scarred warriors. Yet, this is desire for harmony is contradicted by an equal desire not to be and to live like others, but to be different in accepting ones possession of special powers that can be honed for fighting purposes. But then, of course, there can be no harmony. This reflects a White culture obsessed with being ultra-conformist and yet simultaneously ultra-rebellious; leading to such trivia as White girls wearing blue hair and White boys wearing ripped jeans - very much like the pseudo-rebellion on show in this film. This also explains why all the heroic cast members here are fair-skinned, despite the quasi-Asiatic setting.
This is not fantasy as an extension of real life, but purest wishful-thinking as a substitute for it. A world of make-believe where there are no consistent metaphysical rules and so dramatic suspense can be manufactured from nothing since the plotting is always allowed to be unpredictable. This is metempsychosis for kids because it cannot even spell the word.
There are no precocious child talents here and attempting to act above their age is a little embarrassing to watch. The adult villains soon become more interesting than the Benders; further alienating audiences from the drama. The real story here is one of a son trying to win his father's favor by a heroic deed, and earn his inherited kingdom rather more than just assume it. Yet this leads him into villainy rather than heroism. If this had been the focus of this slight story, then the poor suffering audience would have had something to really get excited about.
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