Now I will admit that a majority of Nickelodeon's films are great because a lot of them are ones that stay true to the source material which believe it or not, are mostly the television shows that Nickelodeon broadcast on their channel worldwide. But that's not to say that all films distributed by them are great because there are quite a few that aren't as great as you would think they are and I know I'm saying that weeks after the TMNT's new film (which has yet to reach UK soil) which from what I've been told, totally sucks which with it being a Bay film, doesn't surprise me at all (and just to be clear, I'm not spending a single penny just to watch any of his movies that come out this year as to just tell him that while he may think people will see the films, I am smart enough to miss them entirely). So with that said, let's look at three of the worst films that Nick have been involved with so far:
Hey Arnold!: The Movie
With Nickelodeon having had success with some of their other shows being made into films, they decided that the next one to be put into a film was Hey Arnold! and boy did it suck. So this follows a very overused plot device all about this guy who wants to destroy a neighbourhood and turn it into something that would be beneficial to the general public and cares little about the people living in said neighbourhood about their pleas not to destroy it and where they would be re homed to. And this then would lead into the main characters, in this case being Arnold (reprised by Spencer Klein), Gerald (Arnold's best friend, reprised by Jamil Walker Smith) and Helga (Arnold's on again, off again love interest, reprised by Francesca Smith) doing whatever they can to save the neighbourhood by any means necessary (with some surprising results). Now this film isn't all that bad. I mean its got good intentions going for it, but unlike Nick's other shows, it didn't do as well. It tries well to be like the show, but doesn't do well. Its a film that I barely remember seeing at the cinema growing up (it was quite an experience with who I went with however) and its one that many can forget pretty much instantly. 6/10
Barnyard
So this is one of those films that serves as a feature length pilot for a TV show and its not that great in all honesty. It takes place on a farm where a cow named Ben (voiced by cowboy regular, Sam Elliott) is the farm's protector who protects it from all known forces like wild coyotes. His son Otis (voiced by one of the Happy Madison crew, Kevin James) is a carefree dairy cow who likes to goof around more than take responsibility. One night, the coyotes arrive and Ben defends the farm enough from them, only to loose a few chickens and be killed in the process, forcing Otis to become the new protector by a unanimous vote from the other farm animals. And he's about to realise that his role is far bigger than he thinks. The film I just didn't really think much of and like with Hey Arnold!, its a film that I pretty much forgot about soon after seeing it. The animation isn't as good as what Pixar and Dreamworks give us, the story is predictable and its something that can easily be forgotten about soon after seeing it. And its also quite dull as well. 5/10
The Last Airbender
A few things to mention before we go into the film. I saw this before seeing the show and I saw the show months later realising how very different each thing is. Also this was my first M. Night Shyamalan film and from what I've been told, his films are quite bland with the directing being beyond awful and the characters showing little to no emotion at all (which is very important in any film). OK so let's begin. The film is based on the first season of the show Avatar: The Last Airbender and it was named that to avoid confusion with a James Cameron film which came out just before this one came out. This season was known as the Book of Water where presumably, the avatar known as Aang (played by Noah Ringer), an air bender, would learn water bending and would later go on to learn other bending skills like fire, earth and others too. Now I could go on, but if you've seen the show, this is Shyamalan's attempt to cram the first season into one film and for someone who claims is a fan of the show, this is a terrible film. It has little to nothing to do with the show its based on, its plot is mostly moving from one place to another, the acting is bland, the production design is bad and if anything, this film is actually more serious than the show is because for the most part, the show is very light hearted with a balance of humorous and serious moments that make the show great as well as great action such as earth benders lifting a tank instead of what we get here of lifting a rock which requires 6 Earth benders whereas in the show, one earth bender could lift that. In all honesty, this is a bad film and its one of the worst films ever made that has little to no connection with the show. 2/10
And that's that. So while many would think that Nick can make great shows and turn them into great films, some of us can say otherwise. But its not entirely their fault for some of them as you have to take into account of the people that work on those films because when you hear a name like Shyamalan, you know its going to be bad regardless of Nick's involvement. But still, they have made great films and will continue to do so for many more years to come, while also having a few bad ones too.
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