I want to start by saying I had high hopes for this show and on the overall, really enjoyed it. However I was dissatisfied with, what is, one of the biggest changes of this adaptation. This adaptation removes the child’s perspective and tone of the animated series and takes a darker and much more serious approach. This isn’t necessarily a “bad thing” but it does make the show a different experience.
‘Avatar The Last Airbender’ is a live-action reimagining of the beloved animated series following Aang (Gordon Cormier), an airbender, and the last of his kind, as he reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), Aang embarks on a quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) and a driven Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) determined to capture them.
Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, and Ian Ousley were fantastic as Aang, Katara, and Sokka respectively. Appa and Momo were so damn adorable in live action. Utkarsh Ambudkar as King Bumi was probably my favorite casting of them all. He really brought the face of the character to life with his performance and I am excited to see him in a season two which I am sure will happen sooner rather than later. Although overall the special effects may not be the most stunning throughout, majority of the bending fights and the finale as a whole* are still highly engaging and gorgeous to watch. Rule of thumb; *if the characters are in a canoe, the background will be ew. Episode one and the finale contain my top two favorite sequences of the entire series. The first episode with the sequence of Appa and Aang in a terrible storm and Aangs eventual freezing of himself. The finale with the entire sequence where… nevermind, I won’t spoil it…
If you are going into this as your introduction into Avatar, I would recommend it not be. Go watch the original animated series first, then watch ‘The Legend of Kora’, then come back to this. I genuinely wished we got to see more of that Aang. The being a kid Aang. We got a maybe forty-five second glimpse of him in his first appearance on screen and another a few episodes in where he randomly starts chasing children for some reason a few episodes later. But, my hope is that we get to see that with future seasons because this series did such great things in a lot of the other aspects that matter and is such a fun experience for a fan of the original series and ‘Legend of Kora’
This adaptation does let you down in some places, don’t get me wrong. A few of the casting choices I am still not convinced with, particularly in Elizabeth Yu as Azula. Although, I do think that is more because of the writing and framing of her scenes so I do hope to see her hopefully prove me wrong in future seasons. Besides that and what will probably only be known by me as “The Avatar Canoe Problem,” the only big thing that upset me starts (SPOILER ALERT) in episode five, when Katara and Sokka get trapped by Koh in the spirit world. We really don’t see them again until the opening scene of episode seven. Which, by the way, starts with Aang, Sokka, and Katara having a jolly time on Appa and not even mentioning Koh for the remainder of the season. Anyway, the point is, an entire episode and a half was wasted. That time could’ve been spent on Aang ACTUALLY TRAINING IN ONE OF THE ELEMENTS!… Which brings me to my problem. Aang didn’t train with Katara the entire season! Myself, and I am sure most people, would’ve traded those episodes for two good ole filler episodes of fun and goofy Aang training in waterbending with Sokka. Who knows, that may only be me, in which case I am sorry for yelling.
The cast, the crew, and Netflix really did a fantastic job of bringing the characters and environment to life. Although not perfect, seeing this series done in live action the right way (looking at you, Shyamalan), made me smile. Story changes are typical in adaptations, so you can’t be too nitpicky, but I do hope they change the tone a bit for future seasons and let Aang be Aang.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is NOW streaming on Netflix.
