The original Avatar: The Last Airbender is an incredibly gripping story that I was obsessed with growing up. The ability to balance humor and light-hearted fantasy with important messages regarding imperialism, loss, redemption, and more is a difficult task that show writers Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino were able to pull off incredibly well. It was one of the few series where I could actually see myself represented as a kid, as there weren’t (and still isn’t) a lot of brown female characters on television. This show really jumpstarted my love for the Avatar universe as a whole, as I enjoyed the comics and The Legend of Korra as well. When I heard they were making a live-action reboot, I was intrigued yet pessimistic about what the finished product would look like.
Now that the Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action has finally hit Netflix, it’s been met with both praise and criticism. I’m always hesitant when it comes to remakes and adaptations, as these kinds of projects tend to tank when they hit the big screen. So, going into the show, I immediately set my expectations pretty low. However, I thought the trailer looked really entertaining, so there was still some hope that maybe it would deliver a great narrative that M. Night Shyamalan couldn’t with his 2010 adaptation The Last Airbender (what a trainwreck that was!).
After finishing the live-action, I have to say that I actually enjoyed it! It doesn’t come close to the original series, but I liked seeing one of my favorite fictional worlds come to life. There were a lot of good things the writers did, but of course, I still have some criticisms that I’ll dive into later.
Things the live-action did Well
First of all, I think the CGI was really well done! The bending looked so fluid and as close to realism as CGI can get, and what made it more visually appealing was the martial arts the cast brought to the table. These two elements made all of the fight sequences especially entertaining, and I thought it was the strongest aspect of the show. I especially loved Dallas Liu‘s performance as Zuko. Not only did his martial arts background shine, but he also captured the sassiness that season one Zuko had. All in all, the series really excelled when it came to the action. Kudos!
Additionally, the set designs were beautiful — I think that’s something everyone can agree on. From the look of the Southern Air Temples to the Northern Water Tribe’s ice structures, everything looked close to what the original show presented us with. I especially loved the CGI for Appa and Momo and the other supernatural entities like Koh the Face Stealer; they all just looked so cool! I just wish we got to see more interactions between Appa and Momo, because they also have strong personalities that add another layer of humor to the original show.
A minor aspect that I thought was a good decision was keeping the original music. The soundtrack is just all around solid, and hearing the familiar tracks was nostalgic. Such a nice touch! On a similar note, it was also refreshing and important that only people of color were casted for these roles. In contrast to M. Night Shyamalan’s white-washing in his adaptation, the series stuck close to the source material with its casting decisions as well as general aspects of Avatar’s universe. I liked all of the little nods to the original series (the cabbage man‘s appearance!) and the way they tie some aspects from the comics, like the Mother of Faces, into the live-action too!
Things they didn’t do so well…
While the show did a lot of cool things, I still have my criticisms. Generally speaking, I think the interweaving of some of the subplots from both season one and two was especially messy and forced. From a writer’s perspective, I understood their attempt in terms of keeping as much of the source material as they could, but I think this backfired in some ways. This messiness was most apparent in episode 5, as I thought everything felt jumbled together; the timeline also was unclear, so there were moments where the timing of certain events seemed off.
In a similar vein, the reveal of characters’ backstories felt too quick for my taste. In the original series, the show takes its time revealing vital information regarding characters’ pasts and traumas, and I personally like this slow-burn style rather than revealing so much all at once. With a slower pacing, it makes these reveals more impactful and poignant, which is what the original series excelled at. With that being said, I also don’t know how they plan to structure season 2, so maybe these quick reveals worked best the way they are.
Lastly, these are minor critiques, but I had some issues with the costumes and the acting. They look too clean, and like what many people have commented, they echoed the work of cheap cosplay. They just don’t look lived-in, and considering that the characters travel and battle a lot, I would expect there to be some kind of dirt or stains on their clothes for the sake of some realism. Even some of the wigs looked overtly fake, which somewhat took me out of the story. As for the acting, I think the cast was all around good, though I couldn’t help but think it was reminiscent of theatre acting. There were moments where certain deliveries were overdramatic, but that didn’t really bother me so much as I continued to watch.
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed the show despite some of its flaws. While there were some episodes that started to lose me, there was a handful of episodes that were interesting and exciting. I especially think they nailed episode 6 and 8, as those two were probably my favorite episodes out of the bunch!
I loved seeing my favorite childhood show get revitalized in this fashion, and I hope you decide to check out the show for yourself!