Avatar: The Last Airbender Review: Netflix’s Pleasant Surprise So Faithful That It Has Little To Sa
Cast: Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
Created By: Albert Kim.
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars)
Review of the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a Netflix live-action based on the animated series of the same name created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. The Avatar franchise has gathered an audience of true fans over the years. If the series born from the mind of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and broadcast for the first time in 2005 is considered a small jewel of animation, the film that it directed by M. Night Shyamalan inspired is instead known as one of the greatest failures in the history of cinema, a real disappointment for fans who hoped to find everything they loved about the original in live action. Given the vastness and complexity of the Avatar universe, a transposition is not simple. Still, certainly the spaces of seriality, compared to those of feature films, are the most suitable ones: it is Netflix, in collaboration with Nickelodeon, that is trying again and bringing into its catalog a new version of the story.
If initially the showrunners were supposed to be DiMartino and Konietzko themselves, due to creative differences Albert Kim took charge of the series, and right from the start, the feeling was that of a missed opportunity. We don’t know if DiMartino and Konietzko would have done a better job, but what the viewer is faced with is an operation that is only partially successful: the atmospheres of the original cartoon are there, but as we will see in this review of Avatar: The Last Airbender it lacks the narrative depth to honor the complexity of this universe and the themes that permeated the work. The Netflix series, which with its eight episodes covers the first season of the animated show, would like to attract a large, multigenerational audience, but ends up being suitable only for a very young target, with poorly developed storylines, characters that are not particularly in-depth and artificial dialogues and a little didactic.
It is difficult to convince the most experienced spectator, accustomed to works of a different depth, as other series on paper for young and very young people but also suitable for adults have done, for example, the recent Percy Jackson and the Olympians (as we explained to you in our review). I suppose some people think it’s right to adapt an animated series as good as Avatar: The Last Airbender into a live-action format. M. Night Shyamalan already tried it in 2010, adapting Avatar: The Last Airbender on that occasion, and we all know how he ended a project whose only attraction was the correct use of 3-D technology (thankfully, this technique has passed from fashion). And now Netflix is trying again by transferring the spirit of Avatar: The Last Airbender to a live-action series that would have cost 15 million dollars per episode.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Review: The Story Plot
The protagonist of this story is Aang (Gordon Cormier), a young Airbender. The twelve-year-old boy lives together with the air nomads in the southern temple, but winds of danger are approaching to upset his peaceful life: the fire nation led by Lord Sozin (Hiro Kanagawa) wants power over the other three nations and to do so he knows which must strike before the next Avatar manifests. The Avatar is the only one capable of governing the four elements together and is destined to bring peace and balance to the world. Such a complex and important role falls precisely on the shoulders of our Aang who, not feeling ready yet, leaves the temple to clear his head together with his flying bison Appa. Far from home, Aang will be surprised by a storm and will not realize that at that moment the warriors of the fire nation are wiping out the nomad temple and all its inhabitants. While everything he loves is destroyed, Aang risks drowning in a tumultuous sea, only thanks to his Avatar powers can he save himself by locking himself in a sphere of ice.
One hundred years have passed since these tragic events, a century in which the Fire Nation has almost taken total control of the world, annihilated the other nations, and increasingly reduced any type of opposition. It will be Katara (Kiawentiio), the only waterbender of her tribe, together with her brother Sokka (Ian Ousley), who accidentally awakens Aang, who remains frozen not far from their village. The three, after some initial difficulties, decide to leave together with the rediscovered Appa on a dangerous journey: Aang will have to learn to govern his powers, fomenting the spark of rebellion in the subjugated nations. It won’t be an easy task, in fact on his heels is Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu), the exiled son of the king of the Fire Nation, ready to do anything to find and take the Avatar prisoner.
Its superficial story may have been that of good versus evil, fighting to save the world, but beneath it was discovered that this fight had many nuances because the motives of each character responded to reasons that were coherent in one context and unthinkable in another. The saga was concerned with showing love towards any community, towards nature, teaching us that those body movements that made the rocks shake or the winds raised were the reflection of a deep connection with the elements and even with spirituality. The lands of Avatar: The Last Airbender seemed alive because they have always been in constant evolution, developing their characters and the four nations through new television series, comics, or books that enrich this universe and make it more solid than usual which can be appreciated by reviewing each published material independently.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Review and Analysis
What if we told you that everything, we mentioned about the plot only happens in the first episode of the series? The feeling that Avatar: The Last Airbender leaves us with right from the start is that of a rushed product, in which everything happens too quickly. The atmospheres, as we anticipated, reflect those of the original series, as do the extremely well-finished settings and costumes: if the setting is the right one, what is missing is the substance in a show that immediately had difficulty in transposing the bulk of the material departure. A hasty plot, rather didactic dialogues of the characters (the first two episodes act as an “explanatory” for the universe in which the story is set), the not particularly mature acting of the young performers and, above all, the inability to deal with the right weight on the main themes of the narrative (Avatar talks about horrors such as war, genocide, and totalitarianism), make this adaptation a failed attempt to honor a work of great depth, suitable for all ages.
The Netflix series will end up being appreciated exclusively by a young audience, without regaining the transgenerational appeal of the original. While on the one hand, the work makes the excellent choice of relying on a very heterogeneous cast (completely avoiding the accusations of whitewashing that Shyamalan’s film faced), the young performers struggle to convey the complexity of their characters, and the screenplay never goes that extra step to help give it the right depth. There are some successful moments here and there, the second episode for example stands out compared to the others, but overall they are not enough to determine the success of the show, which – while undoubtedly doing a better job than Shyamalan’s adaptation – it’s nowhere near the highs of the original series.
The Netflix series, which lost the support of Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino by not being able to take creative control of the production, is unable to achieve what the saga has been doing for more than a decade, as it is nothing more than a version renewed and in real image from the first season of the animated series, despite not being free of its same messages. Avatar: The Last Airbender remains faithful on an aesthetic level, with carefully selected casting, and a perfect costume and hair design that imitates the original designs without deviating. Once again, Aang, Katara, and Sokka leap to reality, but this time in a reliable way, saving the sacrifices that must be made when moving from one medium to another, modifying some personality traits, or not being able to achieve excellence in all technical aspects.
The exuberant cities come to life before your eyes with an astonishing display of stone roller coasters and impassable walls of ice, alive in their streets with markets where people mix with fantastic animals. His visual approach always borders on the dreamlike, the result of impossible environments, but weighed down by the abundant blurring of the backgrounds, and the foggy lighting that surrounds his characters. A conscious decision of unreality, as he already did in 300 his way to get closer to Frank Miller’s comic, but with which I don’t quite connect. After the initial impression, there is nothing in this series that justifies watching it. Its rich universe is rich thanks to everything that surrounds it, and, by itself, it does not contribute anything relevant to what is already done.
The younger audience will have no problem jumping into this martial arts story on steroids, and even those who enjoyed the live-action of One Piece could find here a new production to fall in love with until the arrival of its second season. For the rest, there is still hope. Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino left the Netflix series, but instead of completely disassociating themselves from what they had created, they founded Avatar Studios, a division of Nickelodeon – where it all began – in which the audiovisual universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender under the supervision of those who made it possible. Idyllically, to continue adding layers of depth and for this new “expanded universe” to reach – I don’t think I’m going to say this – something similar to what Marvel has achieved, which appeals to a plural audience by offering quite diverse content although without leaving its editorial line.
I have never seen the original animated series, so it is practically impossible for me to talk about changes and adaptation as such (I did see Shyamalan’s horrifying film that even he wants to erase from his filmography). Hence, I approach Avatar: The Last Airbender as a new viewer who is unaware of the plot of that fiction that marked a before and after. I must say that plot-wise the first chapter of Avatar: The Last Airbender has rhythm, presents the universe and its characters very well, and introduces the coming conflict. At some moments I have the feeling that everything is going too fast, but the scriptwriters manage to keep everything afloat. In the end, we are talking about a series whose protagonist takes on an enormous responsibility.
Aang is just a child who must face an uncertain future for him, a heavy burden that requires great determination. Thank goodness that in this presentation episode, it is clear that the casting team got it right with the choice of the actor who plays Aang because otherwise, we would have had a very different series. Finally, related to the script we find an epic tone that seems to permeate each sequence of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is not at all negative, but I consider that the pacing problem that I have sometimes found in the pilot of the series is due to the effort to make everything so ambitious, that there is no space for calm and rest. Except for the wonderful characterization, costume, and makeup work, I’m surprised that Avatar: The Last Airbender costs $15 million per episode. I think One Piece and Percy Jackson and the Olympians use a similar budget and look incredibly better.
At times I have had the feeling that there must be some problem such as the bit rate as happened with the premiere of The Snow Society, because it is shocking that in scenes that have no movement, everything looks perfectly defined, and as soon as the action, special effects, CGI and VFX, the sequences are blurred to the point of not seeing anything. Without going any further, when in combat dust rises or fire is conjured, everything is quite unpleasant. Something strange when other sections such as locations or creatures look very good. I don’t know if Avatar: The Last Airbender has been infantilized too much in this adaptation because some of the dialogue seems very juvenile to me and I read that the original series was quite adult. However, I think that Avatar: The Last Airbender is a proper family adventure fiction, perfect to watch with siblings, cousins , and nephews, and will probably appeal to those who have ever imagined a quality adaptation of this universe.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Review: The Last Words
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a lackluster adaptation that doesn’t convey the thematic depth of the original. Settings and atmospheres are there, but they are not enough to lift the series as a whole. I don’t know if Avatar: The Last Airbender has been infantilized too much in this adaptation because some of the dialogue seems very juvenile to me and I read that the original series was quite adult. However, I think that Avatar: The Last Airbender is a proper family adventure fiction, perfect to watch with siblings, cousins, and nephews, and will probably appeal to those who have ever imagined a quality adaptation of this universe.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Review: Netflix’s Pleasant Surprise So Faithful That It Has Little To Sa - Filmyhype
Director: Albert Kim
Date Created: 2024-02-22 12:53
3.5
Pros
- The narrative has a rhythm and the pilot presents the universe and its characters very well.
- The epic tone suits him well
- The work of characterization, makeup and costumes
- As a family adventure series, it works well
Cons
- The visual effects leave a lot to be desired
- Some interpretations are somewhat exaggerated
