Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix)
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 Master your element.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American action-adventure fantasy television series. It is a live-action adaptation of the animated series on Nickelodeon. First announced in September 2018, Albert Kim is the showrunner, with a cast that includes Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Ken Leung, and Daniel Dae Kim. It is the second adaptation since the infamous M Night Shyamalan movie.
Plot
A young boy wakes up in an iceberg and must master elemental powers and save the world from an impending nation of fire.
Why It Can Still Save the World
- It is a significant improvement over the movie by staying more faithful to it’s source material.
- Great acting from Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Paul Sun Hyung Lee as Iroh, and of course, Dallas Liu as Zuko, who even got approval from Zuko's original voice actor Dante Basco himself.
- Daniel Dae Kim was a great casting choice for Ozai, looking like a live action version of his animated character design.
- Maria Zhang's casting as Suki stunned critics and viewers because of how beautiful and befitting she is for Suki, with many saying she is one of the best casting choices in the series.
- Momona Tamada was also a great choice for Ty Lee as she is cute and has the peppy voice that befits Ty Lee's character.
- Despite the changes being made from the original (which will be discussed down below), some changes to the show are better than the original. Overall, the changes, no matter how big or small, are seen as way better or at least not as bad than the movie.
- MAJOR CHANGES include:
- The Air Nomad Genocide being portrayed onscreen in a similar manner to Order 66 from Star Wars. It may even be more brutal than Order 66, as Order 66 is more implied violence than shown. Jedi are shot by blasters and Anakin in Revenge of the Sith has been implied to kill younglings. Here, the Air Nomad Genocide had several Air Nomads being burnt to a crisp complete with one Airbending woman's screams of pain.
- Fire Lord Sozin being the one who killed Gyatso rather than some random firebenders.
- The Mayor of Kyoshi Island being Suki's mother Yukari rather than a random man in the original. She's also a way more interesting character than said man because she used to be a Kyoshi Warrior.
- Avatar Kyoshi making her first introduction here helping Aang fight off Fire Nation Soldiers.
- Fire Nation Rebels are shown rebelling against Ozai with Azula making her first appearance here disguised as a rebel.
- Jet only plotting to kill King Bumi and his associates for associating with the Fire Nation rather than destroy a whole village.
- Zuko getting slapped by a random shopkeeper for almost hurting a child.
- When Iroh is captured by the Earth Kingdom, one of the soldiers expresses legitimate grievances against him from his siege of Bah Sing Sei.
- Katara's mother Kya being killed rather than captured to an unknown fate.
- Gyatso appearing in the spirit world allowing Aang to let go of his past.
- Zuko putting up a fight against Ozai rather than refusing but doesn't land the finishing blow allowing Ozai to scar him.
- Ozai and Iroh interacting with each other when they didn't in the original despite them being brothers.
- The spirit Oasis being a forest rather than a small park.
- The Fire Nation's armies being more powerful through the use of diversions.
- Commander Zhao seeking to overthrow Ozai.
- MINOR CHANGES include:
- The platoon Zuko goes with being the soldiers he spoke up for that lead to him being banished.
- Flying bisons are now referred to as sky bisons here to avoid confusion with flying lemurs such as Momo.
- Aang already having a bison whistle and Katara also getting a water scroll where in the original they bought a bison whistle and stole said scroll from pirates.
- Ozai first appears in Episode 2 rather than being properly introduced in Season 3.
- Mai and Ty Lee making their first appeareances in the episode Omashu along with Azula compared to the original where they were properly introduced in Season 2.
- Teo and the Mechanist being inhabitants of Omashu rather than the Northern Air Temple.
- Ozai showing some care into Zuko for finding the Avatar and only banishing him because he was against his methods.
- Hahn being more nicer to Sokka and Yue rather than an abusive boyfriend in the original.
- Princess Yue actively stopping Sokka from sacrificing herself to become the Moon Spirit by freezing his feet to the ground.
- MAJOR CHANGES include:
- Decent fight scenes, but they are at least significantly way better than the infamous Pebble Dance fight in the movie.
- Great soundtrack. With a great recreation of the Avatar theme.
- Thanks to the improved special effects, Momo and Appa are more accurate to their original designs compared to the movie.
- The Cabbage Merchant. Played by his original actor, James Sie. ENOUGH SAID.
- MY CABBAGES!
Bad Qualities
- Incredibly fast pacing. Due to the breakneck pacing, there's not much time to develop many of the characters and several episodes get mixed up into one.
- It also relies on exposition like the movie, although not as bad. The most infamous is when Kanna (Katara and Sokka's granmother), speaks almost word for word the opening monologue of the original show.
- Because of the pacing and changes, it ruined many arcs discussed below:
- Aang leaving the Air Temple to clear his mind rather fleeing to escape responsibility complete with Gyatso leaving with him only to discover him missing. It reduces the emotional impact as Aang would eventually return to the temple in this series rather than refusing to the return in the original which would make his survivor's guilt in not protecting the Air Nomads make more sense.
- Because Aang immediately discovers Gyatso dead when the group returns to the temple, it also reduces the emotional impact as Aang starts off oblivious to all the Air Nomads dying while remaining his usual childlike self playing with Air Nomad games only to discover Gyatso dead while chasing Momo in the original.
- Sokka is less sexist than his original counterpart. but he does make up for that sexism with his overprotectiveness and is more willing to hand Aang over to Zuko.
- Bumi blames Aang for leaving him in this series rather than the original.
- Jeong-Jeong and Haru are absent. The events of the episodes "Imprisoned", "The Northern Air Temple", and "The Deserter" are also skipped as well.
- Special effects, fight scenes, and costumes are more hit or miss, probably because of the limitations of live action making the character looking like cosplayers. This is especially egregious with Zuko's signature scar. It is more accurate in color compared to the film's version, but here it looks more like war paint.
- Yue's wig in this film has been criticized for being poofy and visually fake.
- Some of the casting choices didn't quite fit the characters they play, such as Elizabeth Yu (Azula), Thalia Tran (Mai), and Amber Midthunder (Princess Yue), even though they gave good performances.
- While this is somewhat of a nitpick, the show is not a Nickelodeon show, which may come across as jarring for fans of the show, especially childhood fans.
Reception
Although the series received mixed reviews from critics -- with some calling it inferior to the original -- it received positive reviews from audiences and fans of the original series. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 61% approval rating based on 65 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Avatar: The Last Airbender serves as a solid live-action entry point into the beloved franchise, although it only sporadically recaptures the magic of its source material."
However, it is still universally agreed upon to be better than M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation.
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