Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024 Live Action TV Series)

Water.  Earth.  Fire.  Air.  Long ago, the four nations of the world lived together in peace.  But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.  Only one force could stand against them: The Avatar, master of all four elements.  But when the world needed him most, he vanished.  100 years later, the new Avatar, a boy named Aang, is freed by a pair of siblings.  Together, this trio must embark on a journey to reignite hope in the war against the Fire Nation and bring peace to the world once again.  All hopes rest on Aang who isnt only the Avatar but also the Last of the Airbenders.

Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is considered far and wide to be one of the best series ever made, animated or otherwise. I’m among those who give this series nothing but praise and it’s as close to perfect as you can get with fun action, thoroughly loveable characters and a powerful story that strikes all the right emotional highs and soul crushing lows without losing its sense of hope or fun.  Fans have already had the good name of this beloved series tarnished by M. Night Shyamalan’s disastrous 2010’s adaptation.  So when Netflix threw its name into the ring to take on that challenge, one can understand the hesitation and concern.  Still, the trailers looked promising and at least seemed to indicate it wasn’t going to be as soulless and insulting as the movie.  Plus, thanks to their runaway success with One Piece, Netflix’s confidence with Live Action takes on popular Anime and Animated Series has to be at an all time high right now.  Is that confidence misplaced with Avatar: The Last Airbender? 
 
Good news first: The new Live Action Avatar is far and away better than the 2010 movie.  The production quality is pretty solid all across the board with sets and visuals looking rightly adapted from the original source material.  This includes good costume design and a better understanding of how Bending works, making the movements and the elements they embody feel more in tune and properly executed.  As far as casting goes, it’s a bit more mixed but I’m talking about the good stuff first.  Gordon Comier is perfectly cast as Aang and does everything I’ve wanted anyone given this role to do.  He’s a kind hearted kid who’s been tasked with an impossible destiny and it weighs heavily on him throughout the first season as he learns to balance those responsibilities and accept the consequences of his actions.  Comier nails the dramatic moments as Aang but succeeds even more when Aang’s being his wild child self, in awe of all the new sights around him and being a little too friendly when he should be cautious.  Paul Sun-Hyung Lee takes the role of General/Uncle Iroh and makes it his own, never trying to do a straight up replication of the part made famous by the legendary Mako in the TV Series.  He not only looks the part, he exudes all the kindness and compassion of the fan favorite, so well you always want a hug from him.  Special shoutouts go to the MVP of the season, Ken Leung as Zhao.  Oh my God this guy hams it up so much throughout the season he’s just a joy to watch.  I love that he cant stop moving his hands whenever he’s delivering a villainous monologue (everytime I noticed it, I referenced how Matt Smith’s 11^th Doctor Who did the same thing).  Oh and Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors?  Why the heck aren’t we watching an entire series about them?  They’re easily the high point of the series and I can see why Yvonne Chapman and Maria Zhang as Kyoshi and Suki have become primary points of praise among the fans.
 
And the bad news?  Well as I said in my First Impression, this series doesn’t necessarily make the same mistakes as the Movie but it does tend to make all new ones.  I spoke at length about the best casting choices above but there’s some that either don’t work or take too long to find their footing.  At the front of this is Katara and Sokka.  Maybe it’s bad direction but I was not a fan of how these two were portrayed.  Katara looks so disinterested in anything going on for more than half the series (a flying Bison shows up in her village and all she can manage is “DULL SURPRISE!!!”?)  Sokka occasionally has his more comedic side shine through but he’s mostly played way too seriously.  He does have good chemistry with the aforementioned Suki and Amber Midthunder’s Yue but I still want Sokka the jokester.  I’m a bit more split on Zuko and Azula (who’s pushed into the First Season early rather than being saved for Season Two).  Zuko’s still got one of the most heartbreaking character arcs of the series and while his actor nails much of it, the bits of Zuko being a whinner can be a bit grating.  As for Azula, there’s less of the psychotic powerhouse we’re used to and more of an emphasis on a girl just as desperate for Daddy’s approval as her brother is.  There’s potential here for all these aforementioned actors and characters but they seems to stumble a lot more in Season One than Comier’s Aang.  Heck, as I said, Suki and the Kiyoshi Warriors made more of a strong impression in their sole episode than Katara did in all 8 episodes.
 
The tone of the series is also to blame for several shortcomings.  It’s not as if the original series couldn’t go dark, it could and it never felt forced.  It’s live action counterpart tends to play things way more serious and kind of edgy at times.  This is best exemplified by opening the season with the Airbenders being wiped out.  It’s a powerful scene to be sure but it feels like a moment that could A. be saved for a later sequence in the first episode and B. be chopped up and still hold the same emotional weight.  Starting off the series on such a dark note feels wrong and so much of Season One continues to exude that same commitment.  It comes at the cost of the fun and vibrancy the series has been known to provide.  For example, the reason I knew the Shyamalan movie would suck right away was because it lacked that famous scene from the intro with Aang riding an Air Ball right into a statue. That scene is in this series, however it lacks the levity it always provided because well, it hardly feels like the show isnt taking itself far too seriously.
 
As for condensing 22 episodes of content into 8 one hour segments, yeah that comes with all the drawbacks you’d expect.  The first episode rushes a pivotal moment in Aangs character advancement when it could have been an entire episode on its own.  There’s a lot of condensing, combining and straight up mashing and reworking to make everything fit together as a whole.   The only episodes that didn’t feel constrained by these practices were the Kyoshi Warriors Episode and the two part finale that did a pretty good job retelling the epic battle of the North depicted at the end of the original series’ first season.  Everything in the middle falls victim to an inconsistent pace, fluctuating between rapidly moving things along to slowing the mood down for a characters backstory or important character beats that can work and do but reduce things to a very slow slough.  I’ll admit, there were several moments in the middle of the season where I was flat out bored.  It’s not helped when the writing is trying to cram so much world building and exposition that it flat out gives one actor the thankless and pain inducing job of reciting the original series intro monologue almost word for word in the most forced way possible, like truly cringe worthy.
 
Guess I spent a lot of time talking about what doesn’t work about this First Season.  Does that mean it’s bad?  Well, it’s not good, the sum of its parts don’t reach the quality everyone associates with the Avatar franchise.  But it’s not as rage inducing as the Shyamalan movie, though some moments did test my patience.  The writing isnt the strongest but it gets most of the characters right.  Zuko might whine but his story is still intact and has a strong emotional core.  Aang’s quest to save the world and embrace his destiny works thanks to Comier’s performance.  The action is top notch and I love the Bending effects, though incorporating straight up hand to hand combat did make me raise an eyebrow (seriously it’s rarely if every used in the cartoon which makes the action feel all the more unique).  If Season Two happens (and given the numbers Netflix has shared it could be likely), it needs to double down on what makes the First Season work while also bettering everything else.  Make Azula more the threat we know she can be.  Give Sokka and Katara more personality closer to their TV counterparts.  Maybe don’t try to go beat for beat the story and try something different (but not too radical).  And for fraks sake: don’t be afraid to have fun.  This is supposed to be a for all ages and families adventure, not some darker take on a beloved universe. 
 
All in all, I didn’t hate Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Live Action TV debut but it can could have been a lot better.  I think that’s the main consensus I’ve heard from many die hard fans: it’s ok but not great.  I suppose when you’ve botched things in the past like Shyamalan, the bar’s already pretty low for a second try.  And try this show does, it feels like its up to the task.  It hasn’t lost me but I’m also not very excited for Season Two though I would like to see if they learn from this Season’s shortcomings and improve.  Hey, worst comes to worst, we still have a perfectly crafted three season cartoon epic to revisit and enjoy (and The Legend of Korra too).
 
6.5/10