Look, I wanted the new live-action Netflix series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (available now, ★ out of 4) to be good. I think the original series to be among the greatest TV shows ever produced, having watched it both as a child and as an adult (just look at my vote in this poll).
First impressions of Avatar The Last Airbender: Opinions among fans of Netflix’s new version are divided
Look, I wanted the new live-action Netflix series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (available now, ★ out of 4) to be good. I think the original series to be among the greatest TV shows ever produced, having watched it both as a child and as an adult (just look at my vote in this poll).
It was 2010. The president was Barack Obama. The Kesha song was the only “Tik Tok” that sprang to mind. And a live-action adaptation of a cherished cartoon Nickelodeon series has been released.
Of course, I’m referring to M. Night Shyamalan’s critically criticized 2010 picture “The Last Airbender.” Adapting the adored “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series from 2005 to 2008, M. Night Shyamalan’s film has gained notoriety for its missteps. But surely, another rendition of that deeply legendary series could not possibly fail so spectacularly?
This concept, which is about a universe where some individuals had the capacity to control fire, water, earth, and air through a process known as “bending,” had so much promise to be transformed into a live-action film that would be stunning and captivating. Instead of trying to recreate every scene exactly, the film created its own epic while embracing the ideas and tone of the original work.
However, the new “Avatar” is a regrettable jumble in its first season due to a lack of time, money, or understanding of what “adaptation” really means, fear of upsetting ardent fans, or both. The new “Avatar” is a complete failure—it is too remote from the original and too servile to it. And it enrages me.
The planet of “Avatar” is split into four nations in both the new and original series: the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, the Water Tribes, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has benders that are able to control a certain element. Before the Fire Nation began a century-long battle with the goal of dominating the entire planet, everything was good. The legendary Avatar, the only bender with four elemental control, vanished just as this conflict was beginning.
The title comes from the fact that 12-year-old Avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier) is the only airbender who has survived a genocide carried out by the Fire Nation. He spent 100 years frozen in an iceberg before being awakened by 12-year-old Katara (Kiawentiio) and her brother Sokka (Ian Ousley). Together, the three embark on a quest to teach Aang all four elements in order to preserve the planet. Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) of the Fire Nation is pursuing them closely because he has an insane desire to bring Aang back to his father (Daniel Dae Kim) after he was banished.
It’s obvious that creator Albert Kim (“Sleepy Hollow”) has made an effort to stay faithful to the animated series. It appears to be a lifelike replica of the animation in many aspects, with some sequences and aesthetics meticulously reconstructed. Essentially, the cartoon’s poorest episode, the original pilot, is reshot. However, it was all for nothing.
There’s an uncanny valley quality to the color-coded outfits, fanciful creatures, and exaggerated haircuts (made with really horrifying wigs). They are visually nonsensical. In the real world, after all, entire nations do not wear precisely the same hue of blue every day. Between comic book pages and a Marvel movie, even superhero clothing receive a classy facelift.
Thus, the new “Avatar” lacks the essence of the original while also having an appearance akin to a tainted copy of it. Like a deranged political podcast, the new series shouts its themes at the viewer while being emotionally and tonally discordant. Eight poorly developed episodes replace the original twenty half-hour episodic segments that told the tale.
The exposition and Easter eggs for fans are so superfluous that the writing is clumsy, cumbersome, and creaking that it could as well put neon signs above fans that say, “Hey, we watched the animated series, we promise!” (One character in the pilot episode recite the voiceover introduction from the cartoon as if it were a typical conversation starter, which is a particularly embarrassing scene. It’s not.)
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The actors in the series are of Asian and Indigenous heritage, which is one of its advantages, just as how they were portrayed in the animation. The movie drew harsh criticism for using white actors in every role but the antagonist’s. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the young performers—with Liu being a standout exception—are unable to live up to the expectations. The adult actors read lines as though they were reading them for the first time, as though they had descended to the level of the material.
After two abortive attempts to convey this story in live action, it is evident that “Avatar’s” brilliance stemmed from its animation, not from it. Stories lose their enchantment when they become photorealistic—just look at every Disney remake, not just this one. It’s as if animation is more than just a low-cost television production method for children. It’s a stunning art form in and of itself.
The water that Katara twisted, whooshing and thrashing, was a stunning, if unrealistic, deep blue in animation. Far simpler to discern than our transparent reality was the white, bending air of Aang. The most anticipated scene in every episode of the first “Avatar,” the bending battle, is slow, with the actors’ movements not keeping up with the shoddy effects.
This wasn’t the only option. Maybe this was not the best story to adapt, but maybe there wasn’t a better way either. Apart from Hollywood’s endless greed, the original “Avatar” was perfect.
It so happens that Netflix has also made that nearly flawless animated original available for streaming. It’s highly recommended by me.