Netflix's 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Season Review: A Worthy Return to the Four Nations
Travel back to 2010: you’re a kid, maybe a teenager, and have seen Nickelodeon’s hit animation Avatar: The Last Airbender ten times over. You ride to the theater in anticipation, eager to finally see your favorite characters brought to life on the big screen like never before. The trailers? You ignored them; after all, they aren’t the whole experience. Surely, the real thing will be better. Surely…
Not ten minutes in, and your worst fears are confirmed. Something, no, everything is off. And so the rest of the story goes that the Last Airbender name took a heavy hit, as did all live action adaptations of just about anything going forward. We’ve seen some healing in recent years, with a few solid video game adaptations paving the way forward for similar projects to find favor among audiences ready to give such things a second chance. Of course, if any one conglomerate is going to capitalize on a trend like that one, it’s Netflix. Thus, The Last Airbender has been tackled in live action once more in the form of an eight episode season. How does this one stack up? Well, in the very least, it’s by far and away better than the aforementioned 2010 travesty. Really, there’s quite a bit to like about this swing on streaming.
Right off the bat, there is an intentional look and feel to this adaptation. We open strong on a street-level chase scene, keyed in oranges and teals set over beaten cobblestone paths. A lone earthbender dodges intricately through alleyways, tailed closely by a troupe of relentless firebenders whose flames fly overhead constantly, adding a third dimension of threatening light to the sequence. Eventually, our one-scene hero hits a dead end, and a bend-battle (if you will) breaks out; the fight is surprisingly hard-nosed, setting a new tone for the series as we then dip into the title card, followed by a perfect reimagining of the fan-favorite intro millions have come to know and love. Based on these first five minutes alone, you’d be forgiven for flying out of your seat in celebration.
Predictably, the series doesn’t always maintain this level of imagination and visual grit, but it is consistently impressive. On a $120 million dollar budget (one that has oft-argued among fans and industry analysts alike; one that is also a whopping $100 million lower than the 2010 film) the series manages mostly realistic effects, and for the concept at hand, that’s something to commend. Occasionally, a scene pushes a little too hard and the effects suffer greatly for it, but when it matters, the show delivers.
Take the fight scenes, for example. Every single one is a unique riot, teeming with endlessly inventive scenarios and complex choreography and making the best possible case for the value of this live action translation. If you’ve been asking that question, as to why they’d want to adapt the animated series, look no further than these extravagant, violent bending ballets.
Violent is honestly an understatement, at least in comparison to the original show. This iteration of The Last Airbender is fittingly more mature. It isn’t necessarily gory, but certainly alludes to intensity in a more direct way than the Nickelodeon version. There is a nice balance between keeping in touch with the spirit that made the license so special in the first place whilst also attempting to necessitate its own separate existence, anew. The end goal there isn’t completely met, but again, the visuals alone warrant a first watch. Props to the crew of directors (Michael Goi, Roseanna Liang, Jabbar Raisani, and Jet Wilkinson) and cinematographers (Michael Balfry, Michael Goi, and Stewart Whelan) on that end of things.
On the opposite end is where things fall behind. The screenplays, episode after episode, are awfully inconsistent. There are compelling nuggets of emotion and tenderness hidden in between loads of choppy dialogue, packed with exposition of the worst kind, and questionable character motivations. Outside of the main cast, who are solid for the most part, there are a few wavering performances, too.
The series struggles to flow like the original show did; that effortlessness has been replaced here with a needless sense of urgency to rush things along. But why are we in a hurry? It isn’t clear, nor is the destination. But this thing absolutely flies from location to location, sometimes without so much as an establishing shot to set the scene. Which is another small misfortune, as the cityscapes and roomier, sky-high visuals are some of the best this thing has to offer. As in everything, the little things stack up after a while, until the issues become much more obvious.
As far as the quality of adaptation itself goes though, there isn’t much at all to complain about. The series capitalizes on covering events the animation only hinted at, gaining more ground in creating a unique space for it to exist alone. What bits it does directly re-do, it does passably in the least, and quite well at best. It’s about as faithful as you could’ve reasonably asked it to be, and with so much expectation and pressure inevitably weighing on the backs of the screenwriters during that process for that aspect specifically, the result is admirable.
Admirable is a good word for the entirety of this series. You could nitpick it to death if you wanted, souring the show by way of specific reasons that likely apply to any animation adaptation; or, you could take this one as it is. Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is an exceptionally entertaining, suitably matured blockbuster that is a no-brainer addition to your Netflix list.
Fans of the original series should find satisfaction in seeing all their favorite characters in an appropriate new light, whilst those simply looking for something new to watch on the platform should find plenty of favor, too. It isn’t a particularly special effort, but this version of The Last Airbender is just what it needs to be. Give it a shot for an easily digestible, visually dazzling good time.