Avatar the Last Airbender Netflix Review

I love Avatar The Last Airbender. It’s one of my favourite cartoons, a series I watch at least once per year with my spouse. We named our dogs Zuko and Iroh. We figure out what kind of Kung Fu & like martial arts were used as inspiration, being huge martial artists ourselves. This inevitably leads to some living room Ba Gua.

This review was also inevitable, when I heard Netflix was going to put out a proper live action show (sorry, not sorry, M. Night). My first looks were hopeful, the casting seemed right, the actors excited and the costumes appeared impressive (a bit unworn but impressive) to my costumer’s eye.

We binged the entire 8 episode series in two sittings, and therein is the first indication this review, while generally positive, is not glowing.

We did One Piece’s live action in one.

While Avatar The Last Airbender’s live action season did capture a significant part of the magic of the original, it was not as fun. Yes, this was marketed less to kids and more to those who loved the original when they (we) were kids. Gallows humour being what it is, I can’t help but find some of the characters less endearing, less entertaining than the original.

This is no fault to the actors, who for the most part did fantastic performances with what they were given.

Why did we lose all childishness from Aang, but for one scene he and Katara splash in the water? Why was Iroh not throwing more Uncle-Joke zingers? Where was Katara’s passion? Her temper? Kiawentiio was a fantastic Katara, I would have liked to see more of her passion and spark.

The characters seemed rounded of their edges, with highs and lows sanded down. The stakes were the same in both series, but I found Aang’s urgency more flagrant in the animated. Katara’s desperation to learn water bending more vivid. Sokka’s growth from misogynistic older brother to centered woman-respecting warrior missing.

Instead of humbling himself and asking on his knees for Suki to teach him, after some re-education in the talents of Kyoshi Island’s female warriors, Sokka is an awkward but avid learner immediately. This damaged one of the best lessons in the show.

Iroh was fantastically acted, with great nuance by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, but he too seemed flattened out, kept inside a dour docility which culminated in Uncle Iroh being less the morally righteous hero and more another grey shadow in the midst of the show. I wanted him to defend the Moon Spirit harder, to help save her. I wanted to see his ambiguity, where his loyalty to his nephew is stretched by his desire to see the Avatar save the world.

Aang, while physically acted well by Gordon Cormier, was disappointingly pushed into immediate ‘be the Avatar’ mode, by a script which gave Cormier none of the space to inhabit any of Aang’s fun side. I felt bad for the kid. Aang is such an awesome role, and he both looked the part and did a fantastic job with the script he was given, but that script did him almost as dirty as Bumi.

What the living heck did they do to King Bumi?

I understand in the adjustments from kid’s cartoon to an older audience, changes are inevitable and I accept many of the changes the story lead and producers did. The way they combined 20 minute episodes into 50+ minutes each was commendable. This was never going to be a shot-for-shot remake of the original, even if the difference in run time is around 10 minutes. But by the Lion Turtle’s Great Mossy Back, what the heck did they do to Bumi!?

This utter chaotic force of Earth bending, with a special kind of genius turns into a bitter old man, who blames a child for an absence which, once seen, can only be defined as ‘not his fault’? Bumi came across as a fearmongering tyrant, embittered and complacent, instead of the bedrock of Omashu with his off-kilter creativity.

It would be one thing if Aang intentionally put himself and Appa into a time stop for a century as a coward’s pursuit, but this was not the case. While I recognize the people like Bumi who thought their friend would save them would be disappointed, in execution it felt more like everybody they met was kicking Aang while he was down. Yes, we have sentiments in the original show, especially around the episode The Storm, that worked because it built on that backstory, then let it lie. But every episode, the hammer returned to smash the nail so far down the head it crafted a crater. As if the point was to make him feel apologetic, when he was already pushing as hard as a twelve year old could, to make things right.

Which, again, brings me to the missing urgency.

Why didn’t Aang start to pick up Water Bending with Katara? Why wait until they got to the Northern Water Tribe? If he knew from the first few breaths how dire things were and how he had limited time before tragedy struck, why wait?

Aang said he wanted to push, but never followed through. He needed to get to the North, but decided to stay in Omashu a few days. None of this lent credence to the urgency and tone expected from the original.

A more serious tone could have been sustained far better with that urgency and fluctuation of emotion respected.

Dallas Liu did a fantastic job of bringing Zuko to life. I found him passionate, quiet, missing a little anger in comparison to his animated counterpart, but a fabulous Prince Zuko.

My least favourite characters in the live action shocked me: Mei & Ty Lee. I loved those dichotic Fire Nation youths, for different reasons. Where was Ty Lee’s optimism and acrobatics? For that matter, what was Mei? Their characters were scoured and placid. Props in scenes which should have made me sympathetic for an Azula I didn’t care for, with none of the danger and cunning I remembered beyond a surface level of the punished but diligent daughter. Yes, she was fierce, but she lacked the psychotic edge, even if she did calmly smile at the flames of traitors’ sudden pyres.

Azula is the definition of a threat. A true believer in her father’s vision and in the Fire Nation’s expansionist goals, her confidence was her best weapon and she seemed more overtly wounded here (something we saw as she broke down through Book 3). I needed Azula to come across differently than her brother, the Avatar, Katara, and the rest, and she didn’t. Everyone was all awash of grey, with less rough edges to create less excitement, less trepidation and less substance.

At least she wasn’t Commander Zhao, who I half expected to start selling Uncle Iroh on his newest Fire Vitamin scheme, but if he got in now, could save the 20% enrollment fee. Zhao was a dangerous threat in Avatar. And while he’s still a threat here, he doesn’t have the same gravitas or menace. I found him almost comedic, a fire nation evangelist derping through thinking he could become the next Fire Lord. It was disappointing to see Ken Leung’s talents used that way.

And yet, there were fun moments. The martial arts was impressive and I loved the combat scenes. Seeing Air Benders fight en masse? Epic. Loved it. The Northern Water Tribe was also done well. Sets, overall artistic interpretation of the cartoon to live action? Perfect. Costumes? Fantastic. Appa? Excellent! Was it worth seeing? Yes.

What the live action, while good and definitely well done, lacked, was the balance of extremes.

There can be no balance in a show when everybody is broken in similar ways. The extremes were less apparent, less risky. Threats were systemic instead of personal choice. There can be no fluctuation of levels, no highs and lows in tension and emotion if everyone is dealing with the same level of distress.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be watching the original cartoon.