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Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the most popular animated series of all time. From 2005 to 2008, Avatar: The Last Airbender was universally acclaimed for its rich characters, mature issues, great worldbuilding, and satisfying climax. Avatar: The Last Airbender was an epic three-season saga full of emotion and inventive action.
In recent years, Netflix has quickly turned numerous famous cartoons into live-action shows, including Cowboy Bebop, Winx Club, and One Piece. Given Avatar: The Last Airbender’s success and broad appeal to audiences of all ages, fans naturally expected Netflix to pick up the series for a live-action version. However, given Netflix’s previous live-action cartoon adaptations, a Netflix version of Avatar: The Last Airbender is likely to be as unsatisfactory.
Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series redefined children’s television via intelligent character development and discussion of sensitive topics like genocide. Despite its mature tone, Avatar remains a cartoon that capitalizes on the medium’s capabilities to create the wonderful world imagined by co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series, created by executive producers Albert Kim and Dan Lin, strives to surpass its film predecessor’s whitewashing and succeeds in certain ways. Despite its excellent intentions, Netflix’s new adaptation of Avatar deviates significantly from the original’s iconic animation style.
Avatar: The Last Airbender, set on a war-torn Earth, follows the fateful reunion of three youngsters to overthrow a fascist regime. After years of being terrified by the pyrokinetic Fire Nation, citizens of the planet’s other elemental cultures struggle to perceive Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) as anything other than a monster. Fear of the Fire Nation prevents the two polar Water Tribes from crossing their boundaries, while the Earth Kingdom is constantly on high alert due to murderous incursions conducted by Ozai’s brother Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee). The reason why no one dares to defy Ozai’s authority or openly form an opposition is that everyone remembers how the conflict began with the Fire Nation nearly wiping out the Air Nomads.
These details were crucial to comprehending the original Avatar tale. However, Netflix’s series begins with them in a way that immediately demonstrates how much more of a gritty experience it is in comparison. The new Avatar film begins with a high-octane action sequence set in the past, including nifty-looking chocobo-like creatures and explosive feats of bending. The show’s VFX and choreography teams worked hard to portray each of Avatar’s bending methods as unique blends of martial arts and elemental magic.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Earthbenders shoot pebbles as bullets, and Firebenders use their hands to incinerate things. These visuals highlight the Air Nomads’ vulnerability to the Fire Nation’s assault on their temples in the mountains. The tragic circumstances that led to young Airbender Aang (Gordon Cormier), the newest Avatar capable of bending all four elements and becoming the sole survivor of his people, set a grave tone for the series as a whole, which Avatar struggles to shake as its larger story unfolds.
The program travels to the Southern Water Tribe and introduces brother/sister duo Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), making it more humorous and reminiscent of cartoons. Sokka, like their animated counterparts, is a well-meaning but stubborn kid who clings to tradition as a way of coping with their mother’s death, while Katara is a promising Waterbender who feels stifled in a village with no one to show her how to perfect her skills.
Despite concerns about Netflix censoring Avatar: The Last Airbender’s depiction of sexism, the new show effectively portrays Sokka’s outdated views on gender as a moral flaw and a weakness that can lead to death during a fight. However, whereas in the cartoon, Sokka’s fixation with war readiness was balanced by a sweet goofiness, Ousley depicts the character as straighter and harsher, which can make him appear frigid. While Katara remains an intelligent and vocal young woman, her singular emphasis on becoming a stronger Waterbender makes her feel noticeably less complex than her previous form.
Although Kiawentiio and Ousley’s performances shine when they interact with physical objects, most of Avatar: The Last Airbender’s main scenes were shot on virtual sets. As Avatar’s tale moves characters to multiple locales, it’s understandable that Netflix would aim to reduce expenses by digitally creating more imaginative settings. However, there is so much artificial lighting and so many scenes in which things in the background move with uncanny speed that the show immediately feels like yet another Netflix-branded live-action cartoon that would have been better served by more pragmatism.
Avatar: The Last Airbender’s chemistry problems worsen when the Gaang gather together and tell each other about what happened in the past and what is happening now. As the long-lost Avatar—aa singularly strong bender whose soul is generally resurrected when the previous Avatar dies—AAang is the only person who has the potential to put an end to the Fire Nation’s goals for global dominance. Because Aang was locked in an iceberg before achieving his full potential, he must seek out master benders like Katara and Sokka to assist him in learning. However, because the program never really slows down while its center trio travels the world, their interpersonal interactions don’t have enough time to develop organically, making them read more like a group of kids clumsily hanging out than people becoming friends.
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender , with eight episodes lasting approximately an hour each, struggled to match the length of the cartoon. The live-action Avatar film attempted to address this difficulty by simplifying the plot, but this resulted in a loss of the original’s beautifully crafted narrative. Despite this, the film lacked the same enchantment and complexity as the popular animated series.
Netflix’s Avatar seeks to bridge the gap between film and cartoon. The execution of Avatar falls short because it emphasizes the importance of staying ahead of Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu), the exiled heir apparent to the Fire Nation throne, alongside exploring and saving the world. Compared to the cartoon, the arc of Aang’s journey to master his talents is considerably evident from the start, which makes the show feel rushed to reach its climactic moments.
The new Avatar’s tempo produces a sense of urgency that is not reflected in the characters’ actions. With more space to breathe, the show’s subplots may have seemed deeper and its key heroes more fascinating, helping Netflix have another One Piece instead of a Cowboy Bebop.
Final Verdict
Avatar: The Last Airbender struck a rare equilibrium, appealing to audiences of all ages. It seamlessly merged hilarious humor, intense action, and intelligent narration to create a wonderful epic adventure. However, Netflix’s track record of turning animation classics into live-action films shows that they will be unable to capture the spirit of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The series’ failed attempts to lengthen short cartoons and make them more edgy for adults would undercut the story’s meticulously timed structure, humorous appeal, and emotional depth. Avatar: The Last Airbender deserves a faithful, high-budget live-action version someday from a creative team that truly understands what makes it so remarkable. However, Netflix does not appear to be capable of handling such a gigantic undertaking.
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