BOTTOM LINE: A fun live-action Adaptation that has its Flaws
What Is the Story About?
Set in a war torn world with people from different cultures, divided into air,water,fire and earth worlds on the basis of their talents to bend the four classic elements, the series follows Aang – the eponymous Avatar, who also happens to be the Last Airbender. He is the only bridge of peace between the four worlds and the only one who can bend all four elements. The time period between the death of previous Avatar and Aang’s arrival had the fire world blowing rage attacks on the air,water and earth kingdoms and conquering them one by one. It’s ultimately now on Aang to bring back balance and peace to the world. But how does Aang achieve that? What happened to the air nomads who were his family? The series answers all these questions one after another.
Performances?
Netflix ‘s Avatar : The Last Airbender hits a jackpot with a casting that brings their own to the massively loved characters of the animated series. Though the actors who play Aang, Katara and Sokkastick out a little in the beginning, they genuinely own their parts and makes them their own as the show proceeds.
Dallas Liu plays Zoku effectively, carrying the burden of a child desperately wanting a dismissive parent’s acceptance. His resentment, vengeance, vulnerability and anger are all safe in Liu’s hands and lest not forget his redemption arc is the most satisfying one to watch.
Another powerful performance in the show comes from
Daniel Dae Kim‘s Fire Lord Ozai. He is menacing as the tyrannical fire-lord and a cold father to Zoku.
However,
Gordon Cormier‘s Aang is the heart of the show. His face radiates grace and charm of the Avatar – a peace-crusader & the needful balance in the world. He is guilt-ridden and burdened by the weight of saving the world against the fire nation, he is also the reason for the world to survive, a gleaming ray of hope amidst darkness.
Kiawentiio‘s Katara is another character one would root from the beginning to end. From self-doubting her water bending skills to churning herself into a fierce warrior and a close friend to Aang, Kiawentiio’s owns the arc like a boss.
Elizabeth Yu‘s Princess Azula, sister to Zuko and princess of Fire Nation is the show’s voice of menace and antagonism in the pilot season, very much inherited from her father. Her cunning performance would make one curious of what she could bring to the table in the upcoming seasons.
Analysis
Netflix’s latest fantasy series ‘Avatar : The Last Airbender’ is Show-run by Albert Kim and is a live action adaptation of the Nickelodeon animation series that goes by the same name. One of the most iconic animations of all time, Avatar : The Last Airbender follows a world with different nations named after the elements and the subjects capable of bending them, their power-struggles and the only fulcrum of balance known as the Avatar – an extremely gifted scion who could bend all the elements.
Netflix’s Avatar : The Last Airbender starts off with an opening shot where the fire nation soldiers are attacking an earth nation soldier. The base of the series is set by establishing the fire nation as this tyrannical and brutal nation that wages wars at their own harmonious neighbours. With the earth, water and air nations trembling under the brutal conquests of the then fire nation lord Sozin, the world needs the Avatar more than ever. The Avatar – the only balance, the most powerful connect between the mortal and immortal world , the only one who could bend all four elements.
The pilot episode builds the Avatar as a saviour, the only remaining ray of hope so beautifully while superposing it with the fire nation’s relentless attacks on the world. Every Avatar’s death follows the birth of another, but in a different world and this time the Avatar is from the world of the air nomads. This takes us to the air nomads, where a young kid Aang – The next avatar grows up under the mentorship of Gyatso.
Aang refuses to take up the responsibility of an Avatar and reluctantly leaves the temple with his Appa – the air bison to calm himself from the gravity of responsibilities. The airnomads get killed by the fire nation and Aang gets trapped in ice for a period of 100 long years. As Sokku and Katara rescues Aang from the ice, he realises that a lot has happened since and his entire community is now destroyed.
Aang sets out with his new friends Sokku, Katara and Appa to master all the three other elements in order to save the world from the fire nation. Meanwhile the fire nation and its scion Zoku are chasing him to gain control over everything in the world. The show takes a very interesting turn from here with Aang training himself at the temple of the previous Avatar, mastering the elements and fighting Zoku and his army, Fire Lord Ozai, & Princess Azula to a spellbinding action-oriented finale.
Avatar : The Last Airbender gets quite a few things right and few things really wrong. The casting and character development being some of the pluses, the shows fails to be an authentic and respectful adaptation unlike Netflix’s One Piece (2023). The pacing, world -building, production design and action choreography makes the show engaging enough, while the dialogues, unsatisfying VFX (for most parts) and sporadically unauthentic superpositions make it far artificial in comparison to the freshness the original had.
The show tries to make a mark of its own while retaining the heart of the animated series, but doesn’t completely succeed. Some of the VFX work and music would remind you of over the top artificial chinese blockbusters of today and that’s not really a good look when its source material is one of the most beloved fantasy shows of all time.
Nevertheless, the show could appeal very much to the kids and fantasy lovers who have not watched the original animated series. Ardent fans of the original might be disappointed with the changes incorporated in the live action adaptation, but oh boy the action is solid. So is the editing and pacing of the show.
Even if the show doesn’t come together completely or do full justice to the source material like One Piece or Yu Yu Hakusho, it is undeniably fun. Most of the credit goes to the creators for the character development and world building done right. Point to be added, Albert Kim’s show is much much better than the M Night Shyamalan Avatar movie.
Music and Other Departments?
Some of the less impactful aspects of the show could be it’s dialogues and music. Takeshi Furukawa’s music and score is just nothing extraordinary unlike the previous jackpot live action from Netflix – One Piece. Michael Goi, Stewart Whelan & Michael Balfry’s cinematography is good enough to keep up with the world created by the series.
Highlights?
Casting
Action
character development
Make up and Costumes
Drawbacks?
Less impactful dialogues
Shaky VFX in parts
Not a completely faithful adaptation
sporadically unauthentic
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, in quite a few parts.
Will You Recommend It?
If you’ve not watched the animated series, this live action adaptation would be fun enough for you.
Avatar : The Last Airbender Series Review by Binged Bureau
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