Review

Hats off to Netflix for Avatar: The Last Airbender

22/2/2024

Translation: Katherine Martin

Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Netflix adaptation of the Nickelodeon original, is by no means perfect. Plenty of it is worth criticising. The real surprise is that there’s much more worth praising.

Let me start off by saying that this review contains no spoilers. I won’t be mentioning anything that hasn’t already been revealed in trailers.

It’s a masterful move. A tactical stroke of genius. And it’s been executed pretty daringly for a series originally intended for children. Netflix makes it clear pretty quickly that this Avatar: The Last Airbender isn’t a 1:1 adaptation of Nickelodeon’s beloved animated series. It has completely different ambitions. Or as Firelord Sozin puts it right at the beginning, higher ambitions. Much higher.

Literally.

What’s Avatar: The Last Airbender about?

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A century went by before the young waterbender Katara (Kiawentiio) and her brother Sokka (Ian Ousley) discovered a new Avatar, a young airbender by the name of Aang (Gordon Cormier). The last of his kind. And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone.

But that’s not all. With the young crown prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) always hot on his heels, Aang also constantly has to be on guard. Zuko, who once mistook compassion for strength and has borne an ugly scar ever since, has been banished from his former home. His only way back is to capture the Avatar, who poses the greatest threat to the Fire Nation. After all, he’s the only one who can thwart their noble quest to unite the world under a single banner of peace and unity. Fortunately, Zuko isn’t alone on this mission. His uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) is at his side, armed with a year’s supply of delicious jasmine tea.

The Netflix adaptation gets off to a bumpy start

I had my doubts about Netflix’s live-action adaptation. Doubts that haven’t completely vanished into thin air after watching all eight episodes. That being said, it’s quelled my fears that the streaming giant would pay too little respect to the source material.

What a relief. The initial signs were pointing to disaster. Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino had been working on a live-action adaptation of the classic animation for Netflix for two years. Then, in August 2020, they left the project due to creative differences. Michael Dante DiMartino even went as far as to say:

«Whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned.»

I can’t blame Konietzko and DiMartino for abandoning ship. Yes, Netflix keeps deviating from the cartoon that fans love so much. I myself am one of these fans. I’ve been into the series since my early teens. In fact, I recently rewatched all three seasons to get myself in the mood for Netflix’s adaptation. The animated series turned out to be even better than I remembered. Funnier, more profound and more moving, with a deeper meaning contained in each episode. They all have a lesson that Avatar Aang and his friends need to learn on their journey before they can free the world from the Fire Nation’s subjugation.

This is exactly what Netflix struggles with at first. And not without reason – the first season of the animated series lacked a common thread too. Aang, Katara and Sokka jumped from one location to the next in a fairly disjointed way between episodes, without the series following any inner logic. One minute they’d be visiting the lush forests of the Earth Kingdom. The next, they’d be exploring ancient ruins in the middle of the Fire Nation, before having to deal with strange waterbenders in the murky swamps of the Earth Kingdom. It didn’t yet follow a tightly controlled story; instead following the «adventure of the week» pattern. There were 22 episodes, each lasting 20 minutes. It wasn’t until the second season that the cartoon was given a cohesive thread.

Netflix has got a lot wrong – but lots more right

This is a luxury Netflix doesn’t want to indulge in. A good thing, if you ask me. However, it does make the beginning of the adaptation a bumpy ride. Netflix has done a bit of spring cleaning, streamlining the plot and trying to unravel the narrative mess from the cartoon so that it fits into a much more straightforward series structure of only eight episodes lasting 50 minutes each. Characters and the events they’re associated with are shifted around, merged or even deleted altogether.

The most prominent victim of such a deletion? Sokka’s initial sexism. As the official explanation goes, his prejudices are outdated by today’s standards. I weighed in on the issue in an article recently:

Opinion
Why Netflix is making a huge mistake by toning down Sokka’s sexism in Avatar
by Luca Fontana

The problem with the cartoon version of Sokka is that he initially scoffs at female warriors. He believes it’s up to men to go to war and women to nurse them back to health. When he meets the Kyoshi warriors of the Earth Realm for the first time, however, his views change radically. Not only are the women gifted elite fighters, they also manage to stand up to the evil Fire Nation without element-bending powers. For the first time, Sokka has to seriously question his worldview.

It’s important anti-sexist character development. And it’s been completely left out of the Netflix adaptation. To make matters worse, Suki (Maria Zhang) the Kyoshi warrior of all people now almost literally throws herself around Sokka’s neck after seeing his muscular torso. I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s supposed to be more feminist about that. And I certainly don’t get what the series is trying to tell us viewers with that scene. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this had been the very point Konietzko and DiMartino decided to pull the plug. One of the greatest episodes of the cartoon has been butchered so severely by this tinkering.

The good news is, this was the only moment that I, an overprotective fan of the original, was left shaking my head in disappointment. Most of the other changes feel much more coherent. Some are so smooth that I’m amazed at how coherently five, six or more cartoon episodes have been combined into one.

It’s particularly apparent in the fifth and sixth episodes, Spirited Away and Masks. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil them for you. Let’s just say that in these episodes, the adaptation manages to surpass the emotional impact of some of the character developments from the original. I’d never have thought that was possible. I thought the cartoon version of the episodes was already perfect. But there you go.

Credit where credit’s due. Bravo, Netflix.

Attention to detail

As curious as I am to see how other fans will react to the many changes Netflix has made, there’s one thing I’m sure of: they’ll love the elemental bending! You can’t necessarily bank on these things. M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 movie adaptation earned nothing but scorn and ridicule for its downright laughable effects. And rightly so. A world in which six seasoned men need to perform the choreography of the century to send a measly garden stone floating through the air in slow motion? Count me out.

Netflix, on the other hand, really comes up trumps here. The firebending in particular doesn’t just look intimidating – it also sends shivers down your spine when you see enemies burning alive, their skin, hair and bones going up in flames.

And they called it a kids’ series!

Then, there’s all the rest. The beautiful costumes designed down to the smallest detail. The iconic flora and fauna, where each creature is a mixture of two real-world animals. And the lovingly recreated locations, which look as if they’ve been plucked from the animated series, only to manifest themselves in live-action. Especially Omashu, one of the last rebel cities of the proud Earth Kingdom. It’s a delight for fans. But it’s also a feast for the eyes for anyone making their first foray into Avatar: The Last Airbender. I’ll just say one thing:

«Secret tunnel!»

This aside, a few acting performances deserve some criticism. Katara actress Kiawentiio seems barely able to do more than one facial expression: mild concern. This doesn’t suit Katara, who’s without doubt the warm, motherly, passionate heart of the animated series. I like Aang actor Gordon Cormier a little better, even if it’s only towards the end of the series that he manages to fill the huge shoes left behind by original Aang voice actor Zach Tyler Eisen.

What does work really well is the trio of Prince Zuko, Uncle Iroh and Commander Zhao, played by Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Ken Leung. Liu’s voice in particular comes incredibly close to the original. And Sun-Hyung Lee’s comedic talent, which he showcased most notably in the sitcom Kim’s Convenience or in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, creates nostalgia with every wonderfully funny but wise remark as he’s serving jasmine tea. Every inch the Uncle Iroh from the original.

On the flip side, Ken Leung has been allowed to give Commander Zhao, the actual antagonist of the first season, a slightly different backstory than the one in the animated series. One that lends more weight to his later character development. More complexity. It’s another change Netflix has executed well. Even if Ken Leung, who I liked in Lost, is an asset to any cast, regardless of the script he’s given.

Verdict: after a tough start, it gets really good

«Some believe it’s in our nature to expand and consume. Like fire itself,» Uncle Iroh says at one point in the series. Cynics might say Netflix is exactly the same – it’s turned so many animated series into live-action versions, and is still doing so. Not always successfully. Cowboy Bebop, for example, was a complete disaster. Even One Piece went down better with audiences. But what about Avatar: The Last Airbender?

As a fan of the original, I struggled with the numerous changes at first. Some still don’t make sense. Others, however, only develop their effect as the series progresses. So much so that the adaptation even beats the original from time to time. That’s an impressive achievement. Especially considering how difficult it must’ve been to unravel the narrative muddle of the first season of the cartoon.

There’s no question that the team behind and in front of the camera loves Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. It’s palpable in every shot, which are full of homages to the original. And if the live-action adaptation was ultimately able to convince even a sceptical fan like me, then it’s done more than a few things right.

Avatar: The Last Airbender will be available on Netflix from 22 February 2024. The series consists of eight episodes lasting around 50 minutes each. Age rating: 12.

Header image: Netflix

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Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»

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