As promised, I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender live action on Netflix and gave it a fair shot. As much as possible, I tried to keep an open mind and to look at it objectively. I know some people think it’s unfair to evaluate films and tv shows by comparing them to the originals, but if you create a show based on something else, then I think it is fair to judge accordingly. The remake wouldn’t exist without the original, so you can’t fairly say that it is wrong to compare the two. 

That being said, this post will focus on the positives of this show. (And of course, here thar be spoilers!)

It is beautiful. The effort that the creators put into the set design, costuming, and even the characters looking the part is phenomenal. I watched the show with my roommate and we both couldn’t help but sigh over the costumes in particular. I mean just look at some of these pieces:

Even Aang’s tattoos have incredible detail in them – filled with swirls that give an indication of his airbending ability. And when the “Secret Tunnel” group showed up, I couldn’t believe how close they looked to their original characters, even right down to their dances. 

The countries, buildings, and landscapes also look like they’ve been brought to life right out of the cartoon. The scenery is beautiful – I especially loved seeing the Air Temple before its destruction. (I know this image is after the genocide, but I couldn’t find one from before).

The next positive is the fight choreography. I loved seeing all of the bending and the fight scenes (aside from the Fire Nation Rocketeers, which just looked way too comical for me to take seriously). The fights were realistic and epic. Out of all of the elements, I’ve always thought the idea of earthbending was pretty scary and to see chunks of earth just come up and swallow, surround, or hit people assured me that earthbending is legitimately terrifying. 

Zuko and Aang’s fight to escape the fire nation fortress was everything I wanted to see – especially the sword fighting, since Zuko isn’t trying to give away his firebending. The final battle up in the Northern Water Tribe gave me a lot of Lord of the Rings Helm’s Deep vibes – the stakes, the fights, the consequences. All of it was very well depicted and thought out. 

Also, even though it was a total add on to the original, who didn’t want to see Avatar Kyoshi lay out a bunch of fire nation soldiers in epic Avatar style?

A third positive is that I did actually like some of the changes. I can think of two specific changes that added a lot of depth and emotional investment that had been sadly lacking throughout a lot of the show. 

The first was Zuko’s crew. It isn’t hard to wonder why a bunch of men would be okay being the escorts of a banished prince on a fool’s errand to find an Avatar that hadn’t been seen in 100 years. Did they just really anger the firelord and get saddled with the worst post or what? But the live action having them be from the 41st regiment that Zuko stood up for against his father was just *chef’s kiss* beautiful. I have to admit I teared up when they started to give Zuko salutes one by one on the ship deck. That was an incredibly moving scene. (I do have issues about it being in the first season and making Zuko a little too sympathetic right away, but I’ll go into that more when I get to the negatives of the show). 

Another poignant and awesome change was the character of Hahn. He’s kind of an ambitious jerk in the cartoon with him and Sokka seeing each other as rivals because they were both googly-eyed over Yue. To have them both respect one another as leaders and be willing to learn from one another was so good. Hahn as a whole was just a really well-developed and brave character to only briefly be in two episodes. He gave you an emotional investment in the Northern Water Tribe that made his sacrifice much more meaningful. (*sobs*)

Finally, I think the gravity of the situation – the threat of the Fire Nation and the steps they are willing to take to conquer the world (including genocide) – were depicted well. The consequences of war and the devastation that it can wreak are shown to a realistic degree that the cartoon obviously couldn’t showcase. 

Even though, as a whole, I didn’t particularly care for this show, I think there’s a lot of potential for growth. The last two episodes specifically showed a lot more character development and plot than the previous six and were pretty well done. If the next season follows more of what the last two episodes did, I think it could be decent – though I am concerned that some of the changes they have made here will seriously hamper character growth and arcs. Anywho, there’s potential if the writers could just get out of their own way.

Tune in next time, for the more, uh…critical portion of my review.