Adapting Avatar: The Last Airbender into a live-action series was always going to be a challenge. Netflix might have gotten it right with One Piece, but unfortunately, they cannot repeat that success. The new show has its moments but never escapes the shadow of its superior forebear, nor does it ever really manage to justify being made in the first place.
The new Avatar feels somehow rushed and too slow at the same time. The stories of Aang, Kotara, Sokka, and Zuko lose their rich detail and tonal consistency as the series struggles to marry the original’s cheeky humour with a drive for maturity. The young cast do what they can but never bring their characters to life with the vivid expressiveness and depth they deserve. Even the action, visually impressive as it is courtesy of a sizable budget, lacks the energy and zip that animation originally gifted them. At no point do you believe that Netflix truly understands the world they have inherited, hence the series’ apparent need to dump information in chunks rather than approaching characterisation with patience and trust.
The final two episodes are the strongest, blessed with tighter and more emotionally impactful storytelling that escapes the preceding entries. Before this, Avatar: The Last Airbender is much like Aang himself, unsure of what it is supposed to be and carrying the unavoidable weight of a burdensome legacy. This new Avatar is less colourful, less fun, and somehow less awe-inspiring than what came before it. It remains to be seen whether this can be amended with a (surely inevitable) second season.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is available to stream on Netflix now.
