The original animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender boasts a solid 9.3/10 rating on IMDb and a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The show is a fan favorite and beloved by many people including myself. So, when Netflix announced their plans to make a live-action version of the show in 2018, anticipation was high.
But, fans were a bit weary since the last live-action that was based on the original show was a total flop, with a 5% on Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Because of this, fans like me weren’t sure what to expect from the Netflix live-action remake. The show was delayed due to COVID-19 and the original writers left due to creative differences. So, expectations dropped even more for fans.
Eventually, it was announced that the live-action would be released in 2024, and based on trailers, I was very impressed and had high expectations.
Finally, after many delays, the show was released on Feb. 22 and I immediately began watching it.
Sadly, I was pretty disappointed with the live-action remake, for multiple reasons. But first I think we should point out the positives.
The production and visual side of the show are very nice. The show cleanly captures the looks of the Avatar world.
The elemental bending looked realistic and the fighting scenes were choreographed well. The recreation of creatures such as Appa, the sky bison, and Momo, the winged lemur, looked similar to the ones in the animated show.
But unfortunately, that’s where the positives end.
The acting seems very corny, the writers left out many iconic scenes and there are many inaccuracies throughout the show.
The animated Avatar was known for its childlike look and humor, but also for the maturity and growth seen throughout the show. In the live-action version, the actors try too hard to match the personality of animated characters and end up coming off as corny. Characters like Zuko and Sokka seem to lack traits that make them stand out.
Zukko, in the animated show, looked fierce and scary with an ugly scar across his eye. In the live-action, Zukko doesn’t strike that same fear, and his scar looks like a little bruise, not a massive burn. Sokka is one of the lovable characters in the animated show, due to his witty humor and carefree personality. In the live-action, he tries to be funny, but the jokes seem corny or half-hearted.
Both of these characters mostly likely fail to match the original ones because it is easier to simplify things in an animated show and allow the viewer to fill gaps in with their imaginations. Since this show is a remake, people expect everything to be similar, but this isn’t possible because live-action shows have to be more visually appealing and clear. This eliminates the ability for fans to fill gaps in on their own, as there aren’t many gaps. This leaves fans disappointed.
It also doesn’t help that many smaller beloved scenes from the show are missing. The side quest where Aang goes to get medicine for Sokka and Katara never happens. In this scene, we also see the softer side of Zukko as he recuses Aang, but since it never happens in the live-action, this side of Zukko isn’t shown. This leads to a weird character arc for him, something that was considered very prominent in the original show.
While scenes like these are small, they add a personality to the animated show, which the live-action lacks.
The live-action also contains many inaccuracies, such as air benders and fire benders being able to fly. This doesn’t happen in the original. Many of these differences affect the character arcs of Sokka, Katara and as previously mentioned, Zukko.
Overall, I think the show looks amazing and has the potential to be good, but it falls flat on its face as a remake of the original show.
The animated Avatar: The Last Airbender is a perfect show, and a lot of that stems from the fact it is animated. So for a live-action to be as good as the original is already a hard task. With all that being said, I rate the live-action a 5.5/10. If you don’t look at it as a remake, it’s an average show, and as a remake, it fails.
