A Painfully Honest Review of Netflix Avatar

gaming

anime

Comics some fourth thing long ago the

fandoms would get hyped when a thing

they loved became a movie but everything

changed when Dragon Ball Evolution

attacked only the Avatar master of

cartoon comedy and Anime storytelling

could save us but when the world needed

him most we got M Night Shyamalan my

name is an and I'm the Avatar bring me

all your elderly that child was being

arrested for what he was bending tiny

stones at us from behind a tree it

really

hurt he's making fire out of nothing

Well actually what we got was a whole

lot of Studio meddling that ight got

blamed for he's honestly the biggest

victim of the whole debacle having his

name irrevocably attached to this barely

watchable lump of garbage that barely

resembles his original Vision to be fair

that original Vision probably still

would have pissed a lot of Avatar

addicts off but more in the quirky fun

8s Super Mario movie way you know where

the film is clearly doing something just

not the something most people wanted to

see which is still infinitely better

than doing nothing anyone would want to

see but that's a story for another

YouTube video which several other people

have made already I'm sure as a jumping

off point for today's story all you

really need to know is there was a Last

Airbender movie once and it has a

legitimate claim on being not just the

worst adaptation but the worst Hollywood

film of all

time ultimately that had two lasting

effects on the legacy of Avatar firstly

the whole brand kind of collapsed in on

itself for a while and every time its

creators tried to build it back up the

Nick exec who actually caused the

problem would lose their nerve at the

last second and now suddenly the last

season of Kora gets to Premiere in a a

crappy web player just for example but

second the film's honestly miraculous

complete lack of any redeeming qualities

left us all with one burning question

what if not even what if we did it right

this time just what if we tried it again

it can't possibly be worse right like

the eternally hypothetical Final Fantasy

7 remake the dream that there could one

day be a good liveaction Avatar became

so fixed in the imagination of the fans

and creators alike that its

manifestation as some kind of consumable

product was inevitable as was the

absolute [ __ ] storm of discourse that

proceeded and followed its release on

Netflix last week you've probably heard

a lot of passionate takes on this show

since then ranging from it killed my

entire family in front of me too it

sucked my and gave me free cake but

today we're going to try to cut through

all that noise to find honest answers to

three key questions is this new series

worth watching for fans of the original

does it work as a standalone adaptation

and most importantly was this whole

thing just a fundamentally bad idea

before I tell you the answer to all

three questions is yes mostly I really

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so how many can I put you down for the

pain let's get the obvious questions out

of the way up front is Netflix's avatar

the Last air bender as good as

Nickelodeon's avatar the Last air

bender okay yeah expected that but is it

as bad as Nickelodeon movies The Last

Airbender an M Night Shyamalan film that

depends on who you ask and how much of a

liar they are notable Twitter blue

engagement Farm discussing film said at

worst the Netflix show makes M Night

Aman's 2010 The Last Airbender film feel

like a mercy because at least that poor

effort was only 2 hours long and the

only way I can square that statement

with any sane view of reality is if the

writer has never seen the

movie cuz even if you only watch the

last flick spinger [ __ ] garbage pilot

episode and never actually get to any of

the good parts the difference in quality

is still night and

day the show's dialogue can be a little

cringy and overe explaining sure but the

movie's dialogue is literally almost

100% Exposition it is uniquely

excruciating to sit through a

singularity of bad filmmaking unlikely

to be rivaled in our life times if this

crew had made anything even half that

bad the second time round it would force

me as an atheist to concede that the

devil is real also that he's one and God

is dead luckily God is still only dead

for all the nche reasons and everything

that's bad about this Netflix show can

be explained by natural means which is

not everything about the show to be

clear the praise this version of Avatar

is getting definitely ain't coming from

nowhere but the hate definitely isn't

either and I think a lot of that

ultimately boils down to the incredibly

bad first impression that the first two

episodes leave especially that

aforementioned [ __ ] garbage pilot which

absolutely butchers some of the series

most sensitive moments in a misguided

attempt to be more adult that ends up

feeling less mature than the way the

cartoon for babies did it I am talking

of course about the show's much public

ized Capital C choice to open on the

Airbender genocide depicted in the most

gruesome detail a tv14 rating will allow

so got to cover up the blood mostly but

there are dead bodies that Ang can poke

with his big stick now and when the fire

lord gets mad he can go all Darth Vader

on their asses but with

fire yeah kid this ain't your little

brother's after school Avatar this one's

all hardcore and junk this fire lord

wouldn't just sit back and manage a

genocide he's going to get in there on

the front lines himself to make sure

there are no survivors

remember no survivors see now clumsy as

they are these scenes do at least

attempt to expand the series lore and

history a little bit the idea of

disinform Earth Kingdom spies to draw

troops to bosing se and away from the

air temples in preparation for San's

comet is kind of strategically

interesting and it sets up a call back

later on where xiao's assault on the

water tribe is revealed to merely be a

diversion enabling azula's taking of

omashu because obviously a bunch of

enemy boats going to the North Pole

would pull Earth Kingdom Ground Forces

away from one of the only two cities

they have left you know one of the

advantages of the original Avatar's age

rating required reluctance to directly

depict the more direct aspects of

warfare is its writers didn't really

have to account for all this strategic

logistical crap they could simply say

for example that the Fire Nation managed

to eradicate all of the flying Nomads on

the entire planet off screen without

having to Grapple with the tricky

tactical question of how exact L anyone

could pull that off and inevitably

coming up with some laughably stupid

answer like the entire race just

happened to be in the same town for the

big Centennial Comet Festival better go

help set up for the great Comet Festival

before the aads from the other temples

AR how many are coming all of them we

have to kill them all don't get me wrong

part of me definitely sees the vision in

a more brutal version of Avatar that

gets to fully explore all the horrible

things things one could do to other

humans with its power system when Zahir

assassinated the Earth Queen by

airbending a vacuum around her head and

Kora 20-year-old me thought that [ __ ]

was metal as his words not mine I I

prefer to swear sparingly for maximum

effect these days and that same

principle is exactly why that moment

hits as hard as it does it's a truly

Savage act of violence far worse than

anything shown in the Avatar univ

to that point though not for

[Music]

long and even more shockingly Zahir uses

the most peaceful defensive of the

bending Arts to do it in so many ways it

feels like a taboo was just broken like

the world of Avatar has been

fundamentally and irrevocably Changed by

this one crime you know like that

Community episode where Jeff commits the

first murder in GI Joe history and that

gives the moment the gravits a regicide

leading up to attempted Demi deide

really should have but moments like that

can't have that kind of impact in a show

where horrific violence is just you know

part of the general Vibe the kind of

impact that facing the aftermath at the

southern air Temple had on Ang and the

audience in the original series after

three straight episodes spent goofing

off and trying not to think about it

this version reduces that masterfully

wound up gut punch to a pathetic slap in

the face an afterthought of an epilogue

awkwardly tacked on to the end of its

clumsy overly expositional retelling of

the boy in the iceberg like and so Ang

made a daring break from Prince Zuko's

Brig riding off into the new world with

his Newfound friends and his oldest

friend apaa then he went to a room full

of skeletons to scream and glow at them

the end what's happening what is he

doing this one quiet shot from the

original anime of gatso the kindly old

goofball we only got to know from Ang's

funny cartoon flashbacks lying dead in

the snow surrounded by the countless

firebenders who fell trying to take him

says more about the tragedy of this war

CRI crime and the ferocity with which it

was opposed then all the CGI Sound and

Fury $15 million an episode can muster

which is still a lot better than what

the movie mustered with 10 times that

many dollars to be fair but let's be

real that bar is underground a few of

the show's fights do feature some

seriously impressive stunt work and

choreography and the big final battle

scene where everything goes all black

and white except for a few splashes of

color after the the moon gets dead

that's legitimately breathtaking I wish

they did more stylish stylized stuff

like that because while the CGI here

does look by and large better than the

movie it's just not up to the level of

realism the rest of the shows shooting

for Earth and firebending do look fairly

believable years of Hollywood Research

into perfecting fake explosions and

Rubble really works in the show's favor

there but fluid simulations are still

very tricky and EXP expensive so water

bending mostly looks like wet slimy [ __ ]

except when they're using ice and to

complement that air bending looks like

Dusty

[Applause]

farts though to be fair it is basically

impossible to make realistic airbending

look like anything else because

realistically speaking wind's supposed

to be invisible but that's obviously not

very cinematic so they had to add some

kind of visual component even though it

was basically guaranteed to look silly

and when you throw those silly looking

effects over the Unreal Engine ass

environments on the big Mandalorian LED

wall behind the actors the whole thing

kind of just looks like a video game

especially when the Benders start flying

around and they got to swap in 3D stunt

doubles at which point this live action

remake just becomes an uglier cartoon

with extra more expensive steps that's

his real power connection Building

Bridges that's how he's going to be the

Avatar even if the bending effects had

been perfect though the attack on the

southern air Temple still would have

sucked [ __ ] cuz they made monk gatso go

down like a little [ __ ] without killing

anyone the one thing this scene could

have done to justify its tasteless tacky

take on Ang's tragic backstory was show

us how the heck that room got like that

and they completely [ __ ] it up I was

so mad after watching this prologue I

could have sat down and started roasting

right there but I'm glad I kept going

because it did get quite a bit better

eventually not now to be clear cuz now

is when we're introduced to Saka and

qara and with them another much

publicized Capital C Choice Saka is not

a sexist pig anymore what again I do see

the vision here this one more of the

prophecy of Doom type Vision in which

many many tweets are made by people who

don't know what a character Arc is about

how Saka is all problematic and poorly

aged now I'd be wary of that too if I

just dropped a Scott Pilgrim anime but

by taking the coward's way out on this

Netflix has fundamentally changed where

Saka comes from and what his whole

character Arc means he's supposed to be

a y a crude rude kid with tud who's

never seen the world Beyond his very

small town and says a lot of dumb crap

but only because he legitimately doesn't

know any better his regressive attitude

toward women is the most obvious

expression of that and when Suki knocks

it out of him in episode 4 that's his

first step on a very long journey to

becoming a real man of the world also

toward a genuinely compelling Romance

especially for a Nick show where the

fact that these two characters fall for

each other really says something about

both of them I'm so glad to see you Saka

I knew you'd

[Music]

come anime Saka is a real good guy deep

down but cocky and very rough around the

edges stupid with a Grace and confidence

that makes competent driven women like

Suki and UA think I could fix him and

freaks like Tye think I want to make

mistakes with him sand those edges down

and what you're left with is a mostly

together fella with some confidence and

daddy issues a great sense of humor and

an impressively Progressive worldview

for a dude who's only ever met like 70

total people all with that jawline no

mystery why he's pulling princess he

still got a lot of the important Saka

stuff you know the meat and sarcasm bet

you taste like

chicken what are you doing here we're

doing what we're doing right but why are

you doing it

here Ian olley definitely gets the

character but take away his key flaw

that confident ignorance and Kyoshi

Island suddenly just a story about a hot

guy who meets a hot girl and he likes

martial arts and she likes martial arts

and he's got daddy issues and she's got

mommy issues so they kiss this is barely

CW tier ship bait i'llbe it better

directed than most CW

shows but the real problem one that has

immediate consequences for the entire

story is how this changes Saka

relationship with his sister because now

he's not a pigheaded jerk who doesn't

take qara seriously because women can't

Warrior and she's not the unwilling

surrogate mother forced to clean up

after that jackasses messes they're just

siblings who bicker a bit about the

age-based pecking order meaning they

have nothing to really fight over like

ever meaning that the inciting incident

of the whole story where qara gets so

mad at Saka for being a sexist idiot

that she accidentally water bends the

Avatar free gets changed to oh no the

boat we were just mildly arguing on is

too far away well I guess you better use

Magic Water to get it back even though

we were just just arguing about that cuz

honestly not that big a deal all right

I'll just do some oh whoops there's a

bald kid now and also meaning that later

on we'll need a whole Messa Exposition

about how bending power and control are

tied to emotions because this adaptation

failed to cinematically show don't tell

us that in its opening moments unlike

the lowbudget cable show it's based on

season one of which is roughly the same

length in minutes as the Netflix version

just by the way but due to this shows

much less efficient storytelling it's

only able to cover about half of book

one's plot points now some of that time

loss is the result of a few new fire

nation subplots that were added for the

sake of having more scenes on reusable

sets which honestly make way better

additions to the story than what Netflix

bbop tried to do with vicious for

example though not as good as what one

piece did with the Marines but the

contrivances made to accommodate all

these unnecessary changes to avatars

characters also really add up especially

when it comes to the most egregious

Capital C choice this adaptation makes

Ang doesn't want to goof off anymore you

know Ang the Beloved iconic character

whose first words in any piece of media

ever were I need to ask you something

what will you go penguin sing with me

now he's all about Duty and saving the

world and stuff this Ang didn't run away

from home directly into a storm to throw

off any air Benders following him out of

sheer Terror at the overwhelming

responsibility of suddenly being Kung Fu

Jesus At The Tender age of 12 he just

flew away from the comet Festival to

clear his head for a bit real low to the

open ocean for some reason and then a

tidal wave snuck up on him it's a very

silly change that seemingly makes no

sense unless you're looking at the story

from the perspective of a TV producer

who's trying trying to make it fit a

budget playing up Ang's avoidant wander

lust means adding more locations to the

shoot schedule or paying a CG team to

mock up more Mandalorian sets which

ain't cheap either way but if Koshi

shows up at the start to give Ang a

prophetic vision of [ __ ] going down at

the northern water tribe thus forcing

him to make a beine there now you can

focus on making a handful of more

prominent locations look as good as

possible plus then you get to make the B

plot of the KE Yoshi Warriors episode

about a kid sitting in front of a glowy

statue for a couple hours while his

friend gets lucky as opposed to a kid

trying to ride a giant monster that is

in a very real sense made of time and

money the Critter effects we do see in

the show particularly Momo and jun's

sheroe are legitimately quite impressive

but every million dollars you don't

spend filming penguin sledding is

another million you can spend butchering

the Airbender genocide and the stated

goal of of the project is to make an

explicitly less cartoony more adult

version of Avatar so what's wrong with

toning down Ang's childish goofy side

nothing if you don't mind toning down

Avatar's

Soul avatar The Last Airbender is a

fascinating media Chimera that fuses the

more mature storytelling sensibilities

of Japanese anime with the playful

comedic energy of American cartoons when

fans particularly adult fans look back

on the series now I think we tend to

overemphasize the anime part of that

equation the lore the continuity the

fights and romance all the things that

made Avatar so special and distinct from

the American Kids TV landscape from

which it first emerged but both

ingredients are equally essential to

Avatar's Secret Sauce the tension

between the series two identities as a

wacky slap Nick tune about a goofy bald

kid and his magic animal Pals and a

serious serialized War anime with life

or death world shaking Stakes reflects

the tension at the heart of Ang's

character the Carefree fun-loving kid he

wants to be versus the responsible

decisive young man he must become as the

series goes on the balance of serious

anime action to Goofy cartoon diversions

shifts perceptively in conjunction with

Ang's own increasing determination to

see his Destiny through the very

structure of the story grows up

alongside its protagonist and when you

take away the more childish cartoony

aspects of Avatar to focus on the good

anime bits you lose that effect entirely

that's not to say the show's allergic to

goofy fun it still plays the hits like

secret

tunel secret tunel

and of

course

myab they even brought the original

actor who played cabbage guy back this

adaptation was clearly made by fans who

love and care for the original series

but they're also clearly more anime

brained fans who treat the funny bits as

non-essential comic relief and probably

share the widely held Avatar fan opinion

that the series only really gets great

after book one that would explain why

both Ang and Saka kind of feel like they

just time skipped ahead to midseason 2

in their character arcs now don't get me

wrong some of that reluctance to step up

and grow up is still there in this

version of Ang he'll tell you as much if

you ask him at length this whole time

I've been worried that I don't know what

I'm doing you're not going to lose us

but just the thought I I could is going

to hold me back the other kids always

say I'm lucky because the things I could

do but I trade places with any of them I

don't want the

responsibility I'm scared of my power

I'm scared of being alone this was my

home and now it's gone it's only after

we've lost something that we realize how

much means to us you can't just have

your characters announce how they feel

that makes me feel angry but then he

kind of has to tell you as does

basically every character in the show at

some point or another how he feels

because everything the original series

used to show it has been stripped away

and it legitimately sucks that Gordon

Cormier has to waste so much of his time

soliloquizing things that he should just

be able to perform because holy crap can

this kid ever perform someone in the

Netflix casting department is clearly

some kind of dark wizard because between

him and inaki Godoy they keep finding

these people who were just born to play

anime heroes at just the right age to

star in their adaptations it's kind of

crazy though on the other hand they did

miss the mark by like three decades with

[ __ ] SP Ed here is actually a great

example of just how wrong this whole

thing could have gone Ang is after all

also a weird little dude prone to

bouncing off the walls sometimes

literally and translated into a real

human performance that could have easily

been way too much but Cormier manages to

capture the essence of the character in

a more subdued grounded way that feels

like a real kid his talent is seriously

remarkable so it's a shame the script

barely gives him any chances to actually

play Ang which in turn gives Kio Ando

Tarbell even fewer chances to play qara

between Saka not being a jackass and Ang

consistently staying on task she really

has no no fuel for the fiery emotional

outbursts that are supposed to define

the character outside her relatively

brief conflicts with jet and master paku

and both of them are basically reduced

to Side characters by the choice to

blend their stories in with other

episodes so yeah qara is just kind of

there everything that happens between

her and Jet now happens at the periphery

of Sak's surrogate father story with

Danny py as the mechanist which is truly

inspire fired casting by the way whom

jet wants to bomb to death for his

traitorous dealings with the Fire Nation

now and all of that takes place in

omashu now where Zuko and iro are both

sneaking around to you know capture the

Avatar all of those plot threads

eventually come together into a

satisfyingly chaotic climax ending with

iro and Ang both in jail and leading

into the A and B plots of omashu part

two where p reunites with and is tested

by King bumi while while Zuko saves his

uncle from the earth Kingdom prisoner

Convoy also there's a SE plot where Saka