User Reviews

Well after years of development, Netflix's The Last Airbender has released.

I wasn't too swayed either way to be honest. There were certain aspects that I liked, and others that I didn't. And then there were some that just made me go "huh?"

It's so hard to not compare to the show. I've watched the original series at least 20 times over so it's embedded in my memory. I will say this episode surpassed the movie in every way, shape and form though.

The story is roughly the same, but rushed. The actors and effects are ok so far. The bending is okay to great depending on the moment.

We'll see what the show has in store.

Mostly, it's a good one. Sokka's live-action portrayal is easily the standout character, and I'm also happy with where they're going with both Aang and Zuko.

My biggest problem was the fact that this episode is filled with information, and it's very fast-paced. They basically crammed the first three episodes, plus The Storm, into a single hour, and some parts clearly feel rushed. Aang's limited time spent in the South Pole made some character moments feel weaker, and the amount of backstory told is enormous.

It's going to be interesting to see where they go with this; so far, I'm still hopeful.

The series so far doesn't deviate from the animated film. It seems like the plot is unfolding as it should. All the characters are there, and the special effects aren't bad either, BUT the storyline is simply too thin. Additionally, the acting doesn't seem quite up to par, bordering on amateurish. Sokka is the only one who appears convincing for now. Overall, I'm not very optimistic. Netflix productions in general tend to create shallow and poorly written series. I fear they might leave their mark on this one as well.

The episode lasted for an hour, but the plot could easily fit into 25 minutes. Aang simply isn't a good enough actor for this role. Perhaps the issue lies in the fact that 80% or even more was filmed in a studio. They didn't capture my interest, and as a fan, I'm really trying to like it. I don't know how this series will resonate with an audience unfamiliar with the storyline.

It's an amazing start to what seems to be a deserving adaptation Pros: The visuals look great. The VFX is very well done.

The changes they have made feel necessary given the more mature and darker tone that this adaptation has.

And the more darker tone makes it possible to explore some things that weren't explored fully in the original.

Cons: The last 20 minutes of the episode feel a bit rushed. They tried squeezing too much into it and it takes away from some moments that should feel a lot more grand than they do.

The dialogues feel flat and the gang doesn't have as much chemistry as they should by the end.

However it is just the first episode and they might be able to rectify some of the issues as we progress further into the show. Overall, a great first episode that does a good job at introducing people to the show.

Year that was my first thought when I watched this! How it was a massive improvememt on the movie in every way possible!

However I already know this show will never reach quite the same level as the cartoon cause there things you can never capture the same way with live action, cause its told in a different media!

The effects and bending actually looked great and really impressed me! It was organic and convincing! Another plus to me was that it didn't try to be a shot for shot remake, by adding some new scenes!

However some scenes were cut a little to much, felt rushed or misplaced!

So far this show didn't quite capture the emotional moments as well as the cartoon did!

The actors and characters still need to grow on me, but so far I think I like the guy playing Sokka the most!

The first episode shows promise, but is not without its issues! Now we can only hope its gonna improve from here!

One of the standout features of this adaptation is its commitment to detail and backstory, making the rich universe of Avatar accessible from the get-go. This approach spares audiences the wait and confusion that often accompanies adaptations, ensuring that even those unfamiliar with the original animated series can dive straight into the heart of the story.

The portrayal of characters and their dynamics, especially the flying bison Appa, is both humorous and enchanting, promising to capture the hearts of viewers and possibly inspire a new wave of merchandise to delight fans old and new. The seamless blend of action, humor, and heartfelt storytelling is poised to appeal to those who grew up with the original series a decade ago as well as today's audience.

Overall, the film version of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" appears to be a lovingly crafted homage to the source material, promising a journey filled with adventure, laughs, and the timeless quest for balance and understanding. It stands as a testament to the enduring appeal of Aang and his friends, promising a revival of the Airbender spirit for a new generation.

Some avatar fans seem to put an unfairly high bar on this adaptation. The animated series was a masterpiece, but if we're all honest, the first couple of episodes were not. Good, yes, but by no means perfect.

So with this in mind, this live action version is actually quite decent, at times maybe even better than the original. Some of the new material would not have worked in the kid-oriented animated show, but added a welcomed layer to the story and emotional arc. The visuals are (mostly) excellent, with beautiful sets and costumes and for the most part good looking bending.

Sadly, there are a number of flaws preventing the episode from being truly great. The acting is hit and miss and some of the dialogues/monologues felt unnatural. The earthbending was also a bit off. Finally, maybe the worst CGI was the avatar state. Did they really have to use a fully CGI character?

I don't know if it is good enough to bring new viewers. The fact that I already care for these characters surely helped some of the emotions connect while it may fail to do the same to someone else. Still, I feel that this is a promising start, and I hope netflix greenlights more seasons because I think the imperfections can be ironed out and we have all the ingredients for a great show in the future.

You can tell how many resources went into this serie, the world feels better than ever lively well designed, you can feel the culture of the air nomads and south pole perfectly represented by the environment and clothing.

The pacing is a little weird sometimes, specially at the most crucial scene when Ang takes his decition, it felt rushed and not natural at all.

The only big problem in the serie is the main cast:

Sokka is the strong point here, they made him a little more serious but it works specially well, and the actor not only look similar, his emotions can follow his words, perfectly portrayed.

Unfortunatelly (and having watched other eps as well) Katara is a dead character, the serie could have done well without her, you don't see emotions in that face, The very first time Sokka said "don't be angry" i was laughin because you could see no anger at all. She doesn't show her personality at all. And the script doesn't help either, Katara was a symbol of how women could be as strong as man, and they didn't use a single dialog related to that.

Aang actor also fails into deliver deep sadness, but he does very well with happy emotions.

Overall feeling is: this is worth watching, its way better than expected and a huge improvement from the old movie. I just hope i can see the actors growing with their characters as the serie progress.

The show has been out for a couple of hours and there are already many reviews on every episode (?) either hating or loving it. I suppose these are mostly by fanboys or haters and should not be listened to. This is clearly not a 1/10 show. Whether or not it is a 10/10 masterpiece remains to be seen.

I ACTUALLY watched the first episode and I have to say: I quite enjoyed it. This is coming from someone, who has seen the cartoon as an adult and enjoyed it. I am therefore familiar with the source material, however, I not completely obsessed with ATLA.

Visuals and sound: Honestly, I am pleasently surprised. Yes, the effects are mostly CGI. But what else did you expect? I think they look just fine. Fight choreographies are looking good. Music is great. In short: I have nothing to really complain about here.

Story: I should mention: I have seen the cartoon and liked it. I only watched it as an adult, so I don't think there is much nostalgy going on for me. I think it is a nice and cute story, showing the adventures of Aang and his friends. The cartoon seems childish at first, but the values and relationships it teaches are also interesting for the older audience. I liked the cartoon, but would not consider myself a huge fan. I was certainly happy when I heard about it coming to Netflix though.

Now to the actual story: since I only watched the first episode, I cannot speak for the rest of the series. From what I have seen, the storytelling seems to be close to the cartoon. The first episode is very similar to the animated series content-wise. They skipped the "boring" parts and just brought it to the essentials.

The general tone still has some childish elements to it (which is a good thing imo). I was surprised to see that it does get darker in some scenes. In one occasion, we can see a living person burn to death. I believe going forward, Netflix actually does make the live adaptation much darker than the cartoon. I think this is a good idea, since many in the audience will watch this to relive it the first time they saw it as a child. Of course, they are much older now, so making it "more adult" seems logical.

A more adult approach also makes sense for people who have never seen an episode of the animated series. I remember when I first watched the cartoon, there were several episodes that were simply too childish and aimed at kids. I believe - at least based on this one episode - Netflix manages well to retain the general tone of the cartoon but cut out many of the silly and too childish parts, making it intriguing for an adult audience.

Characters: For me, actor/actress performances and writing for all characters hit the spot. Aang, the optimistic yes-sayer; Sukko, the proud, brave and a little clumsy young adult and Katara, his smart, reflective and understanding sister are all established efficiently and effectively in the first 60 minutes. I think the actors manage to deliver. The same goes for all other protagonists and antagonists. I am interested in how well they will manage to deliver on their arcs.

Overall, this first episode manages to hit the tone of the much beloved animated series. It appears that Netflix will take a slightly more adult interpretation, which should make the series more interesting for the broad audience.

For me as someone who liked the cartoon but isn't obsessed with it, the first episode managed to feel "right at home" in the ATLA universe and it also sparked my interest to see what they will do different from here on. I am looking forward to the next episodes and definitely recommend trying it for yourselves - both fans and newcomers alike.

A careful 9/10 from my part.

There's been a lot of aangst (sorry) over the transition from the animated series to live action but I think the changes are justified. For starters, they have a new audience to appeal to, that doesn't know the original, and everyone nowadays is very quick to click away from a show that bores them in the least.

So the slow burn of the original series would have been a dangerous strategy. Instead, they've pared down the story to the essentials, adding a depiction of the backstory that was only hinted at, complete with some very un-G-rated mayhem (though still within the bounds of PG-13) and dropping extraneous elements like Sokka being a jerk, which means he won't have a character arc towards less jerk-dom.

His arc is interesting anyway; how is he supposed to be a "leader" of a bunch of supernaturally powered kids when he has no powers of his own? Or even keep up? The actor playing Sokka is so perfectly suited to the character, like he just walked off the screen, Roger Rabbit style, that I don't mind the changes.

The other standout is Zuko. The actor is already investing the character with the duality that makes him so interesting throughout the story. His arc parallels Aang's. They are both exiles, dumped into a dysfunctional world with no map for navigating it.

And this approach worked. This show is #1 on Netflix's top ten, so it looks like they've got a hit on their hands.

There are some things that could be improved. Some of the kid actors have yet to learn how to en-un-ci-ate their lines and not just mumble their way through them. But I'm sure they'll get better with practice.

This marks the start of the live-action version of ATLA, and to be honest, it was okay but not awful. The things I had an issue with was the acting, dialogue and some VFX shots.

Let's talk about the cons, because I have a few as I mentioned, acting being one of them. Aang's actor is okay, but he really need to enunciate his words, I had subtitles on because I could barely hear what he was saying half the time. Seeing as this is the only episode I've seen so far, I hope it improves. The rest of the cast were good with the dialogue they read, though they told most of the story and emotions rather than letting them show it.

Most of the VFX looked fantastic, like RTX-enabled versions of the animated show. Some not so good vfx shots resembled the Pan(2015) film, where you could instantly see the 3D models of the actors which I can see past, but once in a while the uncanny valley gets the better of my eyes.

I am excited to see where this goes, especially if they make more seasons. Acting and VFX can be improved, dialogue too (hopefully).

I had really low expectations going into this.

Especially since the original makers left the process early on, I was mixed about the series.

When I saw the first trailer, I thought it was nice, good vibes. But I had the same feeling after the first trailer of the 2010 movie... When seeing the 2nd trailer, I started doubting the CGI (hoping it would be better in the series). The other trailers I didn't see.

Now I just saw the first episode (in general I find it lame that they released everything at once.)

Things I like:

• Characters like, Aang, Sokka, Zuko are good so far, got the right vibes with them and I can't wait to see them in the rest of the episodes.

• The visuals are better than expected, the fighting was quite fast-paced (of course some slow-motion effects, but so far not annoying).

It's not perfect, though.

• I like the extended scenes, like the fire nation attack on the Southern Air temple and the parts of Sozin. Really appreciated that, and I am looking forward to the others things they added!

Things I didn't like:

• Characters like Gran Gran and Katara. Gran Gran didn't add much to it, apart from some 'forced' lines, I really missed her personality into this. When it comes to Katara, I think they changed her personality too much for this episode. Her role in the episode and to the tribe and Netflix tried to force the whole 'I want to be a warrior', way too soon. I just felt so unnecessary to change these things.

-Too much creative freedom. When it comes to changes, I just wished they would stick a little bit more to the original episodes! I don't mind changing it a little bit, but they left out so many things (you know when you watch the episode), so many (for me at least) iconic moments and lines...

In general, when not comparing it to the original series. I enjoyed the first episode. It wasn't bad, the overall 'vibe' was good, and I can't wait to watch the other episodes. I am even already looking forward to some season 2 or 3 episodes, when it comes to some extended moments, it will be for example interesting to see what they can to the Ba Sing Se brainwashing moments!

Just like that Morgan Freeman history of earth documentary, Netflix has amazing looking animation when nothing is moving. IT looks so real. But then motion happens, and it becomes weird and cartoony..This looks awful..

Static water tribe shots...amazing.. Moving air bender temple set shots = awful. Amazing and Awful at the same time. How am i supposed to react to this? Its that motion blur trying to cover up super rubbery people effect. It does not look good

And now onto the people. Everybody looks pretty good. Zuko is way younger than i expected. But while everyone looks good, the action, is sub par. Unfortunately. I really wish this was not the case. But most everyone is acting pretty lousy. Especially Kataraa and her grandmother, And sometimes AANG.

And I could not watch more than 1 episode.. The aspect ratio is messed up on every episode except for #1.

As a super fan of the original series, I'm greatly enjoying this live action take. I love seeing the amazing visuals. It's so colorful and detailed! The CGI is crisp. Appa's nose <3 The actors hearts are truly in it. Is it perfect? Close enough for me. The love and feels are there for me. The music! It has made me teary eyed more than once. The wooden and slightly cringe moments are worth it for the amazing casting, costumes, cinematography, fun, spirit, and well-acted scenes. I can easily figure out who is who. I'm on board :) Im glad looked passed the negative hype and gave it a chance. The awkward moments of exposition were really the only major weakness. The actors are doing a wonderful job!

Oh my god, ONCE AGAIN they give these roles to people who CAN'T ACT. If you can't find a kid who can act, just make Aang be 16 or 18. Holy **** I was cringing throughout. Also I can't believe they gave the important speech to an old woman who put 0 sentiment into it. She was reading the line like it was the first time she saw it. I can't believe my eyes.

I've seen people complaining about the effects but I really liked them. The bending was excelent IMO. Also the soundtrack was very good.

Honestly, I'd keep watching but Gordon Cormier acting (and others, but him especially) it's just too horrid.

I love how the show is trying to bring and show things that in the animated show just mentioned, it shows how the people in charge care about the source material so much so in my opinion is a very good adaptation. Visuals for a Tv show are amazing as well, acting is good (im sure the young actors will get much better in the future). Overall i really hope the continue the show and finish with a third perfect season, i hope the continue doing the same kind of job they showed in this first season. My favorite characters of the show will definitely be Aang, sokka and uncle iroh, all three showed what we love on the animated series and more.

ATLA is my all time favorite show since i was 8 years old and still to date. I am now 28 years old and let me tell you i waited for this for 20 years! I have watched each episode more than 50 times. I know every bits and pieces of the series and Let me tell you what i think about netflix avatar, I love it!!!. This is all i hoped for and more! I love how they put tiny bits and pieces that are different then the original but it made it mostly better. I love to see that they put so much effort and time. It looks absolutely amazing!! To see it in a realistic world of all the things that i have imagined from the show gave tears to my eyes. Bendings that i see so far in this first episode is amazing. The movements, acting, sound, visuals, all have a weight to it that makes you feel they are in control. I was super nervous how they would manage the acrobatics of bendings, especially fire bending and air, but OMG Zuko actor nailed every movement. Air benders are beautiful when you see them in action. What these people achieved is amazing and you have my respect and love. Its near impossible to bring a cartoon that is full of movement. I cant imagine a better way to bring it to live action. Its in that great balance between, not over the top that would feel super fake and unnatural, and not grounded like you would miss the visuals in the original.