Avatar: The Last Airbender – Review

Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series set a new high bar for children’s TV. Leading up to the release of Netflix’s adaptation, fans of the original series closely examined every detail, especially since it was revealed two years into development that the original creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, had departed from the project due to creative differences. This departure raised concerns among fans, drawing parallels to the widely criticized 2010 M. Night Shyamalan live-action film adaptation of the same series.

Now that the Netflix adaptation is officially out, fans and critics alike are eager to see how the live-action version measures up to the beloved animated original and whether it can overcome the skepticism fueled by the creators’ departure and the legacy of the previous film adaptation.

Those details were important to understanding the original Avatar’s story. Along with some rather nifty-looking Chocobo-like creatures, explosive feats of bending are some of the first things you see in the new Avatar as it opens on a high-octane action sequence set in the past. It’s a great showcase of the energy the show’s VFX and choreography teams put into depicting each of Avatar’s various bending styles as distinct balances between martial arts and elemental magic.

Avatar: The Last Airbender also stars Elizabeth Yu, Ken Leung, Maria Zhang, Lim Kay Siu, A Martinez, Amber Midthunder, Yvonne Chapman, C.S. Lee, Danny Pudi, and Utkarsh Ambudkar. All eight episodes of the first season hit Netflix on February 22nd.

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