Netflix always likes to reach into the hornet’s nest, since they usually look for previous works that are a favorite of many, but the changes they make are not always so attractive.
There were problems with Avatar: The Last Airbender even before the premiere, as several characters were rewritten, for example, just to better meet the criteria of a live-action series. It didn’t necessarily work in the past, and it hasn’t really won viewers over now either. All critics agree on one thing, even the series on the streaming platform did better than the widely condemned film adaptation in 2010.
The new series, based on Nickelodeon’s popular Gen Z animated series of the same name, follows a group of kids on a mission to save the world from the Fire Nation and its genocidal leader, Emperor Ozai. A 2010 spin-off from the first season by director M. Night Shyamalan and Paramount Pictures, it was panned by critics, derided by fans, and drew major backlash for featuring white actors in the Asian and Native American-inspired story.
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A decade and a half later, Netflix approached the topic again, and now Albert Kim was entrusted with overseeing the series. At first, everyone was pleased to note that he included the creators of the animated show in the works, but then this turned into concern after Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko announced in 2020 that they would withdraw from the reboot due to creative differences. While critics largely agree that the Netflix series didn’t repeat the mistakes of the 2010 film, many say it still didn’t do as well as the original.
According to Rolling Stone’s Alin Sepinwell, the Netflix series is more respectful of the original source material and has better action scenes and a better cast than the 2010 film. Meanwhile, Belen Edwards of Mashable wrote:
“The new series isn’t nearly as bad as the movie, but it’s not as spectacular as the animated series either. It’s as if he got lost halfway between his predecessors. It has some great parts and some really weak parts.”
Some in the series have the ability to bring elements under their control, which is called bending. Only the main character, Aang, the Avatar (Gordon Cormier), can use all four elements – fire, water, air and earth. One of the biggest failings of the 2010 film was the slow and unspectacular fight scenes, but this is much better represented in the Netflix creation. Collider’s Therese Lacson, on the other hand, said that firebending and earthbending are visually convincing, while the other two don’t look natural on screen. Because of this, many people complained that the series relies too much on VFX (CGI) technology, and as a result, quite a few scenes seem unnatural.
Fans began to criticize the new Avatar even before its release, after Kiawentiio Tarbell, one of the actors, said that Sokka’s sexism had been removed from the adaptation. In the original series, Aang’s partner Sokka believes that women cannot fight as well as men. However, his view slowly changes after he is defeated by a team of female warriors, the Kyoshi Warriors. Fans believed that removing Sokka’s sexism would ruin the character’s development. Regardless, Ian Ousley’s (Sokka) performance was praised by several, with the series saying that the show had toned down Sokka’s sexism rather than erasing it. In addition, the streaming platform wanted to condense the 20 episodes of the first season of the animated series into 8 parts, and this results in the story telling being rushed, as well as missing storylines that build the relationship between the main characters.
Trailer for the 2010 film
The other big criticism is that Netflix’s attempt at a darker tone didn’t always hit the mark. Albert Kim told us in January that the darker tone was forced to appeal to Game of Thrones fans.
And The Hollywood Reporter’s Angie Han concluded that the series feels much less mature than the children’s cartoon ever did, despite its darker tone.