After years of waiting and a whole lot of trepidation, Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender has finally premiered on the 2024 TV schedule. There’s been nerves surrounding this series since it was announced considering the hatred of the 2010 film and the fact that the beloved animated show’s co-creators left this adaptation. Therefore, fans were nervous about Netflix's take on the animated classic, however first reactions signaled cautious optimism. Now, all eight episodes are out and so are the reviews, and to put it lightly, they’re all over the place.
In Joshua Yehl’s review for IGN, he cited Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, and Ian Ousley's faithful portrayals of Aang, Katara and Sokka, respectively, his love for Zuko and Iroh, and the showing of violent events only alluded to in the animated series as highlights. While he noted “erratic pacing” and “a general sense of unwieldiness” as downsides, overall the good outweighs the bad, as he wrote:
It goes without saying that Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest animated series ever made, so a second attempt at a live-action adaptation was never going to come without high expectations and lots of nitpicking at the finer details. But over the course of its eight episodes, those kinds of criticisms – while valid – tend to melt away when the new Avatar hits its stride.
While Yehl could see past some of Avatar’s flaws, Aramide Tinubu at Variety could not, as she wrote about how the cons outweigh the pros:
Tonally, Avatar: The Last Airbender should stand alongside the nuanced sophistication of the Harry Potter movie adaptations or Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians. But instead, cheesy acting and some Disney Channel-like dialogue turn what could have been a resounding epic adventure into a whimpering thud.
Noting that she didn’t like how the storylines were combined and “stripping Sokka of the comic relief,” overall, she did not love this adaptation. However, she did point to the “gorgeous display of water bending” in “The North” and the Royal Fire Nation family as highlights. She also said the visuals were great.
Meanwhile, Mae Abdulbaki at ScreenRant enjoyed the series, calling it “a rather faithful adaptation.” While she said the special effects “fluctuate depending on the episode,” the Avatar: The Last Airbender cast is incredible and embodies their characters well. She particularly loved the worldbuilding in the show, writing:
I can also say with complete confidence that the Netflix series is exceptionally better than M. Night Shyamalan’s disastrous The Last Airbender. It’s more of a faithful adaptation, and you can tell the writing team are fans of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s work. The worldbuilding is beautifully developed, and you really get a sense of each location, what makes it tick and how the people have been shaped by it. The costumes are gorgeous, the makeup and hairstyles generally superb (minus one poor choice in wig), and the details of the sets and locations elevate the series.
However, while Abdulbaki said Netflix has “yet another successful adaptation” on their hands, Angie Han at THR deeply disagrees, saying that while “the effort is admirable,” “the execution is decidedly not.” She wrote:
But the flaws plaguing this Avatar are entirely its own, separate from the unbearable weight of fan expectations. In its turn toward the dark, it forgets to make space for light. In reaching for lofty themes, it neglects the details and basics to make them land. In its impatience to grow up, it leaves its characters no room to evolve. And in all of these failings, it delivers an Avatar that, grittier though it may be, feels far less mature than the kids’ cartoon ever did.
Landing in the middle on this show, Devan Coggan at EW explained that while the series vastly improves on the 2010 live-action film, it can’t reach the heights of the beloved animated series:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Netflix’s Avatar falls somewhere in the middle. The series arrives more than a half-decade after it was first announced, with a new creative team and cheery young cast of newcomers. The result is a charming but imperfect adaptation that vastly improves upon the 2010 film — but never soars quite as high as the original animated show.
She called the cast’s chemistry “sparkling” and some of the changes made “thoughtful.” However, she wasn't here for some of the style choices. Overall, she said the show has “potential,” and she hopes that if it moves forward it will grow into it.
On the total flip side of this Kelly Lawler at USA Today seems to have no hope in the series calling it a “regretful mess.” Noting that the costumes, style and tone as points of contention, she said:
Both too slavish to the original and too far removed from it, the new Avatar fails in every way. And it’s infuriating.
However, to flip things one more time, Aja Romano at Vox really thought Avatar: The Last Airbender delivered, and she adored the adaptation, writing:
The wait, it turns out, has been worth it. Although there are plenty of things to quibble with in successor showrunner Albert Kim’s version of the series, so many things go right that this adaptation of Avatar not only rejuvenates the whole franchise but elevates Netflix’s flagging live-action project.
Noting that the Netflix series balances the “family-friendly ethos with a story that deals openly with war, genocide, fascism, trauma and child abuse,” Romano said this series is “as devastating as it is delightful.”
Overall, there is no general consensus on Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. These critics, many of whom noted their allegiance to the original series, all had vastly different views on the adaptation – some noting that it was a hot mess while others made claims that point to it being one of Netflix’s best shows. So, I guess the only thing to do now is develop your own opinion.
You can stream Avatar: The Last Airbender with a Netflix subscription right now.
