I remember watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) for the first time while recovering from my double molar extraction before getting braces. My face was numb from the anaesthetic and I was drooling chocolate custard all over the place, but it didn’t matter because I’d just discovered this charming show that made all the pain go away.
Fast forward years later and a live-action adaptation of ATLA is released. I’m not talking about M. Night Shyamalan’s movie (let’s never talk about that again), but the eight-episode series from Netflix.
With my hazy but nostalgic memory of the original, here are my thoughts on the ATLA live-action series.
The story
The live-action engaged me quickly by sharing information that wasn’t given in the original: what happened at the Southern Air Temple. While confronting, this insight made the show more interesting because it felt like I’d learned something new about the show’s universe. After this, however, the first few episodes were kind of slow. It felt like not a lot happened until a few episodes in.
Once I got into the meat of it, I was excited to see the gang travelling to different areas and interacting with different groups. While the story followed the general progression of the animation, it did feel like there was a lack of drive. It seemed that Aang felt no urgency to master all the other bending elements and that the trio were going to all these places just “because.”
The characters
Something that made the original show so charming was the personalities of all the characters. While I was impressed with some characters, there were some that fell flat.
The live-action Katara feels flat compared to the animated character. In the original, we get to see her character develop throughout her water-bending journey. In the live-action, this is very rushed; within the first few minutes of meeting Aang, she’s able to waterbend and speedruns developing her skills. Meanwhile, Aang doesn’t even learn to bend any other elements in the whole season. Does that make him Avatar: The Worst Airbender? Katara was just too OP for me - maybe she should have been the Avatar instead.
The characters that kept me watching were Zuko and Iroh. Compared to the animation, the live-action Zuko seemed a lot less scary and ruthless, and more human. If not for anything else, watch the series for Zuko and Iroh. I felt the most moved and emotional in the scenes involving these characters
The bending
I was really impressed by the visual effects. There weren’t any times I was watching and thought to myself, “That doesn’t look legit.” VFX buffs may disagree but from my perspective as a casual viewer, I thought it was spotless.
Final thoughts
If you’re like me and can’t seem to get into animated shows anymore (is childhood over for us?), then I’d recommend you watch the ATLA live-action to appease any nostalgia you have for the original. If the Avatar’s story is fresh in your mind, I think you can still enjoy the show but will be disappointed by a few parts. It’s just not the same as the original. But then again, what is?
Amelie Ritchie is a third-year UNSW student who started off studying Science and Engineering but joined the dark side by transferring to a Bachelor of Media (Comms. and Journalism) to engage in her affection for writing. She loves to read, write and watch films/series, finding the most enjoyment in things that make her feel. It is likely you will find her sitting in the gentle light of her bedroom, listening to music as she burns a candle.
