Here we go again. Another beloved animated show gets the live action treatment at Netflix and it’s a big letdown. This time it’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. I watched the first 2 episodes and I’m tapping out. I can’t really see myself coming back for more. Now, in full disclosure, I never watched the original animated show or the movie. I came into this thing with fresh eyes. And here’s the bummer: The premise of Avatar is so strong! Why isn’t’ this show better?
I’ve actually given this quite a bit of thought. What went wrong with Avatar: The last Airbender? Here’s what I’ve concluded. It’s not the actor’s fault. Not the fault of the CGI people. The fault lies with the studio, writers and really, the director. Ultimately, it’s the director. That’s where the buck stops. The director signed off on some really bad writing throughout the first 2 episodes. Characters just telling us exactly what they were doing. It was cringy. And visually I could never get into the show. Everything about the sets and costumes was a constant reminder that this world was completely fake. Every costume looks like wardrobe just cleaned and pressed it. Do they plan on selling those later? This is recurring theme with Netflix shows. The fantasy world where every person’s costume is immaculately clean. It’s a real head scratcher. The did this with The Witcher as well. Instantly takes me out if the reality.
The big problem with Avatar is this: I don’t care. I don’t care about any of it. And thats all on the director. If your lead character has to say some completely clunky monologue to his flying bison, you better move heaven and earth to make sure we believe it and its visually interesting. If you have to go back to fight scenes 101 and brush up on how to make fantasy fight scenes interesting, so be it. The show should have everything it it’s just blah. There is zero mystery, and nothing is compelling. And that’s a shame. From what I’ve learned about the world of Avatar and how everything works and what the stakes are, this show is built to win. This should be a fantastic piece of entertainment. Sadly, the whole thing just feels flat, and I don’t care what happens. Too bad.
