Yeah, I can't.
I'll preface this by saying I had low expectations. Or rather, tempered expectations. I expected this to be not as bad as the film, but not anything special either. I expected it to be like, a 5-6 out of 10 safe little series. Yet somehow, it ended up worse than that. Just because it's not as bad as the film, doesn't mean it isn't bad.
I hate to make comparisons between both this and the film, but that seems to be the general method people seem to be using to form an opinion on this series. It's almost as if the reviews for this show are just reviews for that 10 year old movie instead. But whatever, I'll join in.
If I were to distinguish the two wrongs of both adaptations, it'd be that one was a disservice to the source material, and the other is just a disservice as entertainment. Obviously this series is the latter.

I feel as if the writers were so focused on trying to put the concept onto the screen to the point where they didn't care to make a good series. While there are some creative differences, they're just meaningless little nuances. By large, this series is an extremely accurate adaptation of the original. To a fault.

To start with, the quality for this series is so low, in like every regard. Even visually. I thought I heard that Netflix put a lot of money into this expecting it to be their next Stranger Things or something? There are some standout scenes that you just know were expensive, but everything else looks so off. Hell, for a majority of the series there's a noticeable bad green screen effect outlining everyone, with such an amateurish looking blur that you can mistake this as a fanmade webseries. I'm not even one to be picky about special effects or anything, but this series really feels like it's written around making everything a "grand epic" visual spectacle moment; yet it looks like a Spy Kids film.

The writing and storyboarding itself is also just as amateurish, with so many weird cuts. It all just feels like it's trying to tick all the boxes of what makes a cinematic experience. Every character acts like a robot, and I don't necessarily mean from the acting itself. "Lighthearted scene" okay time to smile and look at your surroundings to make it clear that this is a joyous moment; okay now immediately it's a "serious scene" time to put on your serious face and say generic tension building lines so we know that this is serious. I don't mind a lot of exposition dumps, but the way it's handled here just has no tact at all, everyone acts in such a robotic way that sets up the exposition simply for the exposition sake. These actors are obviously not as experienced, but with good direction you can 100% make these guys' acting convincing, that's just simply not the case here.

It's all honestly a bit hard to describe but needless to say this is the biggest negative of the series. It's like it's made from someone with only a basic understanding of storytelling in filmography and this is their project they need to turn in. It's honestly such an amateur quality that it makes it very clear this is a kid's series, as if it should air on PBS Kids or something. Which would've been fine if that was the creator's intent, but that doesn't seem the case with all the weird edge thrown into it, blatant somewhat gruesome deaths, and mild swearing. That plus all the marketing, you can tell this was meant to be the type of series that adults can easily come to love, just as the kind of thing the source material was.

There's like generic blockbuster movie-esque score playing all the time despite Avatar being a series with a distinct soundtrack. It constantly uses that technique where every character generically stops in wonder over every fantasy setting/event even when it doesn't make sense for them to do so, as an obvious way to try and get the audience to see that same thing in wonderment. The dialogue is so on the nose, and it can't even be an intentional cheesy decision since it's being used as the main driving force for the narrative. There's a lot of the series that doesn't even make you roll your eyes, just blankly stare.
It's not offensive in any way. Not that I agree an adaptation could be offensive, but compared to the kind of fire that sparked from that era of Dragonball Evolution and The Last Airbender; this is definitely not that type of adaptation of "taking things and hollywood'ing it up for a larger audience" It's pretty accurate, just shitty and frankly, boring as hell. Really, if this weren't a preestablished IP, would you really watch 8 hours of this and even remotely care what's going on?
Less concentration should've been put onto making this as "respectful" to the source as possible, and more into making this a genuinely good series... Ironic how two drastically opposite approaches this and the film end up being.


If I were to sum it up, I guess. It has most of the technical details from the series, but it doesn't have the heart. A live action adaptation of Avatar shouldn't be IMPOSSIBLE, but frankly it's hard not to see it that way from these failures.

After 2010's M. Night Shyamalan debacle attempt at a live action ATLA movie, I don't blame fans of the original cartoon series for being skeptical of any further attempts to bring such a cherished series to live action life. I too hoped for the best, but, was prepared for the worst, however, in the end, found myself pleasantly surprised at how the producers were able to walk that razor line of producing a compelling story, while essentially having to provide "fan service" for each episode of the entire season, lest they face the wrath of those who will probably never accept anything less than a revival of the original cartoon albeit with some new storylines. This while also introducing those who weren't around in 2010, or, had never seen the original animated version.

While not perfect, Netflix has indeed done a yeoman's job of bringing the animated cast to life, with IMO the only glaring exception being the casting of Elizabeth Wu as Princess Azula, admittedly, because every time the camera zoomed in on her face, my mind immediately conjured up the image of a slightly Asian Maisie Williams channeling Asildr from Doctor Who, or perhaps Arya Stark from GOT, rather than a ruthless conniving psychopath looking for confirmation that Daddy loves her the best.

The main cast however is very much on point as their cartoon counterparts, with Gordon Cormier giving us a very believable and likable Aang, Kiawentio as Katara, and Ian Ousley (with his fabulous jawline) as the Avatarian three musketeers, as well as Dallas Liu and Paul Sun-Hyung as the sometimes conflicted duo seeking to restore their honor and show Daniel Dae Kim's "Fire Lord Ozai" that they are worthy to be in his presence, and perhaps have their own keys to the men's room.

Yes, as aptly pointed out by @zombiebxxk, some of the "spirit world" sequences were a bit off, and, could have been done differently, as, I agree they could have lightened the mood in places as the cartoons did by adding some scenes of Aang goofing off and just being a kid, rather than "the chosen one" with the weight of the world on his every decision. But then, we would probably have had to have a 10 episode first season rather than the eight we got. Not knowing how it would be received may have caused them to not push it, and that resulted in some storyline compression, which, for those who have followed along from the beginning, or even seen the entire series SEVERAL times wasn't really an issue, as, we were able to fill things in from memory. Yet, there were several happifying callbacks, which while not essential to the story flow, nonetheless brought a smile to my face. (cabbages anyone?)

All in all, for me, the series was a worthy complement to the Avatar The Last Airbender's lineage, and, I look forward to continuing the journey next season, as well as the next upcoming animated series, set to be released in 2025, which will be set 100 years after "The Legend of Korra and will apparently focus on an earthbending avatar. Other planned animated offshoots include an adult Aang and Co. film, a movie about Zuko, and two other unnamed shows. Sadly, the original series creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who signed on to be executive producers and showrunners for this live-action series, left the project in 2020 citing creative differences with Netflix. Konietzko added that a “negative and un-supporting” environment contributed to their departure. Maybe if the fans throw their weight behind this version and support it, it will give Netflix and the OG creators the impetus to bury the hatchet, and give us more seasons of bending, whichever of the elements they choose to focus on.

This is just what the witcher show writers did with their adaptation, ruined a perfectly good show on its own with their twists changing major plot lines and really good character development arcs with this mediocre , everyone is perfect . I was excited about this when I saw the first teaser and also the final trailer even though there was news coming out saying the original creators left. I disregarded everything and just went ahead trusting the show would do some kind of justice but man they fumbled the adaptation yet again. How hard is it to follow the source material while making little changes so that it fits the live-action aspect? Take the one-piece live action or even Alice in borderland, like come on. They took away Sokka's comedic sense, katara is not flawed so that she can become one of the best female characters in the show but she is perfect from the get-go and Aang is not even a kid, he is like acting soo seriously why. The major plot changes are soo annoying where is Sokka's redemption and his becoming a better person at Kyoshi island and why is Kyoshi in the first book that doesn't make sense at all. And the islanders being hostile as well towards , like they go crazy for him in the animated show and why is suki so lovey dovey and shit like whyyy , she is a badass warrior who sokka loves and respects tremendously but he doesn't go through that arc where he embraces being a kyoshi warrior is all gone down the dumps ,Idk but after watching this I'm pretty sure the creators left this dumpster fire because it isn't anything like TLAB at all. Also, the casting choices for General Zhao, that agni kai plot line being removed, Azula and her friend's casting is just awful and also them being introduced this early and her motives being changed to some petty person is just destroying everything like everything. If you are an OG fan, I'd recommend not wasting your time with this and rewatching the OG show. If this was its own thing it would've been a decent 7/10 but since there was a masterpiece of source material they could've easily adapted yet still fumbled with mediocrity, this is just a 4/10 at best. Definitely not looking forward to season 2 tbh considering idk whatever stupid changes they'll make further.

I tried to like this, but with only 8 episodes there's not a lot to work with. The pacing is way too fast. If the movie didn't exist, this show would be getting all the hate that got.

This season was supposed to be Book 1: Water and Aang didn't even attempt to learn it.

The fact that they combined Jet + Teo and his father + Omashu all into one place is just ridiculous. We're supposed to see Aang and his friends go around the world exploring. There's supposed to be a balance between having fun + trying to focus on being the Avatar.

The show just feels soulless to me. Some of the actors just feel like they're reading off a card, they're way too robotic. We barely get any time to bond with the characters and there's barely any character development. Thanks to Netflix only making 8 episodes.

I really wish the directors or whoever nowadays STOP making shows with only 8-10 episodes a season and then making us wait 2-3 years for the next mediocre/bland season. That's exactly what's going to happen here for seasons 2 and 3.

Overall, this show is disappointing and very rushed. People that haven't watched the cartoon (are there people who haven't??) need to forget this exists and just watch that instead. I have a feeling this is going to be like the Witcher, which Netflix ruined too (which was TRASH).

Unlike the disappointing attempt at a movie adaptation, this series demonstrates a thoughtful approach to condensing the expansive narrative of the original into just 8 episodes. It's important for viewers to recognize the constraints of this format; not every detail from the animated series can be replicated.

Despite these limitations, the adaptation succeeds in capturing the essence of the story, skillfully selecting key moments and seamlessly integrating multiple storylines, as seen in the treatment of Omashu. The fight choreography is commendable, and the CGI were pretty incredible, particularly in rendering beloved characters like Appa and Momo. Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Leung, and François Chau were enjoyable to see as I have seen some of their other works.

[spoiler]However, there are some missed opportunities. Aang's journey in waterbending, a central aspect of the original series' first season, was completely skipped here. While it's understandable that the series couldn't delve as deeply into this aspect within the limited episode count, a few more moments showcasing Aang's progression alongside Katara's training would have been appreciated.[/spoiler]

Despite this flaw, the live-action adaptation of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" surpassed my expectations, offering a satisfying and enjoyable viewing experience. I felt that it successfully captured the spirit of the animated series while carving out its own place.