The Worst Things Critic Reviews Said About Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender
"Avatar: The Last Airbender" fans have been burned once before with a live-action adaptation. M. Night Shyamalan's film version of the iconic Nickelodeon animated series is much maligned to this day, so the bar wasn't exactly sky high for Netflix's new adaptation. The initial reactions to "Last Airbender" posted to social media were mixed, to say the least, and that trend has carried over to full reviews, with the new series holding a 60% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing. But some of those reviews are massively brutal.
A common refrain is that adapting the greatest Nickelodeon show ever is a fool's endeavor. That's what Coleman Spilde of The Daily Beast ultimately has to say: "The show is fighting to prove its worth, but is consistently hampered by lofty ambitions that could never match the original show's scope." Kelly Lawler of USA Today thought something similar, with the show failing both as a one-to-one adaptation or as a new thing, writing, "The new 'Avatar' looks sort of like a corrupted facsimile of the original, and at the same time the heart of the first 'Avatar' is gone."
The original cartoon went off the air in 2008, and it remains a touchstone for many to this day. Many critics are saying Netflix's adaptation tries to capture that magic but fails. Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Angie Han sums up many reviewers' thoughts well: "Rather than breathe fresh life into a familiar world, this 'Avatar' serves only to remind that some beloved properties might be better left on ice."
Many critics also say Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender fails its characters
A live-action adaptation of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" may be able to bring the stunning fights into the real world, with visual splendor to make someone summoning fire look spectacular. However, fight scenes are only one component of what makes the story what it is. Above all else, people continue discussing and analyzing the animated show because of its well-developed characters. Critics like Lauren Coates of The Spool take the new show to task for failing in that regard: "In its haste to include all the greatest hits from book one, the Netflix series woefully neglects the cartoon's greatest strength: its characters."
To be clear, it doesn't appear as though the issue with the characterizations really comes down to the young actors' performances. It's everything else surrounding it, as well as the show not giving these characters room to breathe. "Some canny casting choices can't rescue the show from uninspiring craft and tonal confusion," wrote Empire Magazine's Kambole Campbell. Of all the things to carbon copy from the original, it would seem like the characters would be of the utmost importance, but that may be precisely why Netflix's new show is falling flat for so many critics.
The show attempts to give longtime fans what they want, often recreating entire moments from the cartoon. Yet, it also feels fit to change certain aspects to make it appealing to people who haven't seen the animated series. As Rollin Bishop of Total Film wrote, "Trying to please fans and newcomers alike makes for a middling, often baffling adaptation." Granted, some critics were kinder to Netflix's "Avatar: The Last Airbender," but for anyone who wants the best version of this story, the cartoon is still the way to go.