Was the Live Action ATLA Good Or Bad?

Fans of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender cower in fear when hearing the words Live Action. After the disaster that was the live action movie back in the 2010s, hearing that Netflix was going to try again with an eight episode series, I know I wasn’t the only one who was worried. The only hope that fans held onto was the fact that the original creators were involved in the Netflix adaptation. Then, the fear started to crawl back in more and more as the release date crept closer. The original creators left the project after disagreements happened, news about major changes to the characters were announced, and worry about a new mess welled back up in the back of everyone’s mind.

And then, the show was released.

Taking a step back, the only way I was able to enjoy this show was to view this as what it is. It’s an adaption of a cartoon. Things will be changed, it was never marketed as a one-to-one remake of our childhood classic. Viewing this as a different retelling of events was the best way to get the most out of the live action.

The characters are different. That is obvious from the start. Aang is more mature, he doesn’t feel like that free-spirited child that fled his responsibilities in the cartoon. Katara lacks the rage that drove her to action, she has this air of constant calm. This alone makes everything feel off if you are trying to find that chemistry that was in the original.

Removing things like Sokka’s sexism when landing on Kyoshi Island had me worried that he wouldn’t learn those valuable lessons that women can also fight, you don’t have to be a bender to be valuable, and teamwork is crucial in a battle. And this is a prime example of how the show twists and turns the story. Sokka still gets all those lessons. He learns through his awe that the Kyoshi warriors are strong and are the protectors of the island. The teamwork demonstrated during the invasion showed how much he respects her as a fighter, he respects all the warriors.

The only big issue that I had with the storytelling was the fact that it had to be rushed. Due to it being limited to eight, one-hour long episodes, the major events took place in Omashu. It felt super odd to see so many characters that never really meet and are from different regions, different arcs, it almost felt wrong.

Since I am looking at this series as its own entity in a way, the compression of events is the main problem I had. Other than that, this series did a lot of things well.

One of the best add-ins was the backstories. Including a better look at the past traumas that shaped who they are for both Katara and Sokka gave more depth. Now knowing that Katara’s actions caused her mother’s death makes me understand why she was so attached to her memory and why she would constantly bring her up in the original. Sokka letting down his father is a perfect event that would push him to be the best warrior that he could, he felt the need to prove himself for his dad.

Even more impactful was the bigger role that Gyasto had for Aang. Being able to feel the connection that the two had drove home how upset Aang was to be deemed the Avatar and how he didn’t want to be sent away from his friends. Seeing the added scenes of Gyasto talking to Aang in the spirit realm and knowing that when Aang returned, he would not be there drew out so much raw emotion.

One of my favorite add-in scenes was the ones between Zuko and Iroh. The relationship between the two was one of my favorite even back in the original, and seeing it more fleshed out in the live action made it even better. In the original, we never knew the name of Iroh’s son, in the live action, we got a while funeral scene plus the sorrow Iroh and Zuko shared after losing someone close. Being able to see the interactions between the family (especially the early addition of Azula) gave a great overarching look at the family dynamics.

All this added information gave so much more substance to characters that I already though were three-dimensional with flaws and goals of their own.

This is not something that I would recommend to someone who has not watched the original cartoon if they want to get the full story. The live action is rush, it changes personalities, and mixes somethings from the original. But, I think this is something great for fans of the show that want more. Yes, you will get annoyed that Aang can just fly using air bending, but getting the extra look into the past of each character was worth it. The acting was good, the cinematics and effects were great (I was worried about the bending but was pleasantly surprised), and the martial arts for the bending was one of my favorite things.

The show was good. I think the people who say otherwise are stuck in the nostalgia they had with the original show. The live action was a solid take of the series, yes, it changed things, but I don’t think I ever wanted them to try and do an exact copy of the original.