I watched Avatar: the legend of Aang movie. (Sorry I didnt realize i wasn't supposed to, I was trying to watch the 1980s clue on some shady site but saw Avatar Movie and fully thought I just missed the release, not that it was leaked... also i have a cold be nice to me)
Thoughts/Spoilers/ramble below:
Critiques:
Visuals: I just learned the word "sakuga." I feel a little bad because like... I don't want to deny that effect animation drawn frame by frame involves an immense amount of technical skill, but like... somehow to me it just lacks character? Like I'm reminded a bit of the movie Promare (I forgot what it was called and almost put in Premarin which is apparently a menopause pill) in that like... of course the animation is beautiful and took an immense amount of talent and labor but when you're watching it... it kind of just flows over you and you don't really know what's going on. Maybe it's just me, idk. I think the choreography of the original was much more grounded, it was easy for you to focus on the characters and pick up on the differences between the different martial arts that inspired the bending styles. Bending style was an extension of the fighters' character and the philosophy of their culture, not just elemental blasts. I don't know if it's a pacing issue or a camera issue or genuine change in art direction or what, but it just didn't feel as "real," which I'm not sure is the right word for a show where people shoot fire out of their fists, but you know. I think my favorite bending scene was when Toph, Katara, and Zuko had to fix the airship together.
The dialogue felt... off. The OG avatar just had some kind of secret sauce when it came to character relationships, which Korra had less of, and this movie has less of still. Like the characters didn't feel like they were talking to each other, but at each other. Jokes didn't land for me 90% of the time. There were some cute scenes, but it felt like a lot of "tell don't show," like characters saying how bad xyz was or how much they cared about each other but we never really got a chance to sit with that.
Actually I think one of the things that made the OG special is that it DID have a lot of slow character-driven episodes. Even episodes that were plot-heavy, like the southern air temple, had slower moments and relied on chemistry between charming characters. Some of the most beloved episodes of the show didn't advance the plot in favor of sitting with these people and the world they live in (the beach episode, ember island players, tales of ba sing sei, etc). A first time watcher wouldn't notice them missing, but they add so much! Here, all the characters, even Aang who got the most screentime and is one of my favorites in the original, were one note. I can't think of any dialogue that wasn't 1. exposition, 2. Sokka/Toph sassy one-liner, or 3. plot dump. I didn't really find the Taika Waititi spirit charming, I wouldn't have missed him if they replaced that scene with one of our protagonists having a picnic or something. I know the original was inspired at least partially by Miyazaki films, which do quiet moments famously well, I think the Avatar Movie could have taken notes there and just let the film breathe.
- WHERE IS SUKI
Did they just forget Katara's entire backstory? Like the fact that she was the last waterbender in her village and had no one to help her connect to her culture in that way and felt like no one understood her until she met Aang, a fellow bender? How their original connection was based on a shared need to master their arts, and a shared trauma? That she too was a victim of genocide, only surviving because of her mother's sacrifice? And then when she finally did meet another waterbender from the South Pole she initially trusted her and saw her as not only a mentor, but possibly the only other person alive who could truly share a connection she thought she would never have? Slowly realizing that the horrors of war had twisted this person and their shared culture that she had once so cherished into something heinous? That her mentor took an art meant to heal and connect and perverted it into something that could only cause pain and steal the agency that was once stolen from her? The horror Katara felt realizing she too was capable of that power? Did we just forget all that? Huh?
Also re: Katara. There was something really funny to me about Aang talking to her at length about the fact that he is the last Airbender and how there was no way to fix that and how tragic it was that his people would die with him and like... I was so sure that was either going to lead up to a sex joke or a pregnancy reveal or something but nope just a one sided convo. Aang buddy you're talking to the one person who 1. Gets it and 2. will happily help you make more Airbenders.
Justice for Katara
Apparently they recast the voice actors which I get (especially since Aang's old VA is no longer acting). Sokka's VA nailed it, Katara and Toph were fine, Aang could use a stronger emoting, Zuko's VA would have been great in a vacuum but the original was so distinctive like... what happened to our boy Dante Basco? He's still a working VA right? Like even if theyre working for a cast that approximates characters' ethnicities, that man is Filipino!!!! But the most disappointing VAs were Gyatso and Roku, they both had very distinct voices/cadences and got replaced with generic gruff old man... not even close. They were pretty minor characters in the grand scheme of the film.
Plot: wasn't crazy about it. maybe a stronger team of writers could have pulled it off. I generally dislike good v. evil plots in Avatar, the antithesis of what the original series sought to portray, but unfortunately set up by the infamous season 2 of Korra. They would have done well to scale down the magnitude of the conflict for a more intimate story. I know they did the comic series that followed the story of Zuko's mother already, but I do think that flavor of story could have worked. It answered some questions not already answered by either ATLA or LoK, had more time to focus on characters we already care about, story was more focused on mystery and character relationships than good guy vs bad guy, might even work as a standalone piece, etc. I don't think it HAS to be that specific tale, but I just think elements of that type of plot would have fit an ATLA movie better. Going back to the dialogue it did feel odd to me to rehash some character conflicts that felt like they have been solved for a while in the original. I mean, not to say that Aang's trauma would have been healed overnight, but I think it could have been explored in ways that didn't feel like they were just recycling dialogue from "the storm" or "the guru." I almost wonder if the creators' (brief) involvement with the live action series, which seemed to focus a lot more on this aspect of Aang's character, affected their writing decisions.
The lost avatar was also a plot device... i did not understand. She's lost because of shame, but her character reminds me of a less impactful version of Roku, another avatar who "failed," or Kuruk who basically did fuck all and died young. How is she unique? Like, she beat the bad guy. If anything, she has LESS to feel ashamed of than the other two. Also, the way she's scolding Aang for releasing the villain, like... Ma'am Aang tried to ask what was up with that, you were not picking up the phone, what was he supposed to do? Everything with her felt like a plot contrivance to keep things moving. Cool design though.
Not even gonna go into all the super sayian stuff or the villain. Weird, predictable, marvel-y.
Pros:
Some of the set designs were really cool, especially the lion turtle islands.
I don't especially care for the human characters' redesigns (please bring back their cute wide noses) but i appreciated that they made Toph, the physically active woman, muscular.
it was nice to see Appa and Momo, plus all the various background critters, be animated and rendered in HD. They appeared for like 2 seconds but HUGE fan of the anteater toucan things.
I liked the ocean spirit's glow up.
The end cards were pretty charming.
Zuko seems to be the only person who didn't regress into his pre-ATLA-finale self. He has two lines of dialogue and is honestly just chilling for the most part. Good for you man.
Also: Zuko Bisexual?
Probably one of my favorite scenes was finding the sky bison again. I dunno I just like the sky bison. Maybe I'm simple. Yay bison :)
TL;DR: It's ok. It could have been a loooooot better, could have been worse. I think maybe a decade ago I would have been disappointed but at this point I've accepted Avatar the last Airbender is lightning in a bottle. If I rewatch the series and still yearn for an animated series with a nuianced take on colonialism and a neat magic system I'll probably just turn to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
It is sad that the release was a fumble. Even though it wasn't perfect I wouldn't want it to fail, if nothing else to get a 2D animated movie that takes itself seriously in theaters again.
