Hot of the heels of there hugely successful One Piece live action adaptation Netflix has now just released another live action adaptation of a beloved animated show from the mid 2000's. However where as One Piece had the help of it's original creator to help to guide the makers of that show this one really doesn't have that as such it had the potential to be a hot mess and well you all just knew that I had to check out at the very least the first episode of this show the first chance that I got and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED first impressions of the show that has the chance to be better then it's own movie adaptation with the show in question being called simply just "Avatar: The Last Airbender" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is one hundred years after the Avatar disappeared two siblings find a boy who may or may not by the Avatar. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I inn all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as the plot of this episode was really well done and while there are issues with the plot those issues aren't something that can be brought up here due to them being spoilers however the plot of this episode is also alot more faithful to the show then that of the live action movie The Last Airbender with this episodes plot also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Gordon Cormier as Aang , Kiawentiio as Katara , Ian Ousley as Sokka and Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko. Also starring in this film is Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Uncle Iroh , Lim Kay Siu as Gyatso , Casey Camp-Horinek as Gran Gran , Hiro Kanagawa as Fire Lord Sozin , Yvonne Chapman as Kyoshi , Ruy Iskandar as Lieutenant Jee , Matthew Yang King as The Voice Of Appa , Leo Chiang as Monk Thet , Jeff Yung as Monk Tsutop , Jayden Zhang as Myat , Dorian Giordano as Aydo and Silver Kim as Pasang.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. However that's also the issue as the acting in this episode isn't all that good either granted it's alot better then the acting in the The Last Airbender live action movie but that's not really saying all that much as the acting in this episode is still really bad with alot of the episodes cast just turning in some fairly wooden performances with the episode in this episode not really being helped by the fact that the episodes cast isn't really all that good either as it gives none of the episodes cast nothing to work with interms of what it is that there characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place and the episodes director Michael Goi really quite clearly doesn't really know how to direct his cast and get a good performance out of his cast.
Doing the CGI for not only this but also the rest of the show as a whole is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Double Negative. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual GI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally though / felt that the actual CGI that's actually feature d/ presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad with the episode having better CGI then what was really needed or even expected and yet at the same time the CGI in this episode just looked like it had no weight to it with the CGI characters moving like there weightless and not like they would normally move like however on the flip side of that is the fact that this episodes is at times so good that it felt like that it belonged in a movie and not in a Netflix streaming series as the effects in this episode were just that good.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!
The plot of this first episode of the show was quite literally the plot of the first two episodes of the animated show. Only it now includes things from the third episode of the animated show which just don't work as the episode is trying to do so much instead of just focusing on being a good episode with the episode stripping Aang of the emotional growth that the animated show gave him in just it's first few episodes as instead f not showing us the attack on the air temple in the original show we find out about that attack when Aang does and that makes it all the more heartbreaking as he spends a good chunk of the episode believing that alot of the people that he loved and cared about are still alive which makes it all the more haunting and heartbreaking when he finds out that there no long alive and yet this episode robs us of a scene like that by outright showing us the attack on the southern air temple just because it wants to have to an extended action sequence.
To give this episode credit it is somewhat better then the live action movie adaptation in that it doesn't skip over plot points with lazy narration or try to fit several episodes into one storyline but at the same time tho it does commit one of the biggest sins that the movie version committed. That being the fact that the original shows creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are not involved having left the show due to "creative differences" with the duo being replaced by the showrunner of Sleepy Hollow and the producer of Nikita Albert Kim which is a huge red flag when you realise that both of those shows got low ratings for there respective networks and it just goes to show you that the only two two people who should work on this show on a creative level is Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko as nobody else would know that world and those characters better then those two as they created the original show and that world and those characters.
Unlike alot of other live action adaptations of animated shows there are is a sense that those involved do have a passion for the original show. With even the characters costumes looking as closely as they could get to the original animated show and alot of the characters do act alot like there animated series counterparts as well the issue is tho is that this franchise works best as an animated as the makers of the show can they go as over the top as they need to and aren't bound by the laws of physics which is something that does let this episode down quite alot as it can't be as cool or as fun as the original animated series first two episodes were and even taking the new approach of just focusing on the larger narrative instead of including smaller scale filler and really character driven episodes doesn't make the show that much fun to watch as alot of the really great character moments come from those smaller scale episodes that aren't adding to the main plot of the show but they are adding to the relationships between the three main leads which just does just go to show you that even if the makers of this new show really have a passion for the original show they still need to know how to make a good show in the first place and really judging by show creators Albert Kim's IMDB page that doesn't seem like something that he really knows how to do.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and three minuets and fifty one seconds. Which is a solid running time for this episode but at the same time given that it's just a retelling of the shows first two episodes with nothing really all that new added to it there's no reason as to why this episode should have been forty four to forty five minuets long with the only two things that might be new scenes that don't add anything to the plot of the episode being the episodes pre-titles scene which even then didn't need to be as long as it was and was really there just to have a couple of action scenes as even tho they set up the threat of the Fire Nation in the pre-titles scene the shows intro also does that which makes it's inclusion in the pre-title scene really even more pointless then what it already is but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now the as this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual actin that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the episodes action being alot better then the action that we got in the movie adaptation with the Earth Benders actually being treated as an actual threat to the Fire Nation and not being treated like a joke like they were in the movie and heck the episodes best action scene despite being in a pointless pre-titles scene is actually in the pre-titles scene as it shows you just how cool and how strong the Earth benders really are and why they are a threat to the Fire Nation which makes for a really cool looking action sequence in this episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!
Overall while this shows first episode is alot better the The Last Airbender live action movie it's still not that good of a show and while it could indeed get better as the show goes on if the foundations are bad then it doesn't matter how good the rest of the show will be because it was built on shaky foundations in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very post and as this is only my first impressions I won't give this show a rating as any show can have a good or bad first episode but if this post does well then I will look into covering more episodes of this show as a review tho.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from the official Netflix fandom wiki page , the official Avatar fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episode that I used in this very review being the great and legendary Google Images simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this episode and are really of course on Google Images are really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.