We are just under a month away from the release of the latest Avatar film Avatar: Fire And Ash and well the production team have done something that was rather unexpected. That being the fact that they'd released an entire two part documentary series in Disney+ just about the making of the previous film Avatar: The Way Of Water and well this was something that did catch my eye as the series was all about the effects in that film and I love behind the scenes documentaries and so you all just knew that I have to check this show the very first chance that I got and so then join me as I review the show that has very little fire but a whole lot of water in it with the show in question being called simply just "Fire And Water: Making The Avatar Films" enjoy.
The whole idea behind this show does seem to be to give people a behind the scenes look at not only how The Way Of Water was made but also how the first Avatar film was made as well. With this kind of being lost in translation as the show doesn't really touch upon the first film at all and it doesn't even mention the third film apart from one brief introduction by that films director James Cameron at the start of episode one and that's really it and that is something that does kind of make as he can't really say much about the third film especially as lose to the release date of that film that this show is coming out on but at the same time the show has the world films i the title and yet it only focuses on the second film which fair enough makes a whole lot of sense as that film did put Avatar back on the map but at the same time there should have been some love shown to the first film as with that film being as good as it still as almost twenty years later then there wouldn't be a second or even third m fourth and possibly even fifth film but there is one thing that's perfectly clear tho with the idea behind this show and that's the fact that the whole crew and cast really do have a deep love for these characters and for this world so much so that they all willingly took free diving lessons for the film with them all performing all of the underwater scenes in the film themselves with that love and passion for The Way Water really coming through in the shows final product something which is more evident by how much time the makers of that film spent just doing research on ways to film underwater scenes as that is a passion that you really just don't see anymore in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this show is Zoe Saldaña , Kate Winslet , Sigourney Weaver , Britain Dalton and Trinity Jo-Li Bliss. Also starring in this show is Garrett Warren , Brendan Cowell , Margery Simkin , Steve Brown , Ben Procter , Joe Letteri , Richard Baneham , Luke Freeborn , Peter Zuccarin , Stephen E. Rivkin , Dylan Cole , Rae Sanchini , Maria Battle-Campbell , John Garvin , Ryan Champney , Eric Saindon , Jamie Landau , Kirk Krack , Brigitte Yorke , Richard Schwalm , Nick Epstein , William Trubridge , Rob Innes , Joey Natale , John Landau and James Cameron.
To give this film some credit it does stick to only including those who are involved directly with the making of the Avatar films and not having people from outside of those films be interviewed for the show much like what Who Killed WCW did. Whilst this does rather present a warped view on things as they are of course going to praise everything that James Cameron does it is also something that makes alot of sense as this show does look like it was filmed during the production of The Way Of Water with there even being appearances from more of that films cast then what was credited with it really being helped by the fact that all of those that are starring in this show don't cover the same points as each other something which they very easily could have done given the fact that none of this shows actors were interviewed together with them all all really adding something to the show that makes it look like that they really did enjoy making Avatar's 2 and 3 but at the same time tho the show is more focused on giving us information from the films technical team which who don't really add alot to the show and are kind of boring to listen to alot of the time where as the actors from the film all come across as being really star struck in a way when they are put in these rather unique circumstances and while it is understandable why the makers of this show focused more heavily in featuring the people who did the behind the scenes work on The Way Of Water then the films actors they should have been more a fairer balance between featuring the people who did the behind the scenes work and the people that are starring in the film as like it or not people aren't going to know or even care for that matter who is working behind the scenes in the film and what they have to say but they will know ad care about what someone like Zoe Saldaña or even James Cameron has to say as there more well known to mainstream audiences.
Whilst this show really doesn't cover as much of the films VFX as the shows trailer would make you believe it does cover enough of it to make the people who did the VFX for that film in a way feel like rockstars. With the show going into quite alot of detail just about the motion capture process alone which is a nice little touch as it is something that does get over looked alot of the time as people do treat it like it's just a cartoon without realizing that there's a whole performance behind it and to see the effects team get the recognition that they really do deserve is a great thing to see but at the same time tho it would have helped the show out quite alot if they went into more detail about over aspects of the films effects like for example the water effects in the film which was something that did get alot of praise back even when the first trailer for The Way Of Water was being released barely got a passing mention in the final moments of episode two when something like that should have been front and centre and when people think of effects they usually think of people sitting behind a computer making the impossible possible so why not show the thought process behind the some of the films landscapes and character designs for example as they are a huge part of the world of Avatar then anything else so much so that the land Walt Disney World Resort as is called Pandora: The World Of Avatar is James Cameron knows that part of what's makes these films so visually interesting is the fact that the world of Pandora feels alive and feels real so why not show the thought process behind creating some of the landscapes and character designs for these films as that is something that alot of people would genuinely want to see.
For whatever reason even tho this show is called Fire And Water this show seemed to be more focused on showing us the water aspect of the films then the fire aspect of them. Which fair enough might be because of the fact that the fire element might not come into a bigger play until Fire And Ash but then why have a title that suggests it will be a big part of this show as all this show does is show you how they made alot of the underwater scenes for this film and fair enough James Cameron is obsessed with going underwater and so having that be a key element of one of his films does make sense as does showing us how he wanted the films actors and the films cameramen to actually go underwater when filming those scenes de to the fact that there physics at play during those underwater scenes that you just can't replicate and that is something to behold but to base an entire two episode mini-series around that just doesn't work as people would becoming to this show to find out how these movies where made from alot of the aspects of production that goes into making a film and not just one thing and while finding out how much research they did for The Way Of Water and possibly Fire And Ash is truly astounding with James Cameron himself even taking the crew to both Hawaii and the Bahamas to test out some of the filming ideas that they came up and the fact that they even hired someone to teach the cast and crew how to free dive in water does say that there was alot more that went into making the first Avatar sequel then what we know but it also feels like it's just reaching the top of the ice berg when it comes to making these Avatar films when it would have been so much more better if the show went more in depth into the making of these films and told us things that we wouldn't really have known otherwise.
This show is the last project that long time Avatar producer Jon Landau contributed to with the show even being dedicated to him. While he doesn't get mentioned by quite literally any of the cast and crew he does provide interviews for the show which was a nice thing and while people might not know his name they will know him as the producer of these movies and several other movies as well with it being clear that he and the rest of the crew had no idea of just how to pull of the vision that James Cameron had for these films which oddly makes him feel more human as producers do nine times out of ten come across as being a bit super human in behind the scenes featurettes with them knowing right away how to pull of things that the crew are trying to figure out alot of the time but nope in this show he pretty much admits that he had no idea how they were going to make this movie which was a nice thing to see and the fact that the show as a whole and possibly even the next Avatar movie are dedicated to him does show that he was a beloved person of the crew and that everyone involved with the making of these films even if they did just one day of filming really was made to feel like they were apart of this family which is something that really isn't said in the show itself but it's something that you can tell was the case from how they are all behaving when around each other and how other members of the films cast talk about each other with actor Trinity Jo-Li Bliss even stating that Zoe Saldaña was a great off screen mother to her much like how her character was a great on screen mother to her character as well as that's how much these films actors really do care about each other.
What was shocking to see in this show was just how much innovation truly went into the making of these Avatar films. With the makers of these films even building an underwater wind tunnel for some of the films action scenes which took place in the water and with them even modifying what was basically a water jetpack so that not only can two people now ride it but also so that it can now go underwater something we then do see in the final film when the characters are riding these underwater creatures with the makers of this show really going to great lengths to show off just how much water stuff that they came up with just for The Way Of Water alone all of which are things that do make you appreciate just how much time , work and effort went into making that film alone but even then the one thing that they always bring up in this show is the fact that hey never wanted to loose the actors performance in the midst of it all which is were they came up with the idea of doing everything in motion capture but due to the fact that they were filming mostly in water for this film they had to use to different types of camera one for when the characters were above the water and one for below just due to the different light exposure on both cameras all the time the actors were in there motion capture suits trying to act and when they ran into a problem with how to film something then they just worked out how to do it with out loosing what there actors were doing performance wise so when you see Sigourney Weavers character go underwater that's not a fully CGI character doing it that was actually her doing it with it being that little touch that really does ground the film in some form of reality and it's something that did rightfully get alot of attention in the first episode of this show.
Now then this show has / had an exact grand total running time of no longer then forty eight minuets and fifty eight seconds. With that being episode ones running time with episode two having a grand total running time of exactly thirty three minuets and eight seconds which to be fair is a perfectly solid amount of running time for both of these episodes to have as even the show itself doesn't have a plot to speak of due to the fact that's a documentary it still does manage to get across all of the information that it wanted to get a cross in a more manageable time frame but the only thing that really could have made this all the more better was if this was a film and not a two episode miniseries as then with the feature film format the makers of this show could have gone into more detail about the making of the first Avatar sequel and maybe even included a few no spoilery bits of behind the scenes footage for Fire And Ash and gone into more detail about the making of the first Avatar film as that is something that the shows title does suggest would be the case but at the same time tho it could have been done like this due to the fact that we might be getting another two episodes a long time after the release of Fire And Ash which would be cool as the show does end with a tease for that film but at the same time tho this show can be a bit boring at times due to the fact that it does focus so much on how the crew came up with inventions for filming some of the underwater scenes when those are thing that would have been better left on the cutting room floor as they really do add nothing to the show as a whole even tho they are things could be seen as being interesting to people who like James Cameron are really interested in things about water but I really will admit that this show really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a drama that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very show was in all honesty really good. With the show not really being as drama heavy as you'd might as expect from a drama with this show being more feel good then anything else as we get to see the crew of these films reach a problem with making the films and then find a way to overcome it in more often then not a bunch of really creative and inventive ways all of which do show us the audience just how creative that these Avatar films can be when it comes to the making of them with the films best example of feel good drama being when we find that actor Cliff Curtis actually touched a manta ray when the crew was out doing a night time dive in Hawaii and hearing how that made him feel due to the fact that one of them is also his spirit animal was something that whilst it was dramatic as it could be seen as making people very teary eyed it was also a piece of a feel good drama as well with the show even telling us that Sigourney Weaver would actually spend alot of time underwater when filming because she would just love it under the water much like her character in The Way Of Water did so much so that she actually did an entire scene underwater whilst holding her breath for three minuets which might not seem like much but when your underwater those minuets could seem like hours and yet she pulled it off which just goes to show you just how feel good that this shows drama could really be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall whilst Avatar: Fire And Ash has yet to blow us away with how good that that film looks this show alone does a perfectly good job of not only bridging the gap between the two films but also getting us excited for Fire And Ash as well and also making us realise just how much work and effort went into just ONE of these films 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 show in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very show really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images hat I personally used in this very review 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 review from the official Disney fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very show that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very show with alot of them being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.