Netflix's Last Airbender Adaptation: Not Great, Not Horrible

I grew up with Nickelodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender," and to this day I consider it one of the greatest animated shows ever made. As someone who likes to study storytelling and worldbuilding as a hobby, I usually use it as a frame of reference.

So when I heard that Netflix was doing a live-action adaptation of the series, I wondered how the studio would handle it. It couldn't be worse than M. Night Shyamalan's 2010 film, but adaptations always alter the original story to translate it into a different medium.

Having recently watched the first six episodes, I can say there were good aspects and not-as-good aspects (bad would be too strong a word precisely because they did not elicit disgust).

Before we go further, here is a quick synopsis of "Avatar: The Last Airbender": Taking place in a world inspired by Asiatic mythology and philosophy, people are capable of magic resembling martial arts called "bending" which allows them to manipulate the four classical elements (air, water, earth, and fire) and as such are divided into four countries based on these bending practices.

The titular Avatar is a human who serves as a link between humanity and the supernatural, capable of bending all four elements and is cyclically reborn into each country upon death. As a result, he or she is trusted by the spirits to maintain peace between the four nations.

However, one hundred years before the current setting, the imperialist "Fire Nation" (resembling imperial China and Japan) launches a war against the other three, starting by wiping out the Air Nomads (who resemble Tibetans) in an attempt to prevent the Avatar from stopping them.

The Avatar, a boy named Aang, managed to escape yet was forced to enter a state of suspended animation. A century later, he is awakened by a pair of Water Tribesmen (resembling Inuit) to a very different world and must master all four elements, defeat the Fire Nation, and restore peace to the world.

One positive I give Netflix's take on the series so far is the acting. The cast so far has done a good job reinterpreting the main characters, and I give big marks to Ian Ousley's take on Sokka, Dallas Liu's Prince Zuko, Elizabeth Yu as Princess Azula (despite what little I have seen of her so far), and Daniel Dae Kim's Fire Lord Ozai. I am annoyed by Netflix's decision to scale back the character of Katara (especially her strong sense of justice and tendency to act impulsively on it), but actress Kiawentiio Tarbell has been making the character work.

Another thing I can appreciate is the bending, special effects, and martial arts, staying fairly true to the original animated series even if real-world physics limits it.

The biggest issue I have is the pacing and manner of storytelling. Each episode is 45 to 60 minutes long, more than the original cartoon's 22 minutes. Yet despite the longer length, the story is more condensed (granted, there are only eight episodes in the first season compared to twenty in the original series).

For instance, several elements throughout the original series first and second seasons are condensed into a single story arc across two episodes, while these were originally complete episodes in their own right. 

However, this may be a result of how different Netflix as a streaming service that allows binge-watching is compared to the original series airing episodes one at a time. As a result, in today's more impatient and less attentive world, a story needs to unfold in one or two sittings as opposed to over the course of months. Moreover, the way the story pans out sometimes feels like it assumes you already watched the original show and don't need to be reminded of certain aspects.

Overall though, as a standalone series, Netflix's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is enjoyable, but compared to the original, the condensed storylines sometimes feel rushed.