Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is streaming globally now on Paramount+.
Synopsis
Avatar Aang, the world’s last Airbender, learns of an ancient power that could save his culture from extinction. With the help of his friends, he embarks on a global quest to find it before it falls into the wrong hands.
Review
Nearly two decades after the original series wrapped up, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender finally brings fans what they’ve spent half a lifetime begging for: a return to the animated world of the Gaang, fully grown up. While we got glimpses of them in the follow up series The Legend of Korra as well as some comics and stories post the season wrap up, it’s been too long since we saw them in action.
First off, Paramount had completely failed this project, as it would have been a treat to witness this stunning film on the big screen and a huge win for traditional animation as well. For it to sadly get leaked online months before it’s planned Streaming release and now forcing it to come out at the end of July is just heart-breaking for the hardworking animators who put this entire project together. Now I’ve gotten that off my chest, onto the review!
Full praise goes to both Flying Bark Productions and Avatar Studios who have crafted an absolute masterpiece to take in. The animation is nothing short of gorgeous from the opening frame to it’s last. The bending battles have never felt this fluid, heavy, or cinematic. Air sweeps with violent grace, fire roars with terrifying intensity, and seeing both sides parrying and dodging around the city during combat was just exhilarating.
Story wise, the film is an interesting, deeply personal ride. Seeing Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, and Toph in their young adulthood is an absolute treat for life long fans. The story tackles the immense pressure Aang feels as the only Airbender on the planet, all the while trying to rebuild his culture while maintaining a fragile global peace. The maturity of the script matches the aging of its original audience perfectly; it respects the lore, deepens the history of the Air Nomads, and gives us a fascinating new antagonist in Dave Bautista’s Tagah.
When it was first revealed that the plot centers on Aang discovering another surviving, ancient airbender who had been frozen in ice, fans were understandably sceptical. It’s a premise that could easily feel like a cheap rehash of Aang’s own origin story. However, the narrative takes a brilliantly dark turn with Tagah, and Bautista absolutely kills it.
Bautista brings a gravelly, imposing physicality to his voice acting that perfectly contrasts with Eric Nam’s gentler, more peaceful Aang. Tagah isn’t just a brute; he’s a tragic, hardened relic of a different era whose philosophy on airbending completely challenges everything Aang was taught. Watching Aang go head-to-head both ideologically and physically with a legendary powerhouse airbender who uses the element with lethal, aggressive force is easily the highlight of the film. Bautista’s Tagah has this heavy sense of sorrow and menace that instantly cements him as a worthy and compelling villain.
Where the film stumbles however is the decision to completely recast the core voice actors.
Voice acting can be seen as the literal soul of animation, and the original cast’s performances are permanently burned into the brains of the fandom. Adjusting to entirely new voices for characters we’ve known for twenty years creates a jarring disconnect. That’s not to say they should sound the same as when they were teenagers, but these actors know these characters on a deep level, and I would have loved to have heard them reprise these roles and make alterations to their performances to suit their now mature characters.
That’s not to say the new cast fail or are lacking, but they’re stepping into these beloved roles and it fundamentally takes away from the characters when they sound nothing like their original version, the auditory shift feels less like a natural evolution and more like an alternate reality.
Verdict
Minor vocal whiplash aside, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is a monumental return for the ‘Gaang’ and a beautiful continuation of a legendary series. It proves that there are still incredible stories left to tell in this universe. If you can get past the initial shock of Team Avatar sounding significantly different, you’ll find a thrilling, deeply moving, and spectacular adventure that is well worth the wait.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
