Long ago, Avatar: The Last Airbender was arguably one of the best shows Nickelodeon ever created, but then… everything changed when it ended. Eighteen years have passed, and now Aang and his friends are back with a new movie: Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender.
For those unaware, Avatar: The Last Airbender was a mid-2000s animated series that aired on Nickelodeon from 2005-2008. The series takes place in a world where people can control, or “bend,” one of the four elements (water, earth, fire, and air) depending on their nationality. The Fire Nation started a war that lasted for a hundred years, and seemingly ended the Air Benders as a whole. We then follow Aang, a twelve-year-old boy who is the last of the airbenders and the Avatar, the only person who can bend all four elements, as he tries to defeat the Fire Nation and restore balance to the world.
Following the success of ATLA, they got a sequel series with a new cast titled The Legend of Korra, a long-running graphic novel series, and a new show, Avatar: Seven Havens, that will release on Paramount + in 2027. There were also numerous other prequels and content made in the last few years.
There have even been two different live-action versions of the original series. One by Netflix that started in 2023 and a movie back in 2010… but we don’t talk about that one.
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is a new movie about Aang and his friends thirteen years after the events of the original series. The movie follows Aang as he learns of an ancient artifact that could restore his people to the world.
This review will be spoiler-free!
Without further ado, let’s begin…
What works: The animation
The animation throughout the movie is like candy to the eyes. All the fight scenes were extremely visually stunning with amazing choreography. The beginning of the film features a fight between Aang and the Denied, which brilliantly displays Aang’s desire not to kill anyone while also showing his agility and creativity with airbending. The movie has by far some of the greatest animation the Avatar series has ever had.
Even small details like the facial expressions and the spiritual world backgrounds were done with impressive effect. The scenes in the Spirit World give off a truly unworldly feeling. The adult designs of Team Avatar are also well done and work wonderfully with the animation.
What works: The Aang
By far the best part of the movie was the focus on Aang’s guilt regarding the Air Nomads. Even after everything he accomplished in the original series, he’s never forgiven himself for running away when he first learned he was the Avatar and not being able to help them when they were wiped out.
Here, Aang is forced to directly confront his own guilt and failures in a way that feels natural. We see just how deeply it affects him even when he found a new family and made things right with the world. They show his struggles, not only to grieve the death of his loved ones, but also in bearing the responsibility of being the last of the Air Nomads, knowing that their culture may die with him.
We are introduced to the new character Tagah, who does an excellent job of having him confront those issues within himself and learn more about the Air Nomads before his time.
What does not work: The rest of the cast
Unfortunately, while Aang’s character arc was great, he’s pretty much the only one who gets focus. One of the best aspects of the original series was its cast of characters and their relationships with one another. While Aang was the protagonist of the original series, the show gave the ensemble cast a lot of focus and depth.
While Sokka was comedic relief, he was also the strategist and felt like the unofficial leader of Team Avatar, despite not being a bender. Toph was always brass and cocky but managed to show vulnerability in moments. Zuko had one of the greatest redemption arcs in all of television.
In the movie, while Team Avatar is “together,” we don’t get many scenes of them all interacting with one another like in the original. Katara received some focus as she acted as Aang’s moral and emotional support. However, aside from fight scenes, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko didn’t have much bearing on the plot. Sokka and Toph were mainly comic relief, while Zuko might as well not have been in the movie.
This could be understandable, considering this was a ninety-minute-long film and being an Aang-centric story is not a bad thing. However, an added scene or two of the main characters hanging out, showing the strong found-family they are, would have added much-needed depth to the ensemble.
At least have a scene or two where Sokka and Toph do not make jokes.
What does not work: The Defied
Another issue was the Defied. They are non-bender warriors who feel that the benders have wronged them. This is something that Legend of Korra tried to introduce, but it did not work well there, and it doesn’t here either.
Although the movie claims that non-benders are viewed as inferior to benders, it tells the audience this instead of illustrating it through the characters and plot. There was a scene where a child makes a snide comment about Sokka being a non-bender, but that’s it.
There are no scenes of a bender tormenting a non-bender, or non-benders having to pay more taxes, or any discrimination. If the movie wanted to explore the themes of discrimination, they did not try very hard. It makes the Defied look less like those wronged by society and more like self-entitled terrorists looking for power.
They also don’t get much in terms of characterization outside of being antagonists. In the end, they mostly feel like plot devices to trigger the story rather than actual characters.
Mixed feelings: The Story
While I will not go into anything specific, there are a few parts of the narrative that did well. It ties itself very well into the themes of balance the original story introduced. It continues to explore what it means to have balance between people and ideologies and puts Aang to the test.
The story does a good job delivering a lot of the emotional beats the original was known for. The ending does a good job of thematically concluding Aang’s arc and connecting with the events of Legend of Korra. It also manages to blend in certain world-building pieces that Legend of Korra introduced, like with Republic City itself.
Unfortunately, the story also comes with issues.
The movie has the prequel problem to an extent. Since the movie takes place decades before Legend of Korra, there are a lot of events we already know will and will not happen. It, unfortunately, takes away some of the high stakes, as we already know none of the main characters will die.
Another issue was just how action-focused the story was. After a while, it felt like the story had too much action for too little time. It could have used more moments for the audience to catch their breath.
There are a lot of events that happen near the end that make you wonder, “Why did Legend of Korra never mention any of this?” It felt like the writers didn’t consider how the movie would fit into the canon that much.
Finally, this is admittedly a nitpick, but it felt strange how Suki was not relevant at all in the story. She received a brief cameo near the end, but that was it. She wasn’t there much in the original either, but by the series finale she was practically a member of Team Avatar and probably the series’ best non-bender fighter. Suki would have made a great addition to the cast and fights.
Overall thoughts
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is not a bad movie. The creators clearly made it with a great deal of effort and love for fans of the series. If you are a massive fan of the franchise, you can find a lot to enjoy.
Standing on its own, however, it doesn’t hold up by this franchise’s standards. It would have had a lot more impact if it had been released before The Legend of Korra. I would not recommend this as a gateway to get into the Avatar franchise.
If they decide to make any more standalone movies with the same animation effort about Aang, Korra, or even any of the other past Avatars like Kyoshi, they could be a great time.
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is available to watch on Paramount+. It is also playing in select theaters in New York City and Los Angeles for one week.
