Now I have not in fact seen The Last Airbender at all but I've heard enough negative things about it to know it can't be good along with the fact that live action attempts before almost always fail with few exceptions.
As such I will review the first season of Avatar altogether as if it were a 10 hour film becuase it does at times feel that way and for those who might be reading this,they need to know that that film isn't what Avatar is about and it is bad representation,and for fans who might catch this to restore hope.
Since Shymalayan's attempt focuses on the first season,I will review the original source so hear goes nothing.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Book One: Water (2005)
Presentation: 20/20 (The very first 5 seconds have a montage of 4 people using martial arts to bend the four elements being Water,Earth,Fire, and Air and how they all lived peacefully until the Fire Nation decided to take over the world and that only guy called The Avatar who has the power to master all four of the elements can stop them. It then comes down to that this "Avatar" has returned after beliefs of having vanished but he is only 12 years old and only knows airbending. Also we don't meet him while a journey is happening or by any reqeust. it's just a teenage girl and her brother have an argument and her anger causes the iceberg he [The Avatar] is frozen in for 100 years to crack. This is a lot to take in in a block of text like this I know but I assure you the presentation is incredible and a long way away from all the cliches you'd think there would be)
Plot: 20/20 (So basically like I said above everyone lived in peace until the Fire Nation [specifically Fire Lord Sozin] used a comet which increases their bending power to start a war against all the other nations in hopes of controlling the world and in doing so killed off all of the Air Nomads except Aang the Avatar who ended up in an iceberg for 100 years thus escaping death. He is freed unintentionally by two Southern Water Tribes teenagers named Katara and Sokka. Aang is supposed to save the world with his mastery of the four elements and connections with the spirit world. Problem is he barely learned he was The Avatar before becoming frozen and thus only knows airbending. Katara is the only waterbender in the South Pole and she barely knows how to control what she knows. So Aang and Katara must journey to the otherside of the world where the Northern Water Tribe is so they can both learn how to waterbend. Sokka promised he would take care of Katara to his father as such he to has to come along on the trek to other side. On the other side of things Zuko the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation was banished by his father and the only allowed to return if he captures The Avatar thus he must follow them to North Pole)
Characters: 19.5/20 (I love all the characters all with such unique personalities. Katara is a strong-willed and courageous girl on a quest to get Aang to the North Pole and further perfect her waterbending skills,but she is tormented by grief and becomes the "mother figure" of the group which also extends to others she sees in trouble. But this leads her to be self-righteous at times. Unfortunately she can also comes off as bossy. Aang is slacking,fun-loving,peaceful,and at first innocent guy shouldered with greatest responsibility one could ever get.He does not resort to violence and will not kill anyone unless they do something incredibly grievious to those he cares about. The third contender to the Avatar Gang is Sokka, Katara's older brother who has no bending abilities at all. He instead relies on trying to be the greatest warrior he can be and as such is naturally adept at carrying out and planning important things and using important assets to the best they can. Ironically he doesn't end up in the heat of battle and gets captured. He also serves as the incredibly good comic relief with all the puns and complaints and how he handles the ladies [Ex: Suki in Chapter 4]. He's the one who will mostly likely end up in a monkey trap or covered in gruel. On the villains side of things you Zuko is tormented by his banishment and imprisoned by his desire to regain his honor by capturing the Avatar but he isn't purely just after the avatar he does care about his Uncle Iroh and is going through a lot of changes. He is a skilled fighter in both firebending and swords. Iroh acts like his mentor who has a slightly humorous edge but is mostly just wised and obsessed with tea and Pai-Sho.)
Eisen's Role: 20/20 (Great work,incredible. He's got the perfect tone for being the cute innocent kid,but he also can sound threatening which is just like what Aang is. Usually peaceful,devilish and innocent but intimidating when in The Avatar State)
Whitman's Role: 20/20 (The first voice you hear every epsiode watched,she did a fantastic job as a narrator and as a sensitive,empathetic but very ambitious character. Very good at being the "hell hath no fury" character and laid back character that makes Katara,Katara which from what I hear Nicola Peltz did not do.)
DeSena's Role: 20/20 (This guy might very well have the coolest and creepiest range of voice pitch,I mean seriously one minute Sokka has the gruffest,most boastful and gusto voice you'd expect from the macho guy he is, but then.....KAZAAM his voice cracks and he's got the most adorable voice when crying at the same time. Sometimes it's the perfect dull other times he's got the most exaggerated reaction to something as simple as "an elbow leach" lets say,this fits incredibly well with Sokka as a character. That can be attributed by a rumor that Jack DeSena actually improvised on the first episode and made him the melodramatic comic relief he his when originally he was going to be much more serious. Partially creating one of the coolest characters in all of cartoon-dom,I should give the guy a 21,but that's not fair now is it)
Basco's Role: 19.5/20 (There were a few spots where his voice was just too stiff that it came off as a bit wooden.Still for a guy with only one reason to live,for the most part Basco's dead serious tone definitely works well and certainly does wonders to balance out all the facepalm moments with Sokka,or when Aang gets to cutesy,or Katara feels to self-righteous. Also it adds humor to lines that would otherwise feel corny like say "Well,aren't you a big girl now")
Mako's Role: 20/20 (This is the guy who does Iroh. And,...he FANTASTIC at it. He's got the perfect voice for an old relaxed guy but also believably intimidating which Iroh is. In fact he was one of the greatest Fire Nation generals at one point and still has those skills [Alright I spoiled that part but you'll have to find out the rest]. His voice might be the most fun voice in the series to try to imitate[and fail terribly at] between all those "proverbs" with Zuko,or when he's talking about tea or being Zuko's father figure)
Pictures: 20/20 (I just love how everything is so well rendered from the suspended animation used for the iceberg to how all the fight scenes are so well done, Katara's hair "loopies" look great as they wave. All the locations are incredibly attractive and even the more tender parts aren't choppy. Zuko's scar is really creepy and the color choice for Aang's tattoos are just marvelous. I don't think I've seen a cartoon that's looked so good in so long [Batman Beyond comes to mind on that one and that was 6 years prior])
Execution 20/20 (Every episode was well directed and everything came to together so well and at the same time,there were pockets of laughs in between like the Cabbage Merchant who always gets his cart destroyed or when Sokka becomes a victim to the tiniest things. I just love how Katara always got so angry when someone wronged her and how the first time it actually caused Aang to be free or how Katara can always manage to keep everyone in an alright mood,especially Aang when he finds out his people were completely killed off and he goes into a horrible state destroying everything and yet she did it. That being my point of how well written the relationship between Aang and Katara really was. Also the conclusion is much like Romeo and Juliet in the sense that Sokka fell in love with someone who was to be married and then this person had to sacrifice her life to restore the natural balance of the world. On top of that was the most epic fight scene where Aang joins with The Ocean Spirit and wipes out an entire navy. There are plenty more great scenes in the series but that one scene is is like what we were waiting for for a long time.While there are 20 episodes,18 lead up to one massive battle with tender parts in a way not to different from how The Chronicles of Narnia was done. And what's more it's all clear and I really don't want to give away any more than I already have except there are no visually confusing parts and despite being about war that looks like one they can't lose,they still manage to have a good time. I wish I could do that)
Final: 20/20 (Great characters that work well for a cartoon and a movie,it was written in a way that it feels like the greatest 10 hour movie rather than a simple show with incredibly complex characters,great execution,attractive locations,great voice acting and deep thinking while maintaining slapstick humor to keep children entertained.I'm glad it managed to be as good at the last 5 seconds as it did with the very first 5 seconds with those clips displaying what air,earth,water,and firebending look like.)
I look forward to reviewing part II which covers their adventures in The Earth Kingdom in which Aang journeys to find an Earthbeding teacher
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