‘Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender’ Review: Film Sequel Delivers Halfway

It’s more than a little daunting coming to the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise as a newbie. Purists would insist that if you want to fully appreciate the new feature-length animated film you need to immerse yourself in the original Nickelodeon series that ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008. Then you should check out the animated sequel series The Legend of Korra. Not to mention the myriad related comic books, video games, book adaptations and, of course, Netflix’s live-action series remake.

As for M. Night Shyamalan’s critically lambasted 2010 live-action movie version, eh, that you can probably skip.

All of this is to say that this review of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender — premiering on Paramount+ while simultaneously getting a limited theatrical release to qualify for Oscar consideration — should probably be ignored by the die-hard fans, many of whom have already seen the film due to internet leaks. They’ll be debating endlessly with each other as to whether the feature effort lives up to the canon, which is why Reddit was invented.

Taking place after the events of the original series, the film picks up with Aang (Eric Nam), the now grown-up and surprisingly hunky Avatar and last Airbender, reuniting with his old cohorts Katara (Jessica Matten), Sokka (Roman Zaragoza), Toph (Dionne Quan), and Zuko (Steven Yeun) after he learns of a magical staff that could save his people from extinction. Aang learns about the mystical object from Tagah (Dave Bautista), a fellow Airbender whom he discovers in a frozen state and frees. He soon discovers that Tagah, who hails from thousands of years earlier, has, shall we say, issues. Much violent mayhem ensues.

As if not to overwhelm those new to the franchise, the film provides a helpful recap of prior events before the opening titles, as well as an extended battle between Aang and The Denied, those pesky nonbenders still pissed off over the dominance of the benders who can manipulate the four elements with their cool martial arts moves.

Plotting and characterizations take a back seat to the action sequences, of which there are many, in this relentlessly fast-paced feature that seems designed to draw non-fans into the universe without burdening them with too much exposition. It all threatens to become wearisome long before the conclusion, but fortunately the combination of 2-D and 3-D animation proves consistently visually dazzling, bearing out the desperate entreaties of the fans to give the film a proper theatrical release.

Mostly new voice performers play the familiar characters, though there are also plenty of familiar names in the supporting cast, including Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Ronny Chieng, Ken Jeong, Freida Pinto, and Ke Huy Quan, whose often amusing vocal contributions generally outshine those of the bland leads.  

Screenwriters Tim Hedrick and Christopher Yost infuse the proceedings with plenty of humor, sometimes slyly satirical but much of it lapsing into silly jokiness. Some heavy themes are also injected into the mix, such as the corruptive effects of power. But mostly the film seems content to wow you with its visuals, feeling rushed in its narrative and lurching from one violent episode to another. The original series was highly acclaimed for its complexity and sophistication, but those qualities don’t really come across in this hyper-kinetic feature version.