“There is no live-action avatar movie.” For years, many fans of Avatar refused to acknowledge the existence of the horrible failure that was M. Night Shyamalan’s attempt at bringing the show to reality. Yet, now that the attempts to make the show live-action once again had resurfaced, comparisons between the movie and the current Netflix adaptation are being drawn. In light of these conversations, it has sparked my interest into what exactly constitutes a “good” live-action remake versus the “bad”. 

In case you haven’t heard of M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 movie, “The Last Airbender,” I’ll quickly recap some of the biggest issues fans had with it. Casting issues were deemed inaccurate, plot inconsistencies were pointed out, and the CGI definitely didn’t age well. At the very least, you’d figure they would get the pronunciation of the main character’s name correct, right? No. They said Ung. (And if you haven’t seen the video of an entire formation of “earthbenders” take 5 minutes to move a singular rock, I definitely suggest watching it). Watching the movie for 10 minutes alone gave a viewer enough time to see that there was virtually no one on this team that had remotely been familiar with the source material. 

With the 2010 live action movie, it was completely clear what had made it a bad live action. Casting just didn’t fit, the visuals were disappointing, and the referenced material was barely consistent with what the audience was familiar with. Yet although the current live-action Netflix series is doing quite well, I’ve seen numerous people say the same thing about the current adaptation. 

While some critics of the Netflix series have understandable grievances, some of the more outspoken opinions definitely border controversy. Particularly when it comes to casting. There were numerous comments and reviews that I’ve seen left about people upset with the casting of certain characters, such as Mai and Azula. To those upset with the casting, they were very harsh with critiques about the weight of the actresses, and overall just really crass body-shaming opinions. On the other side of the critiques, many made some valid points such as issues within script writing of over-spewing expository information and lack of good costume designs which change the quality of viewing. 

In comparison to the previous attempt at bringing Avatar live-action, what makes the new one “good” or “bad” is harder to draw the line. It’s understandable for not thinking Azula or Mai fit the image of a villain, however it is not as acceptable when it comes to people expressing this through body-shaming the actresses. While some nitpick the script and say that it might info-dump a little too much, other reviews rave about how they love the subtle changes that were made and how it enhances the story a lot more. 

So why is it that while the Netflix series for Avatar is harder to determine bad and good, while other live actions are doing quite well? The best example I can come up with is the current adaptation of the anime, One Piece. If you look at the scores on Rotten Tomatoes, you’ll find One Piece has around 85% while Avatar’s stands at 59%. 

According to Screenrant.com, many attribute the success of One Piece and the shortcomings of Avatar to the storytelling. As mentioned before, a common critique of the new Netflix adaptation is script writing and suffering from an overly condensed, and sometimes rushed, storytelling approach. One Piece’s handle on special moments connects to the audience in a way that Avatar’s first season is missing, and the gaps between them are clearly shown. When applying this critique to other live actions, such as the Percy Jackson series, storytelling becomes a common factor in what brings down a show’s adaptability. 

Personally, I don’t think the live action series is bad. We’ve already seen how bad it has already been, and nothing can really top what M. Night Shyamalan had released into the world. But as more and more books, cartoons, and comics turn into live-action, it becomes more obvious how they suffer when not treated with enough thorough detail and attention. Poorly made costumes, a poorly written script, or a poorly fitted cast can add up to an audience’s distaste. Not to mention when you combine all three together, it becomes obvious how much corners were cut in favor of speed. 

But if there’s one thing everyone agrees on– leaves from the vine will always be perfect. 

Cites: 

• https://screenrant.com/one-piece-avatar-last-airbender-netflix-live-action-adaptations-best/#:~:text=One%20Piece’s%20handling%20of%20the,than%20Avatar%3A%20The%20Last%20Airbender.
• https://www.raineydaydoodles.com/post/live-action-remakes-why-are-they-bad-raineydaydoodles
• https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender
• https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/avatar-the-last-airbender-first-reviews-it-isnt-perfect-but-its-respectful-of-the-original-and-fun/