Netflix's AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER Announcement Does Not Make Me Excited
I am a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I’m not excited for the newly announced live-action adaptation. If you’re excited for it, I’m happy for you. I just want to explain why some of us aren’t excited.
First, the animated show was perfect. Why mess with perfection? By going to live-action I am very concerned a lot of the action won’t translate well. The bending will all have to be CG and TV shows aren’t known for having great effects. Not to mention you will have a lot people who dislike the cast because they aren’t the originals. Take Kim Possible for example. The new actors for the live-action will never be as good as Christy Carlson Romano and Will Friedle for anyone who grew up on the cartoon. Even if the new actors are great, there will always be that bias that many fans will have going in.
Second, it seems like nothing more than a cash grab. Granted, we have been given very little information about the show, so this may change after we learn more. However, right now it sounds like they’re taking the animated series and making it live-action. It sounds like there will be minor if any changes made and it makes me wonder, why would I see it? I understand that some may point to the fact that the fan base may grow since some people don’t like animated series, but the people I’ve met who don’t like animated series, don’t like the more fantasy-based content. That’s also not an argument against a cash grab. You expand your fan base for the purpose of getting more money.
Third, there are a million other things the creators could’ve done instead of an adaptation of the beloved cartoon. Even if Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko didn’t want to come up with a new story to tell, there were other things that would’ve been more exciting. They could adapt some of the various comics they’ve put out. They could adapt the upcoming books about Avatar Kiyoshi. Of course, a new original story would’ve been optimal. If they wanted to stick with Aang and friends, they could’ve shown us some of the time between Avatar and The Legend of Korra. Showing us the building of Republic City would’ve had me more excited than re-watching a show I love with different actors.
In my opinion, if they wanted to make a good live-action adaptation to help us forget the nightmare that we won’t mention, they should have either waited longer (there’s a reason a lot of remakes right now come from the 80s and 90s and not the 00s), or they should’ve made it into a trilogy of films. I know many of you will argue that a series is better, but a series won’t offer me anything new. If each book was adapted to a film, it would require some kind of change that, if done right, gives me a reason to watch it. Not to mention, we’ve already seen what a live-action will look like: