Cinepals - AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Netflix) 1x1 Discussion & Review!

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

This is our honest and immediate thoughts on Avatar The Last Airbender Episode 1 from the new live action adaptation by Netflix. What did they get right? What did they get wrong? Does it work? The live action show stars: • Gordon Cormier as Aang  • Kiawentiio as Katara • Ian Ousley as Sokka • Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko • Elizabeth Yu as Azula • Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Robocop, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Total Recall 2070, Ahsoka) as Uncle Iroh • Daniel Dae Kim (Hellboy, Lost, The Legend of Korra, Saints Row IV, Spider-Man 2, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Crash, 24, ER, Star Trek Enterprise, Hulk, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, The Practice, Seinfeld, The Pretender, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Jackal, Walker Texas Ranger, Cradle 2 the Grave, The Divergent Series) as Fire Lord Ozai • Ken Leung (Rush Hour, The Family Man, Vanilla Sky, Saw, Inside Man, X-Men The Last Stand, Star Wars Episode VII, The Blacklist, Old, Inhumans, Joker: Folie à Deux) as Commander Zhao Join our Patreon www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay for the full length reaction to this show and many others ans subscribe to our YouTube channel for the cutdowns www.youtube.com/@cinepals   SOCIAL MEDIA ~CinePals~ Twitter & Instagram: @TheCinePals ~Jaby Koay~ Twitter & Instagram: @JabyKoay ~Achara Kirk~ Twitter & Instagram: @AcharaKirk

I have been waiting for this moment with fervent anticipation. I'm very excited, and so can you. Senna. Pals. What's going on, everybody? I am Jabby Kauai, joined by Achara Kirk. What's up? We are watching episode one of Netflix's Avatar, The Last Airbender.

I have been going back through the animated show. Halfway through now, probably should have taken the time to finish the whole thing again. But I've been falling in love with it all over again. And it's like, this is exactly why it's my favorite show. It's the best. So I love it so much. And obviously there's high expectation leading into this. I'm going to try my best to set that expectation over there and just take this for what it is and appreciate it for what it is.

I've heard, you know, through the Instagrams and whatever, that is actually quite good. Oh, that's promising. That's promising. Oki-dokey. Let's get into this. Here we go. The world building on the part of the filmmaker and the producers and the visual effects artists especially, it's fantastic. There's a lot of love that went into bringing this to life. getting the world right. Like, that's a character into itself. Exactly. And I think that they're doing

a wonderful job there. The opening was great with the flashback, you know, the pre-story stuff like that. I thought that was an excellent choice. I mean, first of all, it sets the live action apart from the animation. Yes. Because, you know, the animation starts off with they find him in the iceberg, right? Essentially. Here, we get the backstory of like why all of this stuff happened and we actually get to watch it happen. I thought that was a really cool way to go and like a really fun way like you said to build the world. That first bit with the the earth bender running away and like showing us right off the bat like this is the level of like bending that you're going to see in the show. Yeah, it was a great cold open to the whole thing. Yeah. Just to get you in there. I did wonder why

he didn't create a wall behind him to just fend off the fire nation. Oh shoot. Yeah. Because he created a wall to get to get the other guy away. I'm like, why don't you? Anyway, but like, the conceit is sacrificing himself to save the messenger. Yes. I'm like, all right, fine, I'll buy into it. Because the whole thing was great. It was very nicely done.

The development of the relationship between Aang and his master was cool. Yeah, Giotzo. Yeah, like, I was a little iffy on some of the acting there with the teacher, but overall, the relationship was nicely developed, and I fell in love with the relationship between them and the bond that they had. I bought into whatever that was between them. I mean, I think he did a really good job as well because that role is so important

because it means a lot to Ang. And even though he doesn't have that much screen time, his impact is very, very important. He is that one person that Ang was really close to. And so, like, you see just the absolute soul-crushing feeling he gets when he sees, like, his entire. higher people obliterated, plus the person that he loved most. Yeah.

As someone who loves the original, you have to set aside the expectation of bringing everything to the live action, right? Of course. There was no penguin sledding. As an example, when he was escaping from the Zucco's ship, there was way more action in the animated version. Inside him running away and doing air bending. The thing that's missing the most, though, that's difficult to say goodbye to is the

comedy. There's a lot more comedy and goofiness from the cartoon, and maybe it just doesn't translate very well to live action, but I can't help it notice its absence. And so I'm actively having to go, okay, don't worry about that. Just like, how is this? Like, pretend for the moment that that almost, almost that the animation doesn't even exist. Right. How is this? What I realize as I'm watching it is part of what is supporting my continuing interest is the fact that I have such love for the animation. And so it's like this weird in-between space I have to go to where I'm like, hold on to the love, but accept this for what it is. Yeah, be open-minded.

Because, like, Iro, for instance, looking at this for what it is, I'm like, well, this is an interesting take on Iro. I would have gone with an older, more husky-sounding, like, slower, Iro, who's more, his gravity is deeper into, like, into his belly. Zuko, I like Zuko. Performance-wise, he's doing a pretty good job. Absolutely. I feel like he's nailing just the essence of Prince Zucco, like that prince who, like, so

desperately needs to bring the avatar back. so that he can come home. I'm buying everything that he's putting down. He's not exactly the cartoon. He's his own thing, and I like what he's doing. Yeah. Ang, I like what he's doing most of the time, and then other times I'm like, okay,

he feels a little bit overtrained as a young kid sometimes. Yeah, yeah, no, I get that. Overall, I really like Ang. I think they did a really great job with casting him because he's small, you know? And when you look at him, you see young boy. Yes. And, like, height-wise and everything compared with the other cast, it's like, yes, that's absolutely right.

Physically, to me, it's like, yes, that's perfect. Like, he seems very young and vulnerable, which I think is exactly what you need for Ang, because as he's coming into this journey, it's like, yes, he's 112 years old. But really, he's just 12 because his development has been paused for that 100 years when he was stuck in that ice. And so he is just a kid, and you need to remember. that and so yeah I think that that's really great Saka while you know I wish that they were able to find actors with the complexion that matches the cartoon yeah I just remember in the cartoon they were darker and here they're lighter it's fine but Saka the actor he I think he's nailing a nice

balance of like the Saka I am familiar with almost like okay the original Ninja Turtles movie it was hitting both it was like it was hitting the seriousness of the comics but it was also hitting the tonality of the cartoon. Right. And so he is my ninja turtles, right, in this instance, as it were, because, like, he's got the structure and the, in the voice and the mannerisms. But so now, tone-wise, like, the show is more grounded, so to speak, it's more serious. Yes.

And he's able to ride the line perfectly. I think he's probably the best actor in the show, you know, if all things considered, with what the responsibility is. Right. And a lot of the onus on him is to be the comedic relief as well, because even in the animation, like. a lot of the comedy was coming from Saka, the situations that he often ends up in.

And so, yeah, he's doing a really great job with sarcasm, the little asides and stuff. And I feel like a lot of the time when we're laughing, it's because of him. Again, I want to compliment the actor playing Zuko. I think that Zucco is probably one of the hardest roles. I mean, we have yet to see the entirety of the show, right? Yeah.

But I feel like Zucco's role is particularly difficult. It's just like the opposite end of Saka. because he's got to be this angry prince without it feeling like hammy or too much but he also has to find a way to be understandable and you have to have empathy for him. Exactly, because you can't hate, you can't hate Zuko. Yeah.

Because by the end of the show, he has like one of the most amazing character arcs and he is like an amazing character. It is hard to play a character who is that intense and who can do awful things but is still relatable and redeemable at the same time. I don't like Katara so far. I don't feel anything.

And I'm like, okay, take out what you feel about the cartoon, right? I have to keep doing that. But I'm like, okay, even if I never saw the cartoon, I don't think I would like what she's doing so far. I'm just not connecting. I'm not feeling anything yet. Maybe as the show goes on and she gets more settled into the role, I'll warm up to her more as she war as she warms up to the role.

role maybe so i'm being optimistic still it's just that so far i'm just like i'm not i'm not getting much yeah no i can see what you're what you mean there she's just playing it very calm and and i do think that is a part of catara's character maybe not so much the calmness all the time because we know that she can also be like she flies off the handle all the time yeah yeah but i think she's often like quite a motherly presence to and She's there to like comfort and to offer words of wisdom and to be understanding. So I feel like, you know, they're kind of leaning into that aspect of the character right now. But yeah, it would be cool to kind of see her be a bit more fiery and play with a bit more colors in the acting.

Yeah. Overall, I'm invested. I'm going to see this through to the end, irrespective of like the views, irrespective of where the quality goes. Like, I'm going to take it all the way to the end because I have such love for just the story. And I'm really excited for what they're doing here. And the world itself and the music is doing a lot of heavy lifting for me. And the action is looking cool so far. Yeah, action looks dope.

And Upper. Oh, my God. Yeah. Like, they really, really spent the budget. You see all of his little individual hairs, his nose is cute, his eyes. I could just stare at Upper all day. Yeah. Bring him on.

A huge, huge shout out to the effects artists on the show. Yeah. I would imagine potentially that a lot of the effects artists have a lot of love for Avatar, The Last Airbender, and we're very excited to work on this. I know, you know, from having a lot of friends that do VFX, just how brutal that can be. I think what might make it easier is if you love the thing you're working on. And Avatar is a very easy thing to, like, be passionate about, I think. Yeah, absolutely.

So anyways, you guys, hopefully you enjoyed it with us. Thanks so much for hanging out. Looking forward to episode two and hanging with you again. I'm Jabby Kauai. This is-Acharakirk. Peace out.