Paramount announced 3 animated movies set in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. People speculated about which Avatars they’d be, but nothing came of those, and the one we did get was for Aang. I would’ve preferred visiting a different part of the lore with such amazing world building the show did, but at the same time I don’t mind watching an adventure of a fully realized Avatar Aang at the helm.
What is this movie even called? Avatar Aang? Avatar The Legend of Aang The Last Air Bender? It has no defined name, and also the few ones that it has are just the original show’s name and or variations it got. As far as the new Voice Actors I do not like them. They do an ok job at it, not necessarily terrible but they are never great or even good. It’s a huge disconnectthat feels distracting while watching at times. It’s sad the original VA’s were not brought over for the movie. It would’ve been such a great treat to hear them and elevated this movie. A shame.
I do not love some of the designs, they look a bit akward. I am not a fan of Katara looking like Korra now with all the muscles, she was always strong and didn’t need that physical feature to show that. I’d argue it’s the same for Aang, and I don’t care as much for Zuko or Tokka having them. Toph on the other hand I think fits exactly who her character was. The noses are just a little weird on them as well.
With that out of the way I have to say the movie is fantastic, I wasn’t exactly ecstatic for an adventure of Team Avatar as Adults but this movie gave us an interesting story that made sense in the time it takes place as well as feel like one last hoorah these heroes had. They did reuse some ideas they’ve used before but we can overlook that. It felt like a true challenge for Aang to face now as an adult. I do think there was potential to have it take place perhaps a bit later in the timeline. Having say Katara being pregnang, or Toph already working as police.
Not all Team Avatar gets the same screentime but with so many characters I’d say they were handled alright. Still wish Toph and Suko had gotten a bit more. The quest for the staff is done very well and it’s enjoyable to go through Avatar lore, the spirit world and whatnot. The denied were good enough antagonists even if not developped well, helps set up Legend of Korra.
The movie while not without flaws or doing something entirely new was an entertaining ride and did not overstay its welcome. I feel the Avatar franchise has always had huge potential and it’s never been fully realized. In fact the stuff we have gotten seems to do everything to self sabotage itself and that’s a shame with all the potential it has. With that said, let’s see what the Avatar franchise brings us with Seven Havens.