The Netflix, live action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is finally out, and I have to say it is not what I expected. First off, let me state that the show is absolutely beautiful to look at. It has some of the best visual FX I have seen, in a series, in recent memory. The fight choreography was really impressive, and went a lot further than I ever expected. Of course, seeing bending in live action was like a dream. (Even the horrible movie version got that right though) Unfortunately, the incredible visual aspects are about all this show has going for it.

The rest? It reminds me of the Netflix, live action Cowboy Bebop. They had a property, an incredible IP, with a solid story, handed to them on a silver platter, and they didn’t know what they had, or what to do with it. I guess they thought they could mix and mash it up, change things around, combine things, and do it their own way and it would still work. Well… it didn’t.

While I applaud them for their mostly Asian cast, many of them were novice actors, and the lack of experience showed. It looks like they prioritized the look and sound of the character matching the original cartoon over acting ability. Don’t get me wrong, finding someone who has the look and sound, and who can do amazing martial arts moves, could not have been easy. I don’t know how they could have done better, but it does detract from the show a bit.

I will almost certainly watch this again soon, even if just for the amazing visuals. I still say it is worth a watch. Unfortunately, some cartoons should probably just stay cartoons.