NOTE: The full movie for ‘Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender’ has been accidentally emailed to Twitter user who released the full movie on his account. The estimated budget is around $80 millions, and was supposed to be released on paramount+ in October this year.
I recently finished watching "Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender" and I am still thinking about it. If you know me, you know I am the kind of guy who can never really get over Avatar and Naruto. These two series stay with me forever because they are part of who I am. But watching the Avatar movie with human characters was such a bad experience that I really wish I could just unsee it. It was the same thing with the Naruto movie version. Even Boruto and Korra were not a 10/10 for me because they just didn't hit the same way.
After all those bad experiences, I didn't have high hopes for anything new. I thought this would be another disappointment, but it turned out to be VERY VERY good. I have to say it twice because it really was that great. For anyone who is a fan of the original series, this is a must watch. It finally feels like we got something that respects the original story.
What I loved most was how each scene felt like it was made in a nostalgic way to give you constant reminders of the show. If you remember the scene from the original series where Azula cornered Katara and she had to use her sweat to bend water, this movie tries to give you that same feeling. In this version, Katara runs out of water and Sokka brings a bending machine or device to help her. Even though that moment felt a bit unnecessary since the fight had stopped and other benders were there, it felt like the makers were trying to copy that old scene frame by frame. They wanted to create that same tension and atmosphere from the Azula fight just to make us feel nostalgic.
It wasn't just that one time either. The cabbage man is back and his cabbages got ruined again. Hearing him say "my cabbages" was perfect because that line stays the same in every version and it just feels right. I also felt those same iconic vibes during a scene with Toph. It reminded me so much of when she first used metal bending. The tension in the air was high and then Toph unlocked more of her power. It gave me chills because it felt so much like the original character we love.
Katara’s character was also spot on. She is still kind and can see what is coming. She has that gift of sensing bad people or seeing the good in someone before anyone else does. It reminded me of how she was the first one to see the good inside Zuko. Every bending scene in the movie had these nostalgic moments that felt like they were put there just to refresh our old memories. If you loved the original four books on Nickelodeon, the humor and the way the characters act will make you very happy. It is hard to love something so much and then see it ruined, but this movie actually felt right.
In some parts, it felt like they took inspiration from Kung Fu Panda 3, maybe because the teams were the same or they just liked the style. The way they showed the spirits and spiritual power reminded me of that. I really didn't like the Korra series because of how it handled spirits, but here the characters weren't way too overpowered. Everything felt balanced. I could honestly keep writing and writing about how much I liked it, but I don't want to give away too much. If you have seen the original series, you will find this story very easy to follow. Even though it is a movie and doesn't have as much time for deep character growth, it still feels justified and fun to watch.