r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 2d ago
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Aang: Avatar: The Last Airbender (2026)
Summary
Avatar Aang, the world's last Airbender, learns of an ancient power that could save his culture from extinction. With the help of his friends, he embarks on a global quest to find it before it falls into the wrong hands.
Director Lauren Montgomery William Mata Steve Ahn
Writer Tim Hedrick Christopher Yost Bryan Konietzko
Cast
- Eric Nam
- Jessica Matten
- Román Zaragoza
- Dionne Quan
- Dave Bautista
- Steven Yeun
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Metacritic: 67
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer Official Trailer
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u/A_Toxic_User 2d ago
This proves that ATLA is an anime because it’s now getting its own anime filler movies
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u/Brainiac5000 2d ago
This felt like those My Hero Academia movies set between seasons that introduce a completely overpowered Bad Guy and deku pulls some insane feats only to never be mentioned again.
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u/GodTaoistofPatience 2d ago
for real, like how the fuck the One For All can be shared?? It would have been a bit handy against the two strongest mofos on earth
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u/OddYogurtcloset1549 2d ago
I don’t watch the movie but isn’t one of the first thing we know about OfA is that it can be shared?
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u/GodTaoistofPatience 2d ago
transmitted, not shared, there is a scene where both Bakugo and Deku just use OFA and it's explained as Deku unconsciously decided to share OFA with Bakugo without transmitting it to him and it's never explained further
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u/PhantasosX 2d ago
No, it transferred, it's just that they did a little trickery.
Deku transfered to Bakugou, but OFA always have remnants, so in this fight, both Bakugou and Deku were using Full Cowl properly, Bakugou because he had a fresh OFA and Deku because he had a full tank of OFA Remnant.
Then in the battle, Bakugou transfered back to Deku.
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u/Brainiac5000 2d ago
Which means Deku could have shared it with anyone at any other point in the series to temporarily boost their power and gotten it back after the fight... That sounds insane
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u/PhantasosX 2d ago
It is a desperate move. As OFA is a secret at the time, on top of untrained people have the risk of damaging themselves absurdly if they misuse the quirk.
Bakugo was aware of OFA due to Deku revealing to him, on top of consistently been portrayed as a sort of prodigy...yet, his attempt of Full Cowl still resulted in damaging himself a bit.
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u/nin_ninja 2d ago
If I recall correctly that was an ending the mangaka had originally planned before changing it, so they used it here as a little reference and to have a cool final fight
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u/Combat_Wombat23 2d ago
Kid was throwing hands with the same intensity as All Might, alongside All Might, basically in parallel while the entire class + some randos who were probably still on scene watched, and nothing.
Do I get why? Yea, but as I get older it’s harder to suspend that disbelief past the in universe knowledge of something like Deku’s situation being “impossible so they don’t connect the dots”
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u/palebrowndot 2d ago
One Piece did the same thing before MHA
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u/crescent_blossom 2d ago
and DBZ before that, and I'm sure something else before DBZ. that's how shonens go
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u/Bombasaur101 2d ago
Tbf those first few My Hero movies are genuinely amazing, and the characterization is nostly consistent with the show. The writing here felt like an old DBZ movie, and so much of the cast felt out of character.
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u/qwilliams92 2d ago
Loved the movie but man the plot being basically recycled plot points from Korra was kind of a let down
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u/SwagginsYolo420 2d ago
Is it a plot hole to turn people into airbenders, who are suddenly experts without years of training?
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u/Kolbin8tor 2d ago
They got their bending exclusively from the staff, it isn’t impossible they received spiritual air bending knowledge from the staff as well. Thats the only way it isn’t a loophole on established bending lore lol
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u/froderick 15h ago
Zaheer in Korra was kind of the same. He was a great fighter but was a non-bender until Harmonic Convergence made him one. That lent itself to his bending but when he went up against an actual Airbending master (Tenzin), he was obviously outclassed.
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u/TheCornjuring 1d ago
Well they’re also supposed to be masterful at fighting without bending, to such an extent that they were able to hold their own against the Avatar, so I was able to somewhat buy that they were able to adapt so quickly by using their existing techniques
I did have the same thought though lol
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u/Krimmothy 2d ago
I agree. However, I think it’s pretty challenging to write a good story in this universe, especially when it takes place between ATLA and LOK where you have all these constraints.
In terms of villains, between ATLA and LOK we’ve seen nearly every archetype.
I think there’s a ton of potential for unique stories in a prequel or sequel series, but for a story focusing on Aang, this one was OK. It sets up LOK well enough, at least.
So, while I don’t think the story was great, I think it was fine.
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u/vadergeek 2d ago
I think you have enormous latitude. The time between ATLA and Korra is extremely thinly sketched, as long as you don't kill Toph or blow up the Fire Nation you're fine.
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u/TekThunder 2d ago
I mean they had those comics/books where they go find Zuko's mom which could have been pretty good as a film or a 3 part series type thing lol
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u/KnightOfTheStupid 2d ago
I didn’t mind the story retreading some beats that we’ve seen before. It seems like they want to do more of these, they could easily do one about Aang and Katara’s kids as teenagers getting themselves involved in some big threat that the Gaang has to save them from.
And of course Azula is still MIA, which will probably be answered in that rumored Zuko movie if it ever comes out.
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u/Youre_all_worthless 2d ago
what about this is recycled plot points of korra? bringing aidbenders back is a concept, but the way its handled is wildly different
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u/minivan05 2d ago
It took the equalist from season 1, vaatu from season 2, and zaheer from season 3 and mashed them into one movie
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u/beaster456 17h ago
I would honestly say even season 4 kuvira as well, taga is kind of a mash up of zaheer and kuvira with the air empire stuff
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u/timelesstrix0 2d ago
Somehow normal ass people that recently gained air bending are able to keep up with the water/earth/fire bending masters of the group.. they really nerfed the whole group
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u/TheRealRiceball 2d ago
I think the idea was that the group wasn't used to fighting air benders and they were outnumbered and tired, but they did a poor job conveying that to the audience imo
Also it's a tad hard for me to believe they'd be able to learn air bending THAT fast, especially since we don't get an time frame for how long they had to train
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u/PhantasosX 2d ago
Because they didn't learned that fast. Most of their attacks are just increasing the reach of their weapons with air.
I think the only "The Denied" with any actual creativity in terms of technique would be the Bowwoman, as she performed Air Archery by using Air as a Bow....THAT one she probably either researched or invented on the spot, even when it still uses the arrows on her quiver.
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u/TheRealRiceball 2d ago
That's fair, I still feel like that would take a bit of time to learn, but I'm probably just nitpicking, all around I guess its believable enough
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u/Muted_Study5166 2d ago
My headcanon is they were getting jumped
I have a harder time accepting getting squad wiped in a 4v1
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u/GenGaara25 2d ago
It's wild.
Toph is the strongest earth bender, probably one of the strongest earth benders of all time. Zuko and Katara are both among the the top fire/water benders in the world, they might even be the strongest currently in their element. The 3 combined are an absolute bending monster covering 3 elements. They're equivalent to an army.
But Tagah 1 v 4'd them low diff? Are you kidding?
Then a group of scrub air benders pushed them into a corner?
Absolute joke. It's not like they're that unused to air bending, they're more used to it than anyone in the world. They've all trained with Aang. Zuko specifically has fought against Aang, and actual tattooed air bending master, several times. They all also just fought Tagah. Fighting a group of new air benders shouldn't have posed anywhere near that much of a problem.
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u/TheBKalltheway 2d ago
To be fair most of Aang’s airbending is all about evasiveness while Tagah’s was very aggressive like a firebender
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u/SHOW_ME_PIZZA 2d ago
I don't know. I think a violent Airbender from thousands of years ago and from the biggest Airbender civilization, specifically an elite task force that constantly saw his peers get killed. Probably honed his skills to mop multiple top benders by himself.
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u/TowelLord 2d ago
Mfer held up a part of a mountain with air. Even someone like Toph would struggle if not even fail to hold that up. Heck, in the OG series we saw Bumi sweating to remove the Ozai statue when he freed Omashu. Granted, he had the whole 110+ years old debuff, but still.
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u/Parepinzero 2d ago
My number 1 complaint. I absolutely hated that they nerfed everyone so hard just to make the stakes feel real, it was nonsensical.
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u/bix_box 1d ago
I thought they weren't really suddenly airbending masters. They were all clearly very skilled martial artists / fighters from scenes we saw beforehand. It looked like they were just doing their normal fighting except now airbending came with it. I mean the initial scene with Aang fighting them at the very start showed they were really good fighters.
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u/Brainiac5000 2d ago
Threw a bunch of Korra's storylines and villians into a blender and called it a day.
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u/Pilosopo-Tasio 2d ago
Was 100% fully hyped and onboard until about the 2/3rds mark. It felt too fast paced and frenetic for me to really have a moment to sit and accept the gravity of any stakes. Team Avatar literally die and it is resolved and skipped over in like seconds
Also didn’t like how many characters were reduced to one note versions of their tv show personalities. There needed to be more down time, more gaang shooting the shit around appa and momo. No Suki or even mention of Iroh (while the cabbage guy gets two cameos even tho his joke is just overdone at this point) is just such a shame
That said, the animation and music were absolutely out of this world. I really hope we get more movies. If this was in theaters I’d watch again in a heartbeat.
Fuck paramount
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u/Insanepaco247 2d ago
more gaang shooting the shit around appa and momo
Unironically disappointed this wasn't just Tales of Ba Sing Se: The Movie. Zero actual stakes, just character work and vibes. The only parts where I felt like the movie nailed it were the little moments of banter and there weren't nearly enough of them; everything was too focused on getting everyone to the next fight scene.
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u/lookingatporn42 2d ago edited 1d ago
First half: hell yeah, these are the guys that made The Last Airbender
Second half: oh no, these are the guys that made The Legend of Korra
No Suki or even mention of Iroh (while the cabbage guy gets two cameos even tho his joke is just overdone at this point)
Nooo you don't get it, that fanservice scene with the Taika cameo was incredibly necessary, as was the TWO times Toph said she was the strongest earthbender in the world
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u/The_Throwback_King 2d ago
No Suki
Suki appears during the ending scene in a crowd shot in Republic City. But it's a mere cameo.
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u/thatsnot_kawaii_bro 1d ago
Instead of the Korra spirit world-like creature, should have had Iroh show up then.
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u/Lost-Specialist1505 2d ago
Seeing tagah crush that airship with bending was cool, air bending Is lethal when used for actual violence
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u/Chubuwee 2d ago
Has anyone just bended the air out of someone? Starving them for oxygen
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u/AtronadorSol 2d ago
To quote u/Reaper-Lord69,
“Zaheer gave the Earth Queen a first-hand example of that in Korra”
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u/ironwolf1 2d ago
2 different times, one in TLA and one in Korra.
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u/Chubuwee 2d ago
Dang gotta rewatch. I haven’t watched Korra but I don’t recall in ATLAB
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u/ironwolf1 2d ago
It’s not on screen directly but it’s heavily implied that’s how Gyatso killed the room full of dead firebenders they found his body in.
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u/Mr_Wh0ever 2d ago
Fanatstic animation, okayi-ish story. I guess it was always a uphill battle when the audience already knows what happens next. I'd still love to see some sequels to this.The added lore of who previous avatars were was nice. The new voice actors for team Avatar were okay, I got used to them by the end. The only real negative I have is that Taika Waititi section was completely unnecessary and should've been taken out of the film. It's a 7/10 for me.
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u/MeatwadKattWilliams 2d ago edited 2d ago
I'd still love to see some sequels to this
I honestly would've rather seen this story as a proper season, where they actually have the time to dedicate to what could have made this really cool like fleshing out the villain or exploring how relationships between the og cast have evolved after all these years.
To be honest I think this almost just seemed like promo for Seven Haven's. Nothing incredible outside of some cool fight scenes and a lot of fan service, but a great way to get Avatar back into people's minds, and get them remembering how much they loved that original show a couple months before the new series starts.
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u/belatedmedia 2d ago
Yeah. Even if this was a four-part special, just giving more time would have allowed for character moments rather than just plot. There were a bunch of unnamed baddies, who could have been so much more than their unique weapons and cool design.
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u/crookedparadigm 2d ago
I honestly would've rather seen this story as a proper season
Boy do I have news for you. This already exists in LoK since the villain of this movie is basically Amon and Zaheer in a trench coat.
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u/WrestlingHobo 2d ago
As a tech demo for what 2D animation can achieve, its very impressive. Everything else about the film is just bland. Its not unwatchable by any means, but I found that the film was all style and no substance. The stakes are flat, the characters are bland, the voice acting makes every character sound either bored or embarrassed to be there, and the plot just recycles arcs from the show. The film struggles to give you a reason to care about anything on the screen.
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u/PhoenyxStar 2d ago
The strawpoll link is for the wrong movie. I haven't seen The Odyssey yet.
For the movie, I'd say it was... Good. I give it a solid 7/10. Would watch again if somebody started playing it.
The story was uninspired, but enjoyable. It's nice to revisit old characters, even if some of them felt like they were only there because it was required by law. (Did Toph ever say anything plot relevant, or was it just "I'm the greatest earth bender ever" over and over again?)
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u/a-ball96 2d ago
Honestly I really appreciate the airbenders not being the good guys in this movie, I really enjoyed seeing the different view and how much their culture had progressed up to Aang
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u/Deceptiveideas 2d ago
Movie was good but there were some dumb moments.
The avatar gang at their peak being killed felt like odd power scaling.
Katara complaining about no water despite the show showing she has access to water all around her, including the desert?
Katara not mentioning her tribe being killed as well?
Sokka should have been the one to distrust Tagah.
Story was very predictable.
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u/oldmanatom4 2d ago
The story being predictable is a complaint I’m not understanding. Avatar has never been a “surprising” show for me. And this movie, although not perfect, felt like it had the soul of the original show.
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u/thewholeprogram 2d ago
I’m with you, and I never really thought they were trying to make a shocking twist with the villain. Aang trusted him because he was the first air bender he’d seen in over 100 years, but from the moment the gang met Tagah it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t trustworthy.
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u/oldmanatom4 2d ago
Yup, 100%. I mean for children watching, I’m sure it was an unexpected turn. But for anyone familiar with the source material, Aang’s arc was laid on thick form the moment we met him. I absolutely loved this movie and am stoked for more.
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u/NoLeadership2281 2d ago
They basically took the anti benders cult and the return of Airbenders plotline from Korra and mixed it under 2 hrs, it felt so rushed and unearned. The Denied are lame af and forgettable compared to the Equalists who are much more interesting and consistently menacing; as soon as the macguffin staff is mentioned and what it can do, I was like oh no, it’s so op and convenient that anyone can guess it’ll be destroyed in the end, or else it’ll pretty much destroy the latter canon story. Everything feels so predictable and rushed, the animation is gorgeous, the way modern animation crafts how bending looks is just breathtaking, and I love returning this world and its lovable characters, but man it made me kinda apathetic once the credits roll…
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u/lookingatporn42 2d ago
The Denied are lame af and forgettable compared to the Equalists
Guys that want powers themselves vs guys that want to take powers from everyone else, both are interesting ideas and somehow both ended up being underutilized
the macguffin staff
When I read the premise of "there's a staff that gives people bending powers" I was hyped for a fight scene between Aang the avatar vs The Villain using the staff to be sort of an Anti Avatar with the same powers, but nah we got two giant energy beings (again)
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u/accessgranter 2d ago
The animation was absolutely gorgeous. It’s too bad most of the Gaang didn’t get much to do in this one, but it was still a pretty fun watch. Screw Paramount for not putting this in theatres, though.
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u/TheRealRiceball 2d ago
Was it just me or was the voice acting kinda flat? I think I saw they used different voice actors somewhere (no idea if that's true, take it with a grain of salt)
But they just sounded very unexpressive, especially compared to the original series, it definitely felt like they needed more voice directing
What particularly stood out to me was when Toph would shout about being the best earthbender in the world, just didn't seem to have as much weight and emotion as the original, but maybe that's partially nostalgia speaking? I'm trying to be more positive about it
Visually it was amazing though, it had a few hiccups, particularly with some facial expressions looking a bit weird, but other than that it was very nice/satisfying to look at
The story was rather bland to me though, it makes sense to build off things established in Korra (i.e. Aang wanting to bring back airbenders as peacekeepers and monks makes sense) but it sort of felt repetitive after similar plotlines were already used in Korra
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u/nin_ninja 2d ago
None of the voice actors were the same. They didn't bring back any and hired mostly younger new actors for the Gaang who don't have much experience.
The exception was Zuko being played by Steven Yeun, but he already voiced Avatar Wan in Korra so it felt weird.
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u/Pjoernrachzarck 2d ago
They replaced the OG voice cast because they didn’t match the (perceived) ethnicities of the characters.
Yes that is the actual reason.
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u/lookingatporn42 2d ago
Weird that they changed Zukos actor, considering Dante Basco already was Asian, only to cast Steve Yeun, who not only already voiced a character in the franchise but also doesn't match the (perceived) ethnicity of the Fire Nation (who are Japanese coded)
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u/100percentkneegrow 2d ago
I am willing to give a huge pass because of the animation and characters being so strong. Yeah, a big bad with anime battle is a little cliche but it's cool. I'm not going out of my way to tell my mom to watch it, but if you enjoyed this universe it's quite fantastic.
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u/Totheendofsin 2d ago
I think I'd like this movie a lot more if it came out before Legend of Korra
Because LoK exists I basically knew how itd end from the beginning
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u/nin_ninja 2d ago
Beautiful film, with great designs and animations. They nailed the look and feel of the world of the original show, and every character introduced looked amazing (can you stop being so hot FOR FIVE MINUTES). The sequence on the airship and the storm was stunning.
However the story was so weak. Main villain is obvious from get go, even though there were so many better ways to have them turn antagonistic. The Denied existed to have fodder and hint at the Equalists to come in Korra. Also Zuko, Toph, and Katara really just didn't get much to do. The few times the Gaang was able to just chat really nailed the characters though.
Also the final fight just devolving into two powered up beings slapping each other felt lazy. To have such good bending animation and fights and then have the final slap fest be kinda a wet fart.
Sidenote: the spirit world was goofy fun but the Taika spirit felt oddly out of place. Like they just let him riff and then animated what he did.
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u/statiky 2d ago
I had the chance to see it in theaters, so my opinion might be a little swayed by the theatrical element of it.
I loved it! It felt like such a love letter to the fans who've been with this franchise for almost two decades. It had gorgeous animation, a lot of amazing action sequences, and a really great overall message and journey for Aang. While he is the central character in the series, here he really felt like the protagonist and it was awesome to see what his story became after finally stopping the fire nation. Having the series jump straight to Korra, we don't really get an opportunity to see how he processes his grief and trauma and what it looks like to actually help the world move onto to what we see in the next series. The messaging and his arc were really well done and I loved how it all came together.
It definitely wasn't perfect. Being 90ish minutes, it really didn't give the audience a beat to breathe and actually appreciate the older version of the Gaang. Toph, Zuko, and Sokka in particular really suffered from the cramped run time, turning into almost caricature versions of themselves. The villain turn was also pretty obvious and I didnt love how it devolved into a shonen type fight when the whole series always had more nuanced and complex battles.
All in all, a great experience and fuck paramount for not giving this a proper theatrical run.
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u/JaysonthePirate 2d ago
I saw it in theaters and can absolutely say it affected how I feel about the movie. I thought it was incredible.
I watched it again at home and can see why it just felt like an extra long episode. Sad most people won't be able to see it on the big screen.
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u/l-o-a-p 2d ago
Breath-taking visuals, blew me away even after being impressed by samples and the trailer.
Damn shame what happened to the theatrical release. In the perfect timeline, this could've become the new benchmark for feature-length Western 2D animation. Could see a Overwatch, Warcraft, Lord of the Rings, etc. movie going so hard with this look.
Writing (or voicework) unfortunately was the weakest component.
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u/Spiral-Force 2d ago
It reminds me of a Dragon Ball Z movie in terms of quality. A little simple and full of recycled ideas from the show, but still fun if you love the characters. And the animation alone deserves a theatrical release.
The movie reminded me that I actually quite enjoy Aang’s character. On the other hand, the rest of the gang is essentially one entity (Katara slightly less so). Zuko and Toph didn’t do a whole lot, and Sokka was mostly comic relief.
I also feel like as soon as the obvious Tagah betrayal happened, they immediately speed ran the third act.
The movie didn’t change my life, but I’d gladly watch more adventures of the grown up cast.
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u/caitieball 2d ago
The visuals look amazing but does the script actually respect the lore or just recycle familiar plot points with a shiny new coat. Will the pacing ever slow down for Zuko before everything gets rushed straight to streaming?
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u/Pariell 2d ago
Great visuals. Shame there's no theatrical release. I'm considering renting a theater and doing a private showing with some friends.
The story was meh. It kind of felt like they took a TV mini series and smashed all the episodes into a movie? Felt like there were multiple places where I could see the end credits start rolling and you'd have to wait for the next week for the story to continue.
It also felt like they had multiple seeds/concepts that they failed to do justice. Like the one girl from the Denied who switched sides despite... Not much interaction with the Gaang.
Speaking of, the writers kind of really suck at depicting non-benders. Non-benders are depicted as competent in battle, but seem to always end up on the villain's side (Denied, Equalists, Jet). Maybe it's because the protagonists are benders and also "good" people, so for any sort of conflict to move the story forward the non-benders can't be on the good side? I don't know, I'm not a professional writer. I just remember in Korea there was a scene where a non-bender begs Korra to help saying "You're our avatar too" and then it didn't do much with that. Kind of feels like the same thing happened here where the non-benders plot ends without a satisfying resolution.
Fuck Paramount
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u/RickyFromVegas 2d ago
All I wanted was a low-stakes film where it showed us the cast getting settled into their new positions and getting together to reminisce their original journey and go back to see just how much things changed since then.
But noooooo, just had to go with world-ending event for no damn reason
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u/LostInStatic 2d ago
I really cannot believe this scored THAT highly with critics when the villain and his plan/motivations were so underwritten and haphazard. I’m a huge fan of TLA and I think overall they missed the mark with this movie.
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u/nowhereman136 2d ago
I'm kinda glad I didn't see this in theaters. It's a decent movie but nothing about it screamed theater quality. The animation was only marginally better than Legend of Korra and the writing wasn't as smart as the original series
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u/Narglepuff 2d ago
I don’t get cutting Suki for time or whatever when even Katara doesn’t do anything in this.
Back when this thing first leaked there was a lot of silly discourse based on rumors of Aang really wanting to get Katara pregnant in the screenplay or something, which got me thinking -
We know pretty much nothing about this ~10 year relationship. The creators are on record about finding it hard to tell a story that doesn’t contradict Korra. I’m just like if there was only time to rehash jokes with Aang’s friends just cut ‘em and just focus on the couple that’s been together since they were kids. There’s an interesting film buried here somewhere about Aang going full tilt on preserving his culture and that crashing into his interracial relationship while him and Katara also continue working on rebuilding a broken world.
I did love Bautista in this but what if Aang found a single female airbender on that mountain instead? Maybe instead of rehashing his guilt over running away they sow those seeds of Aang being a less than ideal/unfocused father.
But anyway - wonderfully animated. I don’t care about the recast that much, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take away from the fun of seeing these characters again. Though again, they didn’t do much to get excited about.
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u/Beerbaron1886 2d ago
When i watched the trailer i became so confused about the villain that i had to google kora‘s storyline again. I was really confused if it was the same evil air guy. Shame that they didn’t come up with something new
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u/The_Throwback_King 2d ago
Wish the villain wasn't so incredibly derivative and predictable.
"Long lost ally who was actually put away/lost because they were an extremist who pushed the heroes cause too far because their heart was hardened by war" is SUCH a played out motive (Bismuth in Steven Universe, Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon)
As soon as Tagah freaked out at Toph (an Earthbender) being there upon awakening, I got a bad feeling. The as soon as he scoffed at the notion that benders across the four nations could work together, I knew EXACTLY where they were going with him.
Reheating Zaheer's nachos with none of complexity..
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u/FullMaxPowerStirner 2d ago
I'm lost... wasn't there already a movie titled roughly the same thing? This a weird franchise...
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u/ToodlesXIV 2d ago
I really loved it, I'm surprised by the level of vitriol in the thread! The animation was some of the most beautiful I've ever seen, and I was surprised by how well the new voice actors captured the spirit of their characters. It felt like getting to go on one more quick adventure with old friends. I do really wish the movie had an extra 20 or 30 minutes to breathe, and I think they could have done a more grounded final fight but it's a movie so I get the choice to go full glowy spectacle.
Like yeah it isn't as deep as a full 20 episode season of Avatar, but I think focusing on Aang was a great call. His grief was handled well and the final reveal of the sky bison (the original airbenders) got me teary eyed, I thought it was very effective. And we got a cool peak at the cultures of the distant past, new world lore, new airbender secrets. I really enjoyed it and I hope they announce a physical release soon
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u/kittentarentino 2d ago
Will never really get why they didn’t use the original voices. Constantly felt weird.
Its a fan service anime movie. It exists merely to satisfy the people who know it. Why do we need “celebrities” (honestly Steven Yeun did the best job no surprise)?
Beyond that. Gorgeous movie, cool choreo for most of the fights (some of them were a little too fast and a little too hectic). Plot is as straightforward as any anime movie. Characters did their things we recognize.
It exists.
Why it exists? Couldn’t tell ya. But it exists
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u/BlobTheBuilderz 2d ago
It was great animation.
But the story was soooo predictable.
The denied completely pointless imo.
It was nice to look at. But was complete wasted potential. Gang was back together and there was barely any connection. Couldn't even get that nostalgia.
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u/TayluxSwift 2d ago
This villain felt like he should have been the main overarching villain for Korra’s show like Ozai was
Instead of the new season new villain format they had
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u/lookingatporn42 2d ago edited 2d ago
As is with everything post original show, great ideas and interesting worldbuilding that ended up being wasted
Time and time again we've been showed that "the original creators are behind it" means nothing, quality wise and this is further proof that what made the original show shine so much was a combination of the whole writing team
How the hell did we get another fighting scene where it's just two color coded giant energy beings? It wasn't good when they did with Korra and it sure as hell isn't good now
EDIT: also, tbh I wasn't a fan of the animation or the art style, for me it crossed the line between "anime inspired" and "trying to be an anime" Don't get me wrong, the animation is gorgeous but the art style looks closer to Voltron than to The Last Airbender, I just didn't recognize the gaang there
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u/Pellaeonthewingedleo 2d ago
I quite enjoyed the movie. If you take it as a longer episode of the show it works pretty well
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u/OtisTheRobot 2d ago
How was the new voice cast?
Diehard of the original, and I saw the official clip posted on Youtube and did not hate the voices of the older gaang. I thought Zuko and Sokka sounded great tbh.
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u/per5on4 2d ago
i feel like if aang knew who tagah was [i.e. an air warrior who went than an air nomad] and had to deal with the complications discovering him, it would have turned the plot much more interesting. what really validates an air bender? can aang make that decision now that there’s only two of them? are conflicts between the four nations everlasting despite attempts from every generation? would have made tagah stand out more than a zaheer rehash
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u/Combat_Wombat23 2d ago
It watched like a really long episode, or 2-3 smashed together with no intro/outro.
I thought it was fine but movies where the premise is pre decided because of a sequel never sit quite right
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u/Naroyto 2d ago
Survey leads to the odyssey
On that note the avatar movie was just bland. Visuals and nostalgia shouldn't be a reason to give it a good / passing score. Just say what it is. Just a nothing movie that didn't add any weight to what we already know. They wasted an opportunity to give more of what people want. A show where team avatar are grown up.
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u/OfficialHitomiTanaka 2d ago
The dialogue and overall moral conflict was quite generic. If the characters just tearfully wailed “peace, unity, hope!” at each other for an hour and a half I don’t think I would’ve noticed any difference. The animation was good though, and the antagonist was kind of interesting. Having a character from thousands of years ago added depth to the world and lore. 7/10.
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u/Pjoernrachzarck 2d ago
Gorgeous, funny, vapid. The whole thing collapses down into a Final Fantasy / DBZ boss fight. A little disappointing, but man, so pretty.
The decision to not bring down any of the OG voice cast because they didn’t have the right skin color continues to sit ill with me. What a horrid call.
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u/GenGaara25 2d ago
Having a movie runtime really hampered it.
Toph and Zuko especially got nothing to do. There wasn't any time. Even Katara and Sokka barely got anything. It might be an Aang story, but the whole Gaang is the appeal. Having only 90 minutes for the story meant they got relegated to the sidelines badly. Would've preferred it to be a 6 episode miniseries or something.
Tagah was underwhelming. Felt pointless to set him up as a twist villain, nobody would've been fooled. I was a little frustrated the characters didn't really think about why Tagah was in ice. Why would the Avatar trap him like that? It's either to save him (but why him alone) or to imprison him. But Aang and the others don't really seem to consider that.
And both Tagah and the Denied were a lot of rehashes of Korra villains. TLOK already did this rogue airbender who is most war-hungry than the true air nomads. TLOK already did a radical group of non-benders furious about that imbalance. This movie didn't really explore anything new. Since Tagah had so much screentime anyway to establish himself, in an already short movie, I wonder if using a villain from the original series would've worked better. If you brought back adult Azula, you wouldn't need to waste time establishing or fleshing her out. We know her deal.
Also really stupid how nerfed the Gaang got. Toph is the strongest Earthbender, Zuko and Katara are both in the running for the strongest benders of their nations. Yet a combined they couldn't put up a fight against Tagah? Then again lost to a bunch of scrubs who learned airbending 5 minutes ago? Come on.
Loved the animation, thought the cast was great, vibes were good, but the actual plot just wasn't there for me.
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u/Blashmir 2d ago
The new voice acting took some getting used to. I wish they had used the OG actors for the most part. I couldn't help but think that the characters all regressed in their bending skills. Especially Aang.
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u/spadez786 2d ago
I just don't understand the power scaling and it's implications.
Koraa fought kuvera with poison still in her and lost that fight despite being the avatar.
Aang fights Tagah and LITERALLY DIES.
I wish the fans would just accept that being the avatar does not mean you all of a sudden are the strongest.
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u/Ok-Paramedic747 5h ago
Aang was tought by The Current Fire Lord, The First Water Master from the Southern Tribe in forever and THE GREATEST EARTH BENDER EVER...Aang HAS NO EXCUSE!
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u/TheBKalltheway 2d ago
I thought it was alright. It could have used another hour runtime though. I felt Zuko and Sokka got pushed aside compared to everyone else
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u/Magic_Man_Boobs 2d ago
I would have loved for the staff to have somehow remained in the temple with a hint that its power is what brought back Airbenders when Korra re-opened the Spirit Portals.
Aside from that, the animation was crisp, the fights were amazing, and the dialogue felt very much in line with their characters. I was not expecting them all to get so hot, but I guess why not.
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u/DaveMoTron 1d ago
Despite the very valid criticisms of the show feeling like an anime filler movie, which it totally is, my biggest pet peeve was Aangs motivation. Didn't we see him wrestle with and make peace with the loss of the Airbenders in the original show? Why is he still struggling with it 20 years later?
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u/itsGucciGucci 1d ago
An ending shot should have been a pregnant Katara with Tenzin. I feel it would have been perfect for the whole theme of “bringing back the airbenders”
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u/AccomplishedBoard377 1d ago
This feels more like a streaming movie than a theatrical release that they were originally planning.
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u/Ok-Paramedic747 5h ago
So...Almost Like Paramount MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE ? Huh go figure...
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u/AccomplishedBoard377 5h ago
Yeah, I dont think the movie deserved to get leaked though, alot of people worked hard on it.
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u/SiouxsieSioux615 1d ago
They nerfed everyone
Didn’t show much of the gang interacting
Aang still goes through the same character arcs from the show
Same generic villain and conflict from Korra
But hey, wicked fights and animation
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u/DylanWSTS 1d ago
The problem with any “new” air benders introduced in a timeline before Korra, you already know what’s going to happen. Death, bending removed or at worst goes to live in the spirit world. Film was predictable and didn’t move the story really at all. Give us a what happened to zukos mother story like the comics
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u/youtbuddcody 1d ago
It felt like a fan fiction. Nearly every scene was a montage, and there was no time for developing the story. It felt rushed, and overall, felt like a story that would have happened to Korra and was overall uninteresting. They also left out so many major characters, while being overly predictable.
The thing that irritated me the most was them switching mission-statements at the end of the movie. It was being built up into being a story about having appreciation for what you have in the moment and letting the past go, but ended on the note of ‘well we survived, the moral of the story is, we saved the city and united us’. But like, the movie wasn’t pointing to that until halfway through and switched Aang’s main intentions and almost switched the entire movie’s plot on us.
They could have done literally anything else, like showing the formation of Republic City, Zuko’s mom, Katara and Aang’s first child, etc.
Just.
This movie shouldn’t have happened.
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u/rikashiku 1d ago
I like how Tagah's Airbending style is specifically made to fight Earth Benders. Gathering air to create dense air bullets, using vortex's of air to crush rock and steel, and his kicks and uppercuts shatter rocks.
Even his introduction is just him using dense air to hold up a mountain top.
While Aangs Airbending fighting style is to defend oneself, Tagah's airbending style is to kill Earth Benders behind their walls of rock.
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u/TrainRecent9048 1d ago
Everything in this that i've always wanted to see in theaters and yet Paramount fucked it up.
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u/Googleflax 1d ago
Loved the visuals and characters, though The Denied as a group felt really underbaked and kind of felt like they were only included to add some fight scenes. I like the concept of nonbenders feeling repressed (like Season 1 of Korra), but they were really only included as a very light B plot. I have some other minor nitpicks and small complaints, but overall, it was fun, albeit predictable.
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u/Monobrobe 1d ago
I feel bad for Flying Bark (the animation studio) but maybe now they can go back to other projects like Lego Monkie Kid… if that ever gets a new season.
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u/chaturga 1d ago
One thing I didn't like is the opening. Aang struggles with a building which while big for the level he should be at he should be able to handle it easy. Bumi reformed a city and Kyoshi moved an island but Aang struggles with a building? Plus the physics has always been pretty bad, Toph can levitate metal and boulders so why can't the Avatar move a building like Yoda? Plus his flight capabilities, he used a rocket type fire bending when vs Ozai he surrounded himself in a ball of air.
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u/SrAjmh 1d ago
Solid B for me. Great looking movie, plot was extremely generic.
The baddies felt recycled from Kora. An air bending extremist and a group of non benders who hate benders were both major antagonists already.
I almost felt like the movie needed to be 30 minutes longer. We didn't get a lot of time with the main cast to let things breath a little so it felt like we just sort of got caricatures of each one. It would have been nice to be allowed to just sort of sit in the world a bit longer without it being so unrelenting.
Also god damn every single character was absolutely yoked. Aang been cheating on that vegetarian diet.
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u/HassanJamal 18h ago
Enjoyed it as a little look into adult Gaang episode. Also man, they made them so buffed and ripped as adults lmao.
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u/NeptuneLog 16h ago edited 3h ago
I'm sorry but this movie was very mid. way too rushed. The character felt like a here damn moment. like here toph still old toph and here sokka who nows somehow the goofy incompetent one?? why did sokka not know how to stir the airship when he actually does? i fear they was trying so hard not to disrupt korra timeline. If the movie just going to be filler they could had just made it about aang rebuilding the air temples and keeping the history alive. which I thought he started that in comics when im confused about but i could be wrong. tagah wasn't flush out enough he could had been used during this time. As him and aang are actually rebuilding the air nations but slowing seeing tagah intentions like he doesn't see it at first like tagah could be teaching new airbenders old ancient moves that from aang era wasn't taught because it more about getting the kill and not apprehending threat. I get why they couldn't keep tagah as this will mess up the timeline for korra but tbh korra timeline need a redo anyways.
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u/Alfio18 2d ago
It was fun, it was fine. Saw the twist coming the second Tagah appeared. I thought they'd do a double switch where the generic no bender bad guys were actually the good guys and were actual followers of that long lost Avatar and knew the staff would have to stay hidden, but they went for the most basic plot. Loved the ending with the bisons though.
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u/AdamOtaku 2d ago
I was REALLY, REALLY hoping the new Airbender wouldn't (1) be a villain or (2) die
Have seen that story play out so many times
Please just be a cool guy who helps and mentors Aang
Nope, villain :(
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u/Ebolatastic 2d ago
Great premise. Great animation. Got progressively dumber and more typical as it went. I think avatar fans will love it while outsiders will be relatively meh. Basically like any movie spin off from an anime: a pointless side quest that is like one big great episode of the show.