4/10 I remember back in high school when this show debuted and many of my friends were obsessed with it. I may be about 15 years late to the party and perhaps if I would have watched this as a high schooler I would have loved it but as a grown adult in my early 30s, I have to say so far I am underwhelmed and disappointed. An interesting mix of adult themes but made for children, the show definitely has some awesome concepts and ideas but then the childish/anime aspects constantly took me out of the life and death drama. We get super cheesy sound effects, animation that is outdated, too many characters to keep track of and many standalone episodes that felt like filler to pad the season’s 20-episode count. As a patient and enthralled viewer when it comes to film and television, I found myself constantly distracted away from what was happening in the show as my mind would constantly wander, which almost never happens to me. I found myself not caring all that much and not excited to ever start a new episode. Aang is basically a Mary Sue and so powerful that I never felt like he and his friends were in any real danger. Sokka was extremely annoying and the Fire Nation seemed to have a chance at capturing Aang every other episode yet always failed spectacularly, adding to the low stakes of never feeling like Aang was ever in any serious trouble due to such an incompetent enemy. The show doesn’t get everything wrong, however. Luckily episodes had solid pacing and weren’t too long so the episodes went by fairly quickly. The voice cast is phenomenal with Aang in particular perfectly voiced by Zach Tyler. The overarching story was interesting and many of the fight/battle scenes were epic and well done. The music was strong and the use of each element was creative and a sight to behold. Many of the main characters had strong character development, which made them rich, layered characters. It is interesting to see Dave Filoni directing several episodes from season one early on in his career as now he has climbed the ranks at Disney/Lucasfilm to be working on “The Mandalorian” and other Star Wars properties over there. I can’t say I am looking forward to season two but hopefully with the first season being a hit, Nickelodeon had more money to put to use on the animation and hopefully the writers came up with some more interesting content for each episode to come. Time will tell but for now, I don’t see anything to pull in an adult audience.
#ProducedByLawrenceBender / #WeDidntStartTheFireWar / #MusicByEarthWind&Fire / #BlueAangClan / #DirectedByAangLee / #WeFoughtAZuko
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