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Avatar Aang Out of Balance

I’m a late millennial, so of course I have a connection to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Though while I was there when the pilot first aired on February 21st, 2005, I didn’t actually properly give the series a shot until early adulthood, where I was able to appreciate the show on a richer level than if I had encountered it first as a kid. Like everyone though I loved it for its breadth of creativity, distinct and appealing animation, archetypal though strongly defined characters, immense scope, and surprisingly nuanced thematic architecture for a hero’s journey narrative. I also loved its admittedly discombobulated sequel series The Legend of Korra, much more awkward than its predecessor in its weakest moments but more thrilling in its boldest.
The resurgence of the Avatar franchise in recent years as a signature artefact of 2000s nostalgia has felt rather shallow and not very interesting -mostly due to the cynical prominence of the live-action Netflix show I have no interest in watching and the fan culture around the franchise gradually seeming more insular in attitude. But a new movie, and an animated one at that, is an intriguing prospect. Especially if it can serve a function beyond fan service and mere lore expansion. These are times where those kind of priorities are rare but not unheard of, and Avatar has in the past not shied away from building out its world and themes rather than constraining them.
But sadly, I think Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender does a lot of the latter and fairly little of the former. Directed by Lauren Montgomery, a veteran animator on the franchise, the film is set roughly thirteen years after the end of the original series where Aang (Eric Nam), the titular Avatar and last airbender is a young adult in the process of building Republic City, a new world capital open to all nations. He is also investigating and gathering relics on the history of his lost people, concerned that the ways of the Air Nomads will die out. Encountering a terrorist cell of non-benders called the Denied and learning about a powerful ancient staff they seek that could grant airbending to anyone, Aang summons his friends Katara (Jessica Matten), Sokka (Román Zaragoza), Toph (Dionne Quon), and Zuko (Steven Yeun) to help find it himself, coming upon instead a thawed Air Nomad from centuries ago called Tagah (Dave Bautista) who shares Aang’s dream of reviving his culture.
If you’ve seen any episode of either show, it is probably pretty clear from the outset that Tagah is not quite the noble figure he initially presents as. And the movie certainly assumes you are familiar with the shows, refreshing the story of the series preceding it in broad strokes and presenting the characters (and places like the Air Temples and Republic City) with a built-in gravitas. It is full of references and in-jokes, and plays the characters, with a possible exception in Aang, as exactly the same in personality and disposition as they were on the show with no interest in expanding beyond that. Very starkly this is a movie for the fans -it even brings back Jeremy Zuckerman, the original composer, to hammer the point in with a score that is mostly made of motifs from the show.
Yet not a lot of the creativity or spirit from the show is on display in this movie’s story, which is rather mundane and unambitious. It is plotted out in a formula fashion to the graphic novels that came after the series, which functioned as self-contained adventures and minor lore extensions that were somewhat neat but largely inessential, and nowhere as dramatic as the heights the show had reached. Avatar Aang aims for some such heights, but the corrupting power of the central macguffin here never comes across seriously, in part because it is an obvious macguffin and there’s few real stakes for fans to be invested in -primarily because the fates of these characters and this world are set in stone by The Legend of Korra and other world-building ephemera. What doesn’t help is that the entire cast of characters apart from Aang and Tagah are noticeably thinly developed. It’s very weird for example to see Zuko, by far the most complex character of the series, fade into the background for stretches of this movie with no part in any major theme or conflict. Fan-favourite Toph is reduced to mostly some catchphrases and gimmicks, Sokka the inventive, wisecracking comic relief; even Katara fills little more than a doting love interest role for Aang. Each fulfills their function alright but are built for nothing more apart from that -they don’t get stand-out moments of emotional depth or independent arcs, and ‘Team Avatar’ comes off just a little dull as a result.
Tagah is more fascinating, especially as a study of the corrupting power of tyrannical social structure. His solution for revitalizing the Air Nomad culture after its genocide at the hands of the Fire Nation is to essentially manufacture a new society through this macguffin and become the next oppressors as vengeance. Aang of course, ever the monk, sees the path to peace differently, but the softening of his will and concentrating on his single-minded passion at the expense of his friends and other priorities is a strong character choice. The role that his backstory and guilt plays is noteworthy as well. Tagah poses a couple curious challenges to Aang’s philosophy, and while I wish the spirit world wasn’t used as the crutch towards his enlightenment as it is, it is an interesting thing to see grappled with. Tagah meanwhile, though loathsome, is relatively nuanced, his backstory as something of a false bender himself adding another interesting layer that ties in with the Denied and the subject of the role for non-benders in this world. Sadly none of these are followed to a satisfying conclusion. Tagah is mostly a by-the-numbers bad guy by the last act and the resolution with him is rather disappointing, while the Denied and their ideology is left on the back-burner, perhaps as mere predecessor to a theme that was slightly better explored in the first season of Korra. Aang’s arc winds up ultimately in the place it was originally set with little tangible difference once he arrives there.
One thing the movie does have going for it though is its animation. It is a new studio and a new style compared to what came before -Avatar always skirted close to anime in its aesthetics and this movie comes right up to that line. For fans it can be a bit jarring, but it works well enough at imparting new designs, and even better at relaying action. The franchise has become known for its action, which often uses forms and techniques of real martial arts and infuses them with colourful fantasy power to make for fun and spontaneous clashes. There are no shortage of them here, especially in how figures like Aang and Tagah use their powers -Aang’s famous Avatar State gets a few cameos, including one of some genuine intimidation. Though the action is not so inspired and thrilling as to distract from its own presence as a frequent diversion from more substantive storytelling. The film leans a little hard on it, and for some good reason -it is often the selling-point for the franchise and is quite well-articulated here. But I feel it is meant to override the deficiencies of the script.
It is good to see Avatar in animation again, if it must be revived at all. The new voice actors do a solid job if a little underutilized (especially so in Yeun’s case), and there is some of the show’s soul in this as well, especially in its ambitions to shape lore towards a theme. But the fruits of that are undeveloped and the drama is very mediocre. This plot would make for a decent enough graphic novel, but it feels like a waste for the franchise’s first feature film in sixteen years, and their first big project in more than a decade to be a new story. Heart and talent went into this movie, but not all the elements aligned.

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