The Real Avatar

Slowly, over several months, I've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. (The easy line here is that someone should make a good movie out of it (as it hasn't happened yet), but...)

This works excellently as a series. Fine, yes, it takes longer to watch, however it is worth it. The arc slowly develops, we get some nice filler pieces as well as plot development, and there is plenty of time to establish characters (as opposed to caricatures in the movie). And... it's just so much more fun! The movie was a dreary piece, whereas the tv series is a lot more light-hearted and keeps the serious moments for dramatically appropriate places. There's a good build up over time and, best of all, there is a great pay off to be had after three seasons.

Also good voice acting as well. Characters are nicely different (although I spotted more than one use of Rene Auberjonois) and production keeps the voices clean and clearly audible.

This is a fantastic story and very enjoyable. Leave it as a tv series. Yes, you could make it into a movie, but it works perfectly the way it is.

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