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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
14
Mixed:
14
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews
iFeb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
This take is earnest and visually dazzling – the special effects add an extra whizz-bang thump to action, and fans who were concerned when the showrunners of the cartoon departed this production early can relax. The only downside is that it feels aimed, in the first instance, at pre-existing fans. Newcomers will have to catch up fast, but those who make the effort will be rewarded.
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Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
It’s easy to take small jabs at its shortcomings compared to the animated show. However, despite its imperfections, it still manages to make good on the sturdy bones of this tale, expressing the personal journeys wrapped up in this grandiose, world-threatening quest.
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Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
Criticisms – while valid – tend to melt away when the new Avatar hits its stride. The show doesn’t live up to the original in every way possible, but it's still a worthy adaptation that adds a textured richness to the lore. What’s most important is that it captures the spirit of the original while forging its own path
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IndieWireFeb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
The season opens strong and gains solid momentum before a weaker back half, but individual performances and breathtaking visuals keep things afloat. This “Avatar” might not be what people know, but the show is on its own heroic journey to realizing its full potential.
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Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
There is potential here. Drab visuals aside, the actual bending scenes are a vast improvement over Shyamalan’s version, and there’s a distinct thrill in watching characters lob fireballs, raise walls of solid rock, or freeze ocean waves into spiky shards of ice. The cast also elevates every conversation and fight scene, and the main kids seem just as comfortable grappling with heavy themes as they do executing a backflip.
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Jun 25, 2026
Season 2 Review:
As was the case last season, the script’s corny slapstick humor rarely lands, and unfortunately, the exposition is sometimes so obvious you could keep up with the plot watching from the corner of your eye as you scroll your phone. .... It’s entertaining, propulsive and a rich universe mined from source material that is some of television’s best and most creative. If you can forgive its flaws, it’s a decent summer binge.
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Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
Kids can forgive a lot and the sometimes-shaky effects work won’t detract from the story. But adults coming to this “Avatar” might be disappointed. From the performances (occasionally stunted and wooden young actors) to the general gee-whiz tone, “Avatar” is an OK but not amazing adaptation.
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Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
As these things go, this new Last Airbender is entertaining enough to work for newcomers to this world, and respectful enough to remind the cartoon’s fans why they loved that world in the first place. Most of all, it proves that this story can be told in live-action, provided the people involved have a much firmer grasp on the ideas than M. Night Shyamalan did.
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The TelegraphFeb 21, 2024
Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
The wealth of accessorizing that went into recreating “Avatar: The Last Airbender” isn’t the issue – it’s what’s missing, which is some of its spirit. That doesn’t mean it’s not watchable, but the amount of compromising between meeting high expectations and clearing the lowest of low bars is a ballast that would hinder any mission.
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EmpireFeb 22, 2024
SlashfilmFeb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
Despite its obvious good intentions, "Avatar: The Last Airbender" ultimately lets itself down through the most predictable of issues: a medium that doesn't fit the story, a wildly uneven grasp of pacing and tone, and a nagging sense of soullessness where the original's heart and spirit used to reside.
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Jun 25, 2026The Daily BeastFeb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
This adaptation’s writers are far more preoccupied with pandering to existing fans than they are with crafting distinctive and memorable ways for the show to communicate its do-or-die stakes. That problem isn’t helped by the show’s actors, who all do little more than recite their dialogue with striking amateurism.
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Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
If the effort is admirable, however, the execution is decidedly not. Rather than breathe fresh life into a familiar world, this Avatar serves only to remind that some beloved properties might be better left on ice. .... Avatar‘s most fundamental issues come down to clunky writing and correspondingly awkward performances.
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Feb 22, 2024
Season 1 Review:
While the show’s visuals and its Asian and Indigenous stars add authenticity to the series, the performances of the majority of the cast, no matter how earnest, don’t hold up to the weight of the narrative. .... Cheesy acting and some Disney Channel-like dialogue turn what could have been a resounding epic adventure into a whimpering thud.
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