Nic Jones (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nicwrites) wrote,@ 2009-01-12 19:55:00 |
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Avatar: The Last Airbender
Little Miss and I have worked our way through Avatar: The Last Airbender.
And it's good. Damn good. I like it as much as I like Kim Possible and Samurai Jack. I think Samurai Jack was better-written but it got cancelled abruptly and doesn't have a good, solid conclusion like Avatar has.
An over-arching storyline is not something often found in cartoons for kids. There's the weekly need to have everything basically back as it was at the start of the episode for the next so they can be watched in reasonably random order. This particular limitation hampers Avatar a little, but you can tell the writing is pushing for something more substantial.
The plot is pretty good. Lots of adventures and traipsing about the planet meeting new characters. The weaknesses begin to show in the characterisation, especially motivations. Bad guys are basically just evil for the sake of it, and because this is a kids' show, no truly evil behaviour is ever shown.
The is also what leads me to be a bit disappointed in how things end. One bad guy gets deus-ex-machina'd, and the other one just goes crazy for no reason. The big bad guys were disappointingly two-dimensional, but there were some genuinely creepy nasties. Early on there's a spirit that steals faces, and later we are introduced to the blood-bending skill.
There are a lot of relationships in this show. Some of them work and some of them don't. Sokka's are generally well-written. Zuko/Mai is disturbingly thrown together. I was disappointed with Aang/Katara - Katara's ever-fluctuating mood left me dizzy.
Iroh is a fantastic character, and was suburbly voiced by Mako until, tragically, cancer got him while they were making season 2. Iroh's role in season 3 was greatly limited but Greg Baldwin did a passable job filling in the voice where needed.
The show has really strong light-hearted moments, many carried by Iroh. Mix-and-match animals always had me giggling. Aang is an effortlessly likeable character. The comedy is generally excellent. That said, some of the jokes fall hard on Sokka's dignity - he's the Zeppo, but unlike Xander, never gets his "That's it! I'm done with being everybody's buttmonkey!" moment. This was a major sticking point for me as I watched the show. I just couldn't believe that Sokka wouldn't have spit the dummy. He was meant to be building his pride, dignity and becoming a man, but he is constantly the butt of jokes.
So over-all, I'd say Avatar had good bits and bad bits but it all adds up to a pretty good show. Highly recommended. 12NAULS
Little Miss and I have worked our way through Avatar: The Last Airbender.
And it's good. Damn good. I like it as much as I like Kim Possible and Samurai Jack. I think Samurai Jack was better-written but it got cancelled abruptly and doesn't have a good, solid conclusion like Avatar has.
An over-arching storyline is not something often found in cartoons for kids. There's the weekly need to have everything basically back as it was at the start of the episode for the next so they can be watched in reasonably random order. This particular limitation hampers Avatar a little, but you can tell the writing is pushing for something more substantial.
The plot is pretty good. Lots of adventures and traipsing about the planet meeting new characters. The weaknesses begin to show in the characterisation, especially motivations. Bad guys are basically just evil for the sake of it, and because this is a kids' show, no truly evil behaviour is ever shown.
The is also what leads me to be a bit disappointed in how things end. One bad guy gets deus-ex-machina'd, and the other one just goes crazy for no reason. The big bad guys were disappointingly two-dimensional, but there were some genuinely creepy nasties. Early on there's a spirit that steals faces, and later we are introduced to the blood-bending skill.
There are a lot of relationships in this show. Some of them work and some of them don't. Sokka's are generally well-written. Zuko/Mai is disturbingly thrown together. I was disappointed with Aang/Katara - Katara's ever-fluctuating mood left me dizzy.
Iroh is a fantastic character, and was suburbly voiced by Mako until, tragically, cancer got him while they were making season 2. Iroh's role in season 3 was greatly limited but Greg Baldwin did a passable job filling in the voice where needed.
The show has really strong light-hearted moments, many carried by Iroh. Mix-and-match animals always had me giggling. Aang is an effortlessly likeable character. The comedy is generally excellent. That said, some of the jokes fall hard on Sokka's dignity - he's the Zeppo, but unlike Xander, never gets his "That's it! I'm done with being everybody's buttmonkey!" moment. This was a major sticking point for me as I watched the show. I just couldn't believe that Sokka wouldn't have spit the dummy. He was meant to be building his pride, dignity and becoming a man, but he is constantly the butt of jokes.
So over-all, I'd say Avatar had good bits and bad bits but it all adds up to a pretty good show. Highly recommended. 12NAULS