Avatar: The Last Airbender
If you have not seen the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, I suggest you watch it. If you ever see a copy of M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, I suggest you throw it in a fire. So much from the show was ruined in that live action remake.
Recently, Netflix announced a live action reboot with the original creators saying the cast wont't be whitewashed and it will be what they always imagined this world to be cinematically.
Should I (we) be worried that Netflix will mess it up?
I don't know. I'm split. They can now see what went wrong in M. Night Shyamalan's version, but, in my opinion, the live action remakes aren't as good. I love the idea of bringing back such a prominent piece of my childhood, but does it have to be new?
Part of me sees all of these remakes as money-grabs. They aren't necessary, but they know the market is out there and that it is bigger than the original animation market.
The other side of me is dying to see a 'real life' version of Prince Zuko's firebending.
But this brings me back to the root of it all. We know element bending isn't real, but the screen will show otherwise. Real people doing things that are visually realistic. But really, is it just another type of animation on top of the live action performances? And one could argue live action is animation?
Is film even real? Why are we all here? What is the purpose of life?
Oh well, that's my time. Love to all.
Recently, Netflix announced a live action reboot with the original creators saying the cast wont't be whitewashed and it will be what they always imagined this world to be cinematically.
Should I (we) be worried that Netflix will mess it up?
I don't know. I'm split. They can now see what went wrong in M. Night Shyamalan's version, but, in my opinion, the live action remakes aren't as good. I love the idea of bringing back such a prominent piece of my childhood, but does it have to be new?
Part of me sees all of these remakes as money-grabs. They aren't necessary, but they know the market is out there and that it is bigger than the original animation market.
The other side of me is dying to see a 'real life' version of Prince Zuko's firebending.
But this brings me back to the root of it all. We know element bending isn't real, but the screen will show otherwise. Real people doing things that are visually realistic. But really, is it just another type of animation on top of the live action performances? And one could argue live action is animation?
Is film even real? Why are we all here? What is the purpose of life?
Oh well, that's my time. Love to all.
Avatar the Last Airbender was a huge part of my childhood and seeing how Netflix is attempting to make another live action rendition of it is definitely a bit concerning. We've seen several disasters that were created during the transition of animation to live action (This series being one of the worst), but then there are some other films that did a decent job in the changeover of cinematic mediums. Despite that, I don't think I can say that I enjoyed the live action remake of a movie more than its original animated counterpart. I don't know if its nostalgia, the drastic change in art styles or a different glance at a cast of characters, but its hard to beat the original animated substance for me personally.
ReplyDeleteAsking the important questions! It's definitely something that you should be worried about. We all secretly know the right answer. Live-action is almost never as good as the original. If you didn't see my post from last week about Mickey Mouse being live-action, I basically said he wouldn't have been as iconic if he was. Think about that, kids watching would immediately turn off the television because Mickey wouldn't be "cute". Anyway, I guess what I'm just trying to say is that live-action just doesn't do it for me.
ReplyDeleteOne of the hopes for this reboot that I have is that they are brining back the original creators of the show to help out behind the scenes and they wills (hopefully) keep everything on track and not let it become the level of disaster Shyamalan's was. regardless of how the story side turns out I will probably try to watch a few episode because I'm really interesting in seeing how they bring not only the element bending but some of the strange creatures of the world to life with animation.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually hopeful for the Netflix remake--given that it's the original creators and they don't want to whitewash the characters. I have no doubt that this Netflix version will be easily 10x better than M. Night Shyamalan's version. However, I share the same worry about just having the remake be a money grab. I also think that there's a possibility of the Netflix show being great and wonderfully done, but not sharing the same greatness as the animated show does with it being in live action. That being said, I have high hopes and plan to watch the remake regardless. I think that there's a lot that they could do to make the Netflix version animated in ways that the show was while still obviously having it be live action.
ReplyDeleteI agree that M. Night Shyamalan's recreation of the original series was a complete failure and extremely disrespectful to the original series. I also think that Netflix will definitely do better because of this and not only will they learn from the mistakes, but the technology has changed will not only make scenes look less weird in my opinion. I also think Netflix is doing a good thing by creating a live action recreation, because I think it would be awesome to see live performances of such an awesome series and story.
ReplyDeleteI am in love with Avatar, it's the definition of my child hood and one of the reasons I grew out my hair is so that I could be Sokka for Halloween. Yes, it is obvious that Netflix wants to make a live action version for the money, but I feel like in this case it is something that both the fans and the company desires. I understand that fans such as yourself are scared of another mess up like Shyamalan's live action version, but I truly don't think that Netflix can possibly mess up Avatar as bad as he did.
ReplyDeleteAnd also a side note, has anyone realized that whenever Shyamalan tries to make something outside of a horror or thriller movie it sucks?