Avatar Aang Movie!!

Hello dear reader.....Its finally here....the Avatar Aang film finally out! (Its BEEN out by the time this is published lol)

I have ...a lot of thoughts. And feelings. Mostly positive! 

If you want the short spoiler free answer, its a 10/10 beautiful film, the animation was fantastic and I loved the story. It felt like seeing your best friends after a long time of being apart. It was different yes, but for me, it was perfect. It was still Avatar and I was happy to be back with these characters and this world.

If you want my long summary/extended thoughts/spoilery review, read on! 

So this film picks up when the gang is around 21-25 years old. The premise is Aang as a young man is collecting remnants of the Air Nomads, when a violent non-bender extremist group called The Denied (perhaps an early iteration of the Equalists?) Steals an artifact from his collection. After speaking to his past lives to try to discover what they were after, he finds out about a "lost avatar" and her spirit staff that has the power give people Air Bending.

I LOVED this entire sequence. In the series thus far we really havent seen/heard of many Avatars further back than Avatar Szeto, the fire nation Avatar right before Yangchen. (Obviouslty not counting Wan lol) It was just cool to see and once again shows how long the Avatar lineage really goes. 

After learning of the lost avatar Sonam and her staff, Aang deduces the Denied are after the airbending staff. He sets out to the last known location of the lost avatar while Katara gets the band back together for another world trekking adventure. 

Now might be a good time to talk about character designs. 

Maybe its the recentcy bias but I think everyone looks perfect. No notes. Everyone in Team Avatar is exactly how I'd imagine them as adults! Zuko's long hair had me swooning I'm not gonna lie. He looked straight out of a shoujo anime. Everyone looks amazing. 

Another awesome thing about the film is we get to see NEW LOCATIONS! Its been a long time since we have gotten to see the world of avatar expanded upon and i loved all the new lore and new locations we see in this film! 

So Aang travels alone to the last known location of Avatar Sonam. 

He goes to this mountain (that is one of the most perilous environment I've seen so far in this world btw) where he expected to find the staff. Instead he finds Tagah, an Airbender from ancient times. He was a disciple of Sonam and tells Aang about some ancient Airbender history. I thought it was really cool getting to hear more about Airbender culture from the past. Air is my favorite element and its cool to learn more about its roots and about Avatar Sonam and her era. 

So Tagah claims he knows where the staff is, and agrees to take the gang and help Aang bring back Airbending. 

Tagah is a really interesting character too, his design is pretty cool. He reveals himself to have different morals and ethics than the group pretty early on. He seems to be very distrusting of the group other than Aang. In his time, he explains Air Nomads were mistreated by the rest of the elements, and he had fought in a war against the early Earth Kingdom. He agrees to take the gang to Sonum's staff after learning of the fate of the air nation. 

The group travels across the "Endless Ocean" on the other side of the world! So cool just imagining there's more to this world than just the 4 nations we already are familiar with. 

Tagah leads the way in the skies, and teaches Aang about the ancient air benders and even shows him some new Airbending moves! 

Airbending really is the coolest thing. It was really cool expanding upon what airbending can do. 

They traverse the Endless Ocean and brave the Immortal Storm, (another extremely perilous new feature of the world) and this is when we really start to question Tagah's motives. He's pushes Aang to leave the group behind in the storm, and they nearly crash.

This is probably one of the best sequences in the film, Aang and Tagah are flying through this insane storm airbending tornadoes away to "clear a path" and the rest of the gaang traverses through nearly crashing. Everyone gets their moment in this sequence but my hat goes of to Katara, who literally parts the fucking sea like Moses to stop the airship from crashing. 

They manage to survive and in the eye of the storm they find islands made up of a Lion Turtle graveyard. This is where Avatar Sonam hid her staff. 

By this point if you havent already caught on, Tagah clearly had other motives for bringing them here and being so reckless. 

Side Tangent:

Now, a lot of negative criticism i've seen online stems from the plot being "too predictable" or "formulaic" and while I dont disagree, I dont think that its necessarily a bad thing for this film to stick to a simpler plot.

This film broke a lot of new ground in the design and animation department but it didnt need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the story. 

Its only an hour and a half long. While I understand wanting things to be more complex, but there just isnt enough time to make it more complicated. For a lot of viewers this could very well be the first exposure to Avatar they've had since they watched the show on TV when it came out. It has to reintroduce the world and characters, and explain all the new lore and backstory. I dont think adding a complex villain or plot or whatever is really required for the experience to be enjoyable. 

What i think people really want when they say that, is that they want it to be a show again and continue in that way. And yes, even i admit i yearn for more time with the Aang Gang too. Who doesn't? But thats just not what this is....i think a lot of those people are valid in their opinions, but for me, the simple story was not an issue at all. 

Anyways. 

As you could likely see coming, Tagah turns on the group. He fights Katara and the others while Aang retrieves the staff none the wiser. 

The fight between the gang and Tagah was an amazing sequence! Most definitely one of my favorite sequences in the film, if not my most favorite. This scene perfectly shows our team fighting together at their peak! The combo moves are so bad ass. The hilight for me was definitely Sokka coming in with the assists, and his bad ass ice boomerang combo move with Katara. ~water tribe~

(By the way Katara couldn't blood bend here because there's no full moon, I'm tired of hearing that she should have just blood bended her way out of this.)

Tagah wields airbending in a dangerous way unlike anything the group has faced before and despite their best efforts, Tagah takes them out, unbeknownst to Aang. 

Aang retrieves the staff, just in time for Tagah to take it from him, revealing his true motives.

To restore the Air benders, and take out the rest of the world in the process. 

The twist we all saw coming, lol. Once again, this doesn't really bother me, but I can understand why some viewers may have disliked the more predictable plot beats. 

Another intense battle ensues, Tagah reveals to Aang his true motives, and that he took out the rest of Team Avatar. They are DEAD. D E A D.

Another one of my favorite Aang moments is his reaction to Tagah telling him his friends are gone. You can see how his entire world comes crashing down...his found family and the love of his life are gone. He goes into the avatar state in a rage and they fight. Its intense, but since Tagah is empowered by Sonam's staff he actually beats Aang. 

It is here that shit starts to get real. 

Tagah wins, and takes the staff, and steals Appa to escape.

Team Avatar is taken out, and the avatar is defeated. 

It is in this grief and shame that Aang is finally able to connect with Sonam. 

In this ethereal space, Aang desperately calls out for Katara, but no one responds...this moment is so raw and painful for Aang. 

Here is where I personally have to applaud Eric Nam's performance as Aang. I actually really like him as Aang, and his emotions really come through here for me. I felt Aang's despair in his voice. I felt his anguish when he called out for Katara. Just gut wrenching. I loved it.

It is in this despair that Sonam finally reveals herself to Aang and tells him about her era, the golden age of Air Bending, and the truth about Tagah. 

I loved Sonam, and am so intrigued by her time as the avatar in ancient times. Her design is soooo lovely and I am particularly obsessed with her glider. So cool to learn more about this world's lore and history of bending. Air has always been my favorite element so it's so cool to see it expanded upon in this way. 

She tells Aang of how Tagah was once her most devout student, and the first to be given air bending with the staff. When the Earth Kingdom began to form there was a lot of war and violence, and Tagah witnessed many of his comrades die. It is because of this trauma and bitterness that he wants to destroy the other nations. They battled, and she was able to seal him away in the mountains where nobody could find him. She soon after died from her injuries. 

Soon after, Aang starts to fucking reincarnate because he's also fucking dead. His spirit begins slipping away. The past Avatars flashing before him...he tries desperately to swim up, screaming that he isnt ready to die. This scene hurt me T-T once again I applaud Eric Nam as Aang, his performance is what really made these moments hit so hard!

But in the distance, Aang begins to hear Katara's voice. She pulls him back, literally bringing him back from the dead for the 2nd or 3rd time??? Katara is seriously the greatest waterbender of all time. 

Cause turns out AFTER EVERYONE DIED KATARA BROUGHT ALL OF THEM BACK FROM THE DEAD WITH HER HEALING. Absolutely fucking awesome. 

I also am not trying to gloss over all the Kataang moments happening too, but trust I am seeing them and I am loving it. If you know me you know I am a devout Kataang shipper, they belong together and nobody can tell me otherwise. 

So the team is alive thanks to the best water bender to ever live, and they are now stranded at the lion turtle graveyard. Sokka had had a few good moments, including this one where he explains the diar situation the team is with all the drama m he can muster. I love the anime-esq Jojo style cut aways they give Sokka. Sokka is also an amazing OG character and I do wish he had more going on during this film. I am happy with the moments we got, though i was left just wanting more. (You could say that about everyone, I love them all so much and everyone deserves their own solo movie tbh.)

The team doesn't give up though, and thanks to the amazingly animated Ocean Spirit opening a portal, the squad is able to get into the spirit world to try to get to Sonam's temple. 

The spirit world sequence is so fun, its trippy and absurd which is how I like my spirit world. Everyone takes a different form temporarily, Aang and Sokka are kids again, Toph is a baby, Zuko amd Katara are old people. And of course Momo is judt a disembodied head with a tail. Idk how to explain it but it just makes sense. 

They see Sonam's temple from a distance and a massive spirit creature comes down from the temple while fleeing the chaos Tagah had started. One of my favorite jokes happen here, those who get it, get it. 

After some brief shenanigans and Momo's excellent negotiation skills, the spirit helps them get to Sonam's temple. The team reverts back to their regular selves and they get ready to face Tagah. 

Meanwhile, Tagah has taken Appa and joined up with the Denied. They are headed to Republic City to bring back the temple and destroy the world. 

Skipping ahead a little bit, the team ambushed Tagah as the temple begins to descend onto the city. It is then revealed that Tagah did not come unprepared, and the Denied show up to back him up with their new Airbending skills. Thats right, Tagah used the staff to give the Denied airbending! The gang separates to fight and protect the city while Aang takes on Tagah. 

The final fight goes crazy, every member of the team has a moment, even Sokka who uses his flying bicycle machine to catch Tagah's cronies off guard. My favorite moment from their side of the fight though is Zuko launching himself through the air to save Toph from being slammed to the ground right before Sokka steps in. Awesome. 

The contriversial part of the final fight is crazy enough Aang vs. Tagah. 

Both of them get a Super Saiyan transformation which is what has been polarizing for a lot of viewers. 

A lot of people didnt like it. 

However, I am not one of those people.

Final Form Aang to me, was so bad ass. I loved that in this scene Avatar truly felt like an anime, which they creators themselves have said it was always meant to be a love letter to anime. Aang's final form was intense, even more so than his final form in the show. 

Radiating with spirit energy after getting the staff from Tagah, Aang is nearly consumed by his hatred for what Tagah's done to their legacy as Air Nomads. His grief for what could have been pushes him to nearly end Tagah himself--until he is reminded of what Monk Gyatso taught him as a boy.

Ultimately Aang chooses to give up the possibility of bringing back air benders, and breaks Sonam's staff. Doing do stops the carnage, and the Denied all lose their newly acquired bending. Tagah's vengeance is calmed, and in a beautiful moment between the two, they say their final goodbyes before Tagah fades away with everything else. 

"Air Nomads are formed from the mist. We walk the world for a moment in time, then return to the eternal wind"

Despite everything, Tagah was still his brother. And he too returned to the mist with their fallen Nomads. 

The day is saved. 

The film ends with Katara and Aang promising to build the first new air temple in over 100 years on a small island outside of Republic City! (What would become Air temple island from Korra!)

He chooses to continue to honor his people by spreading their teachings to anyone willing to learn, and starts the Air Acolytes! 

The group travels to a secret location shared by Avatar Sonam to Aang, and we get the best reveal...a herd of Sky Bison! The Sky Bison arent extinct! 

I was brought to tears by this revelation. Seeing Appa fly over after seeing other Bison was soooo sweet. It's a beautiful representation of the Air Nation's legacy--Air Benders aren't all gone. The Sky Bison live on! 

And....roll credits. 

We then we get a series of beautiful epilogue images showing the gaang dancing, and enjoying life to the most BEAUTIFUL SONG in the film. 

This film made me feel so many things. It felt like such a beautiful way to bring back these characters and honor their legacy with such a great work of animation. This is what ATLA was to me as a kid, and now as an adult it still hits just as hard. 

Maybe i am biased because ATLA is one of my favorite pieces of fiction of all time. And for me, thats just ok. 

I absolutely loved the film and all the things it made me feel. I highly recommend watching it when you get the chance especially if you are a fan of the original show, and a fan of animation as an art form. 

I personally couldnt be much happier with the film, the wait was very worth it. I never looked at any of the leaks, and chose to wait for the official release and i am so glad I did. This film deserved to be in theaters across the world, you can tell this epic experience was meant for the big screen. 

And now we just have a couple more months until we meet our next Avatar, Pavi in Seven Havens. You know I'll be watching on release! I cant wait to see what Avatar Studios is cooking up for us next. 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make more ATLA films about the Aang Gang! I would watch EVERYTHING! 

Thank you for reading this far if you did! It took me so long to post this cause I had so many thoughts. I started writing this post the day the film launched lol. Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading! Let me know what you thought of the Aang movie. 

Best, 

-E