I tried to watch Netflix's Avatar... 

Katara is supposed to be nurturing, and caring, but also short tempered and a sore looser. In this she was just... Docile.

fun fact: the cabbage guy is the same actor as the original voice actor for the cabbage guy

The amount of times they completely failed the “show not tell” golden rule is mind boggling. How do you get a writers job for a Netflix show and still be making these mistakes. It’s a mystery.

Honestly, the worst change is Aang’s backstory. The whole point of “The Storm” is that Aang and Zuko have juxtaposed backstories. Our “good guy” is here because he did something bad, and our “bad guy” is here because he did something good. The guilt Aang feels about running away is a huge part of his character, taking that away by making it an accident honestly ruins his character for me.

The fact that the show tries to remake the avatar and make it more mature but it somehow ends up being less mature and less nuanced than the original show, which is animated and has more limitations when it comes to its rating and wow some of the acting is so bland and boring.

Slightly better than the movie. We're improving. Maybe by the year 3000 will get a worthy adaptation we still don't need.

When the original creators LEAVE the project, you know it’s gonna be bad.

Natalie is so real for this title😭

Its funny that sokka's actor is so similar to Sokka when seeing videos of him with the cast that feels more team avatar than this series XD

If they want to do a live action, they should've just made a spin-off instead. This universe is full of possibilities and stories. There's no need to try and retell a story that's already near perfect.

You didn't even get to the bumi interaction 😂😂 thank you for not reacting to that horrible portrayal of bumi

Suki going after Sokka was straight up pointless and kinda gross 🤢. That's not the real Suki

The original Avatar series has a quote that perfectly sums up this adaptation: “That… wasn’t a good show. I’ll say. No kidding. Horrible. You said it. But the effects were decent.”

I never related to Natalie so much as watching her grow frustrated with this remake. Honestly, really happy that you posted it. I made it to the end of episode 6... Not watching any further and not coming back for seasons 2 and 3.

I'm not surprised at all that Nat couldn't finish this show lol

The fact that they took a show that is so deep, so sophisticated, mature and powerful and made it so plain, so dull, so unremarkable and unsophisticated makes me honestly worried about the standard of entertainment for now and the future, they think young people don’t need more than this.

Its crazy how you can take something that is literally laid out entirely for you, completely screw it up, and then sit there and look at it and go "Nailed it!" We are so starved for good tv and entertainment we don't even know what's good or bad anymore. Yes its better than the movie but dude, that bar was under the ocean it was so low. Of course its better. This show doesn't touch the cartoon though. Not even close. There's 1 good thing for every 20 terrible things.

“I don’t want the same story told over and over again in a slightly different way. It’s boring to me.” Amen!!! 👏🏼

Every time you said “Katara is giving me NOTHING” I just can’t stop laughing 😂 this show needed a better director to work with these kids, Pretty girl but she just had bland face the whole time like she’s talking to koh the face stealer

Studios need to realize that ‘If it ain’t broke, it doesn’t need a live action adaptation’ when it comes to beloved IPs

The amount of handholdy exposition in this show feels like it was made for people missing the chunk of brain matter that makes memory possible

Some One Piece fans hated the live action but it’s honestly more well received by everyone in general compared to Avatar Live action😂😂

"the bending is already better than in the movie" with the fucking rock floating slowly behind you, i can't lmao

People don't understand that all the hate is not because they retold the story completely differently, and we want a one-to-one remake or anything like that. It's because it has horrible directing and timing, and so much monologue. Natalie nailed it in this review when she mentioned peoples lines just falling flat and not expressing the emotions they should.

Im so glad you posted this reaction. It is really validating seeing a reaction like this bc watching this show was really frustrating, so thank you for posting even though you are not going to finish

One of the things that frustrates me so much is completely erasing literally all of Katara's struggles with learning waterbending. Yes, they make her a master by the end of Season 1 to continue with the story and not have the characters tied in the Northern Water Tribe for so long, but by that point we've seen Katara struggle to learn waterbending on numerous occasions, and there's an entire episode dedicated to her literally breaking the law to get the waterbending scroll. Her struggling with bending shows us another layered aspect to Katara, the pressure to learn bending and her drive to do so. It shows that despite being nurturing and kind and the mature one, she can get petty and a bit mean, shown when she gets short with Aang when he's naturally good at waterbending. Negating all of her struggles simplifies her character and just makes her immediately good without any sort of character growth

I think what this show did best was building the relationship with Zuko and Iroh. The funeral wake scene and the 41st Division were such good additions.

So tickled by the amount of times Natalie correctly identifies a change but questions her entire reality because of it

I just realized I missed angry Katara🥹

One thing I appreciated about Shadow and Bone is there was no expositional voice over. Everything about the world is only revealed as it comes up naturally in the characters' dialogue, so you really had to pay attention.

Yeah, I don't really trust reactors who don't dislike stuff. Maybe it's because I never watched ATLA stuff, but if anything, you not continueing here makes me more excited for everything else.

We all knew it was going to be a disaster when the original creators dipped.

(Camerons opinion aside) I think the main difference between this and the One Piece live action is that the original creators walked away from this show, as opposed to Eiichiro Oda who worked with the OPLA crew and handpicked the cast.

Nat's awkward glances at the camera are hilarious 😂

I'm glad that you posted your reaction anyway. Your insights into why something doesn't work is just as (or more) interesting as why something does.

"i basically want to dress like a water bender, live in the earth kingdom and bend like a airbender" sooo basically korra at the end of season 1.

You're the first person I've seen who was as annoyed with the music as I was. Throughout the entire show it felt like it was trying to drag my emotions into something, while what was actually happening was bland and dull.

I hate how they seemingly went out of their way to disrespect Roku in this. Minimized his role, gave it to Kyoshi, made him act like a clown, etc.

I liked this show when I first watched it, but the more I have thought about it, the less I like it in hindsight. Every single character is poorly written. Aang straight-up monologues at the camera multiple times in multiple different episodes to tell the audience how he's feeling, every episode he says "I don't know what I'm doing," and then turns around and does everything perfectly and knows exactly what he needs to do, and his dialog is nothing like how a child would speak. He sounds like he spent twelve years as an English teacher, not 12 years ALIVE. Bumi is a travesty, that shit was done so poorly it's genuinely difficult to watch. I get what they were going for, but for fuck's sake, at least do it well. Most of Sokka's big moments are either dumbed down or given to Katara, and even then, Katara is still bland. This is the biggest problem; none of the main trio have ANY growing to do, AT ALL. They're all flawless, they make no mistakes and don't need to change in any way. Wow, really interesting characters you got there guys, great job :/. Zuko in the cartoon was over the top in a good way, in this he's over the top in a bad way. He spits every corny line through clenched teeth and comes across more like a toddler throwing a tantrum rather than a teen with genuine trauma. Iroh is the only decent character and even then he's wooden, stale, doesn't have any of the fun-loving aspects that made him great in the cartoon. Most of his lines aren't even wise, they're just "hey, here's the obvious thing you should do." There's only two things I actually still like about this version; when they made the division Zuko saved be the crew of his ship. I saw that and went "Oh, that's a nice addition." The other is the scene with Lu Ten's funeral. That was very touching. Other than that, it's just... yikes. This show did not care about the source material, or its audience; it wanted to be flashy and look cool so that Netflix could show off their CGI teams.

You got exactly as far as I did, and I had the same reaction, "I just don't want to watch this anymore."

my main problem is they were trying to be a "better" version of the cartoon without knowing what made the cartoon so great in the first place, all the world building and slow burn is lost also yes theyre mixing episodes (poorly) I hate the change to Bumi's personality Also it being slightly better than the movie is a reason i hate people defending the bad parts of this show because it was so boring to sit through in its entirety personally

One of the things that was really lost in the live action vs the animated version is the comedy. I think a big part of that is the sound effects. Adding sound effects to a cartoon to portray comedy is needed, as you can't rely on the actors to do that. In the live action, the actors are doing such a poor job of portraying the comedic aspect. Losing the fun of the animated version and replacing it with forced drama really makes this show fall short. Still, it's a million times better than the movie.

I do think Nat would love One Piece live action

natalie's honesty is what keeps me watching this channel.

I had too turn it off after Katara blocked a fireball in the first episode. Like she couldn’t even catch a fish in the first episode, she barely knew how too bend. She somehow manages too block a fire ball? I had too turn it off 😂

I really appreciate her honesty in this. She's not enjoying and decides to not finish. I did the same thing I couldn't get into it after episode 2.

Thank you Natalie. I was so sick of watching reactions making excuses for this, it's like if you have to make excuses for something, that means it's NOT GOOD. Just say a thing is a thing.

I like how Nat basically described Korra when she was talking about dressing like a waterbender, bending air and living in Earth Kingdom))

Thank you. 💕 there’s so many people that are so about the Live Action and I do not know how they can even come up with the cope excuse of “it’s an adaption” or “if you wanted a carbon copy of the anime just go watch that then”. The copium is intense.

I felt entirely the same about the show. I had to force myself to keep watching because there were so many things that just rubbed me the wrong way. And what's the point if you can't enjoy it.

This show had so much potential, but it's just disappointing. It's not terrible, and standalone its OKAY. But it could have been so much more

Netflix has invited you to Lake Laogai 😂

Nat, please watch the Live action One Piece. It's really good and I think you would like it!

I think these videos are really important to post. I know most reactors don't want to put up bad reviews and some will pander or find good things to say about content they don't like. This take lets everyone know you're honest and it makes the 'good' reviews that much better. Great job!

I've...already divorced myself from future seasons. I'll just stick with the animated show or whatever the OG creators come up with...

This story will never work without those rpg elements, the side quests and misadventures are how we see team avatar really grows and become a family. You take that away and you're left with a shell of what it really is.

i had not watched any one piece before the live action and really enjoyed it without any prior knowledge of anything about the original show

Thanks Natalie for being honest. I like how you present criticism in the most polite way, without trashing on the hard working production team and cast. I liked the performances of Zuko, Azula and Zhao the most, and the bending FX were cool. Everything else not my cup of tea.

The lack of soul in Netflix original series and adaptations are tiring at this point

I hope someday Natalie start to watch One Piece its a long journey but i think she may enjoy it very much, i dont know may she just drops it at 2 episode 😂😂

There were a lot of people saying this show is actually showing respect for the source material and I literally never got those vibes at all. Netflix showed no respect to the creators of the show while they were working together, they promised the creators they would have control but never accepted any criticism or changes from them, ultimately making both creators leave the project in 2020. That is not respecting the source material or their creators. (They luckily formed their own studio and are creating a ton of new Avatar content and im so happy for them) The other thing that I hated was that the Sokka actor lied about his heritage just to get the role. Naither him nor Netflix even acknowledge it when it came to light, it was even before filming started. It really is sad to see how this adaptation went when it could've been such a good thing, Netflix does not deserve any of the support from the Avatar community. It really is sad to see how this adaptation went, what it was built on, when it could've been such a good thing. Its just sad this adaptation happened the way that it did.

There's one good little change/addition in the Netflix show (SPOILER): Zuko's crew are the soldiers that where supposed to be sacrificed in a military tactic (which was what Zuko objected to, which ultimately led to his banishment). Other than that the animated show is purely better.

Watch the Live Action One Piece instead!!!! (Bro like this so she can see it)

When the show does its own thing, it is excellent. When it tries to be like the cartoon, you can tell, and it's always a bit weird.

You should do One Piece. They knocked it out the park.

I “tried” to watch 😂😂😂

Zhou's acting and charisma, and Zuko and Iroh's relationship are the major highlights of this series that kept me engaged and watching. Everything else is okay, but overall a pretty fun watch, since I didn't remember the original series.

omg, please watch the one piece adaptation. i watched the first episode, then went and watched 100 episodes of the anime and then finished the live action and i loved it! made me a fan of one piece in general and the original creator was involved every step of the way and it shows in the quality

You're very real for this review. It took me so long to finish the series after its release. I had to stop in the middle of some episodes and come back after cringing so hard. The only reason I pushed through it was because of my friends and family who spoke highly of it (they have never seen the animated show). However, I think if they were going to remake a show like this, they need to cater it to the original audience. The only high budget aspect from the show was the look of the bending, everything else was disappointing coming from Netflix. The wardrobe didn't look handmade, nothing from that time period should look perfectly made. The acting and writing was just the biggest take away for me that really pulled me out from the world. Instead of saying, "OMG THAT'S IT??" at the end of each episode, I was left looking to see how much longer I had to endure it. I will be watching the rest of the series with hopes of improvement, but mainly just to show support for one of my favorite shows... I can't say I will enjoy doing so.

you know youve done a bad job, when the Ember Island Players represented the story better than your multi-million dollar production

Shout out to the editor floating a rock behind your head when you said the effects were better than the M. Knight version.

I would just like to point out that they didn't need to save time. The first season of the cartoon has 20 episodes of 23 minutes each, which is less than 8 hours, and the live action has 8 episodes of around an hour each, which is 8 hours. (And they even decided to put things from other seasons for some reason)

I really don't have anything against this show. I don't really have anything against the idea of a live-action version. I just don't feel like watching it. If other people enjoy it, that's great.

Natalie, you should watch the One Piece Live-Action show. I apologize to your editor, but I enjoyed the show and I found it to be a good show, or at least a good introduction to the anime. If you're more comfortable with it, you can just watch the first two episodes and then decide whether watching the rest of the show is worth your time.

I have minor issues with the OPLA and I think you’ll have the same gripes you had with the acting with the the Avatar one but a lil bit less since I do think the acting a lil bit better but I do suggest giving the OPLA a try

I appreciate that you knew when to stop. I forced myself to watch the whole thing in the foolish hope it would somehow get better (and I was watching it with my mom), but we were both bored as hell. Like you said, art is subjective and I understand how some people like or even love this. But I’m in your camp. It’s not bad, it’s not horrible. But it’s so unbelievably whatever. So thanks for your honesty. And you really didn’t miss anything by tapping out. In fact, I believe you saved yourself from a ton of frustration.

I'd recommend the One Piece live action. A much better adaptation from Netflix.

IMHO, the only good change in the whole series is the connection they added between Zuko and his crew. That was pretty cool.

ironically, sokka is my fave in this. i don't like aang or katara here. they are so mischaracterized.

The worst part of the show is the fact that the only reason Netflix had this IP is because the creators of ATLA finally thought that they could make a live-action adaptation after the movie, and in 2018 this show was announced and we were all excited for it because both creators even said that their idea was to make essentially the same show, but they wanted to add in scenes that were cut from the original show and new things that they could add after having finished the original show and Korra and stuff. That way there would be more threads that weaved together the seasons better than they had during the originally show. And that would have been great. And Netflix initially said, in a public statement, that they would honor Mike and Bryan's creative choices and the direction they wanted the show to go in. But by Summer 2020 they both realized that their voices weren't being heard, and they probably wouldn't be even if they stayed with the show, so they left the project. They posted a public letter talking about it. They also didn't like some of the interactions at Netflix, and they didn't like the direction that Netflix wanted the show to go in. So, what was originally supposed to be the creators having hope for doing live-action the way they had wanted to became a worst nightmare scenario. Netflix also hired 5 showrunners to replace Mike and Bryan and that does show. And they are all fan of the original show, but there's only so much a fan can do in editing a show's narrative before things get messed up. I don't blame the actors or the writers or the rest of the crew, I fully blame Netflix for essentially tricking and literally betraying Mike and Bryan. But yeah, I didn't hate the show, but there were many more negatives than positives for me. And I absolutely hate that I have to say that I don't think I'll ever do a rewatch (even before season's 2 and 3 come out) because every time I watch it (or watch reaction videos of the episodes), I get heated about the unnecessary changes that were made. You hit the nail on the head with that comment you said about them making small changes for no reason. I would also add that because they were fans making the show, and not the creators, they didn't know how to rearrange the narrative structure properly in a way that wouldn't damage the narrative of the show. A lot of the time the changes that were made seemed to have been made simply to make changes or to adjust from other changes having been made. Mike and Bryan wanted this show to have been supplemental to the original show and I had a sliver of hope for that, but really, the moment they posted that open letter about leaving the show, I already knew that I would be disappointed even if I didn't know to what degree. I just hate that Mike and Bryan were ready to trust again with this happening and Netflix screwed them over, I'd say arguably more-so than the movie did since they were never really involved with that at all. The positives I had were the extra scenes that were added in like the beginning stuff at the air temple and some other stuff that you didn't get to yet. I was fine with them since I felt they added to the narrative. I also enjoyed the score, but like you said, they used that quite a lot to make scenes hit harder. I loved the costumes and the effects were good. And I did genuinely enjoy seeing these characters in live-action, everything else just fell flat. And I really just hate that I feel like that. I hate that I don't feel like I'll ever watch this again. I still will watch seasons 2 and 3 when they come, but if things haven't changed at that point, I probably won't ever watch this entire show more than once, and that just sucks to say. It's just weird that the One Piece adaptation was so good and this wasn't. And I say that because for OP, they had the creator of the anime as a consultant, and he would be given scripts and would say things like oh this characters wouldn't say that or do that, and adjustments were made. That's why ever though it was also cut up (though at least it was mostly chronological), the heart of each character was accurate. So, I felt the heart of the show shine through. And that show was announced in 2017, so it's weird that Netflix decided to work with the creator for OP and then later decided to ignore the creators for ATLA. This ATLA show shouldn't have been so polarizing, and I fully blame Netflix for being horrible to the creators.

I watch shows with the mentality of get what good you can get from them and ignore the rest, because you will forget anyway. This show overall was not good. However, there are really really good moments and good changes even if they are very few (yes, not every decision they made with the story was bad). And I am grateful for them. If NATLA didn't exist, I wouldn't have those. For example, when I re-watch og series in the future, I will always remember the Zuko's crew being 41st division story in the storm episode. I will remember Lu Ten's funeral when I watch Tales of Ba Sing Sei episode. But I won't remember Katara's character being bad in NATLA. Or I won't remember Bumi being bitter. Those were just bad changes. So, what's the end result? At Worst, NATLA improved my rewatch of the original series. At best, it gave me some entertainment.

I think a problem with people and this show is that this is an adaptation of the first season and some people are comparing this version to the whole of ATLA. I asked my roommate who just rewatched the whole show with his GF 4 months ago, about how memorable the first season was compared to the other 2. He could only remember the big moments from it. The first season of ATLA is a 7.5/10 at best. Many of the episodes can be smushed together because they only have tiny details that help the overall plot and many of the episodes had specific themes to guide children who watched. Its because S2 and S3 take things into overdrive that make up for the shortcomings of S1 when you look at ATLA as a whole. Not saying this is the same for everyone but when I explained this to my roommate he was able to enjoy the show a lot more.

Yes, I agree with the line delivery. Some of the actors are a great deal MORE natural. You can actually tell because you can actually SEE when certain actors are waiting for their cues after saying a line or waiting to say a line. They're aren't exactly interacting so much as "just reading lines." Aang personally for me has that same feel that many child actors have. Especially the ones on kids' shows like "I Carly" and all those Disney or Nickelodean shows where they KNOW they've said something funny and are waiting for the laugh track to be added in, or they play their acting or expression REALLY BIG as if anticipating a crowd reaction before continuing. Andrew Garfield has that kind of moment when he steps out of the portal. lol. He plays that as if he was in front of a live audience and waiting for the crowd to finish cheering; whereas Toby just kind of steps through looking confused, but it's very subtle; as if he's thinking "Huh, okay that just happened."

Agents of SHIELD is one of the very best Marvel shows ever made. They take the time with their characters and little corner of the MCU. They show, They don't tell, unlike Netflix's Avatar remake. I think you'll really come to love it, and be weeping with tears of joy by the end of the show. Take care and enjoy!!

I enjoyed it despite the comparisons to the animated.. sure they didn’t have the day to day growth on the original series it was but it was decent and may improve the next seasons

It's so bizarre to me that the writing is the weakest part of the Netflix adaptation. The costumes and hair/makeup are precise to the original series, the child actors do a decent job (given what they have to work with), but the writing simply isn't very good. And the worst of it came from changes that they didn't need to make! I agree that it's not a bad show, but compared to the gem that IS the original series, it feels like a huge disappointment.

I really enjoyed the Netflix series so far. Not that it's the best anime series adaptation, but for what it just is. A Netflix series about the avatar. If you start to hardcore compare it with the animated series, any real-life series will lose. I did not try to expect and compare that much. Then I had a fun time watching it.

I got excited too soon. I wondered when Nat gonna react to this adaptation, since she enjoyed the original series, the result take me by surprise, and I here for it. I watch the whole series and realise it was so not special and uninspiring but visuals were good. Didn’t enjoy changes and choices creators did, and dialogues and directing over all was surface level. Totally not necessary piece of media, I’m glad Nat give it a try tho, I’m thankful)

Jesus Nat thank you for honestly reviewing this garbage ! I have seen to many youtubers forcefully praising this show , it felt like they were paid to talk good about it and didn't actually mean any of the positive comments .. so called "fans" of the original praising the netflix reboot as a masterpiece ?!?! Like excuse me ?!!? It does not matter if one person has seen the original before or not.. the neflix reboot is just boring and cringe to watch. The boring 100 times exposition , explaining one things 10000 times as if the audience is brain dead, the out of place musik, weird frickin diologue, and again I repeat myself just frickin boring to watch !!!! Everybody I know has checked out this series by the 3rd episode and nobody wanted to endure this garbage anymore. If anything this reboot has accomplished that people wanted to just watch the original again and have good time 😂

It’s about this girl that becomes half vampire on her 13th birthday and discovers incredible abilities. I think there are 2 seasons.

I felt the same way and stopped watching around the third episode too. I have no hate or ill will towards the actors. There are moments I appreciated, and some of the additions I've seen I think were good. The writing just wasn't strong. There are a lot of things that I have complaints about - the lack of relationship building between our main characters, Aang's lack of bending, a lot of the clunky "telling", and especially the way Aang's "running away" plot line was handled. like you said, this adaptation wasn't for me. I still love and will continue to rewatch the original!

am so glad you were able to judge the show as honest as you were. I couldn't make it past the second episode. for almost the same reasons you gave.

my biggest problem (not only lul) is that they didn’t spend ANY time with the gaang just hanging out. like-- by the end of the season i don’t even know why they’re “friends”. they Literally do not know eachother

I guess I just have to watch the animated series 300 more times

For me i loved the live action show because im not comparing it with cartoon 20 episodes just so excited for next season they did a good job

Saying it's better than the movie isn't much

I dont know 1 person who ACTUALLY wanted a live action... literally everyone and their mother just wants animated series/ movies

Once the og creators left the project over creative differences, it was doomed to fail. Not a single change was an improvement.

I think the show is way better than the Movie since y'know, I don't feel physical Pain watching it. It is just soooo boring and shallow compared to the animated series. And making the last airbender boring is a crime. The only thing I liked about the show is some of the casting like Aang(hope his back doesn't hurt from carrying the show), and Sokka's(I think he really looks like him) I also really liked Suki, but oh boy, Katara was Butchered sooooo bad It hurts

You gave this show a shot, like I gave it a shot. But it's...bad. Trust me guys, I want to have fun when I'm watching a series, but this is some of the most straight-forward dog shit I've ever stepped in. You can pick everything apart and find what works, but at the end of the day, it's still dog shit. I honestly have no idea how people watch the netflix adaptation to the end. Like, it sucks so much. Cope?