Our whole family is hard core fans of the cartoon, we even sing “secret tunnel” every time we drive through a tunnel anywhere….
WE LOVE IT!!! We understand that it has to be condensed, and because it costs MILLIONS more if you have real people, things need to change, but they kept the core of the story true, with some super fun “shoutouts” to the parts of the cartoon they can’t focus on….ie: keeping the same music in the background, (shoulder boy part), cabbages, in the one tavern everyone talking about the avatars adventures in the background about episodes not shown, tons of great Easter eggs!
The costumes and makeup were SPOT ON identical to the cartoon! I do wish Aang was a little less serious (but I’m ok with the directions he went)
I LOVE SOKKA IS STILL SARCASTIC!
Best comparison is the Harry Potter books to the movies (yes there are some differences) and some artistic liscense that might not be in line with the books. And if you stress and want live action to be EXACTLY the same and nitpick, you can find issues. BUT- all of the movies of Harry Potter are true to the core story and are fun to watch (the will never be the books, but doesn’t make them bad at all.
The same should be said for this… it is not the animation series and can never be because CGI, paid actors, location selections, sets, and all the crews cost too much to have it be the same. But it is true to the core, follows the main plot and is VERY VERY well done!