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Netflix’s live-action Avatar has its heart in the right place, but its pacing and uneven performances leave a lot to be desired.

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[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 85 points 8 months ago

Please let's all remember that these are child actors, and they are no responsible for the poor writing or direction in the show. We can be sure they have worked extremely hard and poured their lives into this show, and the ones we should be disappointed with are the showrunners.

[-] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago

If the acting is bad, we can be mad at the casting director as well. It doesn't really matter if they're child actors, that doesn't make them immune from being called bad actors. They don't deserve to get dunked on or solely blamed for the show, but let's not pretend they don't play a part in its quality. If they were amazing actors, I'd assume you'd have no issue giving them praise? Why is the opposite not true?

[-] teft@lemmy.world 39 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The problem is people tend to go way the hell overboard when it comes to criticism and some child actors can't handle it. Look at what happened with Jake Lloyd as an example. Best to just leave the children out of the criticism and make it about the adults who made the decisions.

[-] CerealKiller01@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

People tent to go way the hell overboard on a lot of things. Best to focus on constructive criticism, while keeping in mind the actors are children, rather than to blindly self-censor based on the subject.

[-] Lmaydev@programming.dev 13 points 8 months ago

Complete false equivalency. Do you think positive and negative are the same thing?

[-] elbarto777@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Strawman argument.

If a kid plays the piano in a shitty way, it's okay to say "well, he sucks."

Edit: Fuck, man. I didn't say to say it to his face! Let's just say that it's okay to think "well, he sucks." You CANNOT tell me you don't think this way if the kid says "I've been practicing for months" and you see him just smashing the keyboard. Stop being emotional. If the kid asks for my opinion, I'd probably say "good job! Good effort, keep practicing!" But for sure, I'll be thinking "welp, he sucks."

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago

actually no. That's called being an asshole. You can say that he has room to improve, or that he's still learning, or literally anything but "wow they just suck" like some asshole.

[-] Lmaydev@programming.dev 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

No strawman. One is positive and one is negative. That's why they are different lol

And no it's not really okay. You should encourage children.

[-] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Being uncomfortable with criticism does not mean immunity from criticism. This isn't a middle school play FFS, it's a licensed series for something that already has a large, established fan base. Millions of dollars went into this. People's careers depended on this. Using "they're just kids!" to deflect legitimate criticism toward their acting abilities is not only nonsensical, it's cowardly.

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[-] blargerer@kbin.social 11 points 8 months ago

I've only watched the first 2 episodes, and yeah some of the performances come off quite bad, but I think the editing is at least partially to blame. They hold on characters too long and at odd moments completely destroying any sense of natural tempo in conversations.

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[-] Bluefruit@lemmy.world 34 points 8 months ago

Even with each of its eight episodes clocking in at about an hour each, it would have been difficult for Netflix’s Avatar to hit all of the same beats as the lengthier cartoon.

Ah well theres your problem. I was actually rooting for this to be good but surprise surprise, Netflix is still shit.

[-] Yukito01@lemmy.world 33 points 8 months ago

I mean, to be fair, 8 episodes at 1 hour each is more or less the same runtime that 20 episodes of ~20 min each. The problem is not the amount of episodes, it's just bad direction.

[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 15 points 8 months ago

Same runtime maybe, but not the same pace. Would you have them just switch from one story to another a third of the way through the episode?

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[-] Bluefruit@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Better direction would probably help but fitting multiple episodes from the original into a few here seems like its asking for issues. But as you said, bad direction is more the issue. Im sure someone will make a better ATLA live action at some point.

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

They got my hopes up with One Piece.

[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 28 points 8 months ago

That's a shame.

The One Piece live action blew me away. I had the lowest expectations too, so it was quite a surprise.

[-] runjun@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Really? I thought it was adequate at best.

[-] warbond@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Had you seen it before? The live action was my first real introduction and I really enjoyed it.

[-] fubarx@lemmy.ml 22 points 8 months ago

Just finished watching Episode 1. Don't care what the reviews say. It's a great show. Decent acting and pretty good SFX. Looking forward to Ep. 2.

[-] Jakdracula@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago

Watching the latest trailer it’s very easy to see the poor acting. It’s pretty bad when you catch a 3 second glimpse of a scene and can see in those few seconds just how poorly the acting and dialogue is, ooof.

[-] Shalakushka@kbin.social 17 points 8 months ago

Wait until you go back to watch the original cartoon and find it's just a competent kids show for two seasons and one season of rushed nothing.

Maybe the reason these adaptations keep not working is because the source material isn't actually the magnum opus the people who watched it when they were 10 years old think it is.

Maybe it's just cursed, but the conversation around this show feels a lot like Star Wars that way.

[-] MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world 41 points 8 months ago

I was 25 when the show premiered and watched it a few years later based on recommendations from a colleague. Me and my wife loved it, it's definitely not just a show that only works for 10 year olds.

[-] Maalus@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

And neither is the live action netflix one at this moment. Nostalgia colors everything, showing it in a bad light. People saw the colorful cartoon, and can't bear the fact that lighting is darker in live action for example.

[-] EarthlingHazard@lemm.ee 34 points 8 months ago

It's funny you think that. I did watch the animated show when I was much younger and gave it a rewatch recently. I'm in my early 30s and as far as animated TV shows go it's still one of my favorites

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 25 points 8 months ago

My kid and I have watched the show a dozen times. I couldn't disagree more.

[-] then_three_more@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

I was 21 when the original first came out and I thought it was excellent then. Definitely not just for kids.

[-] CptEnder@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

lmao they hated him for telling the truth

[-] TheFinn@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Me and my family like it. They grew up with the original and didn't know a live action was in the works until I started it up yesterday.

We also liked Netflix's Cowboy Bebop but all the neckbeards managed to cancel it fast.

[-] Cort@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Yeah I liked bebop, and one piece, and this too. The only note I would have on this is regarding iroh. It seems like the actor is playing him 100% sober, so we lose a bit of the iroh charm I think.

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[-] Crack0n7uesday@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

M Night Shamalan get bored or something? Wasn't his movie a big enough kick in the dick?

[-] thirteene@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

There is no movie in ba sing se

[-] RIP_Cheems@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Is it at least better than the first one?

[-] nachtigall@feddit.de 7 points 7 months ago

Much better. This one does not make me want to go to Lake Laogai and get brainwashed.

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

There is no Avatar movie in Ba Sing Se

[-] SomeGuy69@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Sadly bad live action will devalue rare good live action shows like One Piece, because people will skip it as being another bad show, while it isn't.

[-] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 8 months ago

Wow. Check out the reviews on Imdb. This is what thousands of fake reviews look like.

Fake reviews

[-] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 5 points 8 months ago

Compare this graph to the most well received movies and shows. Let's say, The Godfather. This allegedly got way, way better reviews than The Godfather.

[-] PiousAgnostic@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

This looks like a pretty normal statistical distribution. Just glancing at it. What makes you think it's thousands of fake votes? I'm genuinely curious what you are seeing.

[-] TheDorkfromYork@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago

I did not care for The Godfather.

[-] SuperSaiyanSwag@lemmy.zip 2 points 8 months ago

What? Godfather has around 2million reviews, this show has a few thousand

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this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
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