The Last Airbender

I spent the last three days of last week binge watching this because it was so good. It's unlike Netflix to produce original and quality content as of late, but this was absolutely amazing. Here's why:

It's set up as a story for children and young teenagers. You can tell by watching the storyline it's not one with deep hidden meaning and complex emotional trauma, it's one where the simplest of storylines is told, but one that really works. It's about family, friends, and tough times.

You see, the world is at peace. For millienia the world has turned to an Avatar to guide the delicate balance of peace between nations so that everyone can survive in relative harmony. The world is split up into 4 elemental nations, each with their own skill and relevancy to the element they can wield, for example:

There is the fire nation, a fierce warmongering nation that can use the force of fire to cast asunder many of their enemies. Then there's the Earth nation who can use the forces of earth to shake any enemies feet from underneath them. And of course the Water nation, who can wield water in ways one could only imagine to fight with or to heal.

Then of course there is the air Nation which was taken by surpise by the fire nation at the beggining of the series because they knew the next Avatar would be an air bender and would only be a child. So they used the night they would be at their most powerful to attack the air nation when all their village elders would be in the same place, and destroyed them all.

Luckily our young Aang has been told that he was the Avatar the night before and was struggling to come to terms with the fact that he was destined to hold the responsibility of world peace and went to fly out on his sky bison to clear his head. He hadn't been gone for long when the fire nation decided to attack.

Aang flew over the sea, and it was extremely rough waters that night and they were taken down by some absolutely ferocious waves. That's when Aang's internal avatar kicked in and saved him. Encrusting him in a bright blue wall, saving him from the harsh waters.

100 years of fighting pass and two people from the water nation accidentally stumbled across Aang and didn't know what to do with him. They didn't know who or what he was so they took him back to the village elders to see what was up and what had been happening. Luckily the elders knew immediately who he was.

Just as Aang was coming together and trying to get his footing in this new world, and sadly realising everyone he knew everywhere had passed long ago, a lone fire nation boat happened to be in the vicinity, and it wasn't any random boat it was the prince of the fire nation who had been tasked with finding the avatar and had wandered the earth for several years trying to find who it was.

And thus from there we start an epic journey of family, betrayal, subterfuge, love and destiny. It's an epic fantasy saga, made for children but mostly anyone can watch it. Hell, I'm 43 and I loved every minute of it.

Definitely worth a watch if you like yourself a bit of fantasy now and again.

Posted using CineTV