feeling like a cheap nostalgia cash-in, as so many legacy films do. Opening on an ambush of Aang at the air temple by the new group called the Denied, now established as the Avatar and comfortable in the Avatar State, is a stark choice that immediately signals this is not an origin story or a rehash, but a continuation that trusts its audience to already know where these characters have grown to. The introduction of this anti-bender group gives the film a genuinely compelling central conflict, and even if it eventually gives way and ends up mattering less than it should, it does a strong job of forcing Katara and Aang to the forefront and grounding the story in a conflict true to the legacy of the characters. The film’s story begins quietly but immediately signals that, no matter what screen you watch it on, this will be a gorgeous 90 minutes. That’s the right register for a franchise built as much on atmosphere, world-building, and found family as on spectacle, and it feels like a strong return to form after a rocky stretch of live-action misfires and production stumbles. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is one of the better animated returns in a strange animated year, and while it stumbles a bit in structure and in giving more room to characters who badly needed it, the overall experience is a beautifully animated, richly colored, nostalgic trip down memory lane for one of the best animated shows in history.

Aang and Katara calling on Sokka, Zuko, and Toph to help them climb a mountain and track down the man The Denied are after is a great excuse to reassemble the old gang, and we appreciated that the reunion feels motivated by real stakes rather than fan service. Finding an airbender frozen like Aang in Tagah, who tells of a staff that gives airbending to non-benders, seems like a great solution for Team Avatar on paper, which is exactly why his eventual turn is so satisfying. Tagah’s skepticism toward other benders, and the way it reflects his own Avatar’s sorrow, gives the villain reveal real emotional texture instead of making him a cartoonish threat. Our one real critique of this stretch is that the film takes too long to reach its central conflict; it’s beautiful and fun throughout, but it leans a little too hard on nostalgia before moving the plot forward. Once they finally reach the staff and Tagah turns on Katara and the gang while Aang is away, the film fully locks into gear, and we wish that urgency had arrived a few scenes sooner.

The film reaches its point of emphasis when Tagah steals the staff and sets out to build his own new empire, and I think that is the strongest structural decision in the film: a clean, understandable villain motive that lands emotionally without needing convoluted lore. Where it falls short is in how badly it underuses Toph, Zuko, and Katara, three characters who could have carried far more emotional and narrative weight, and whose absence is felt precisely because we know what they can do from the original show. This isn’t a small nitpick for us: for a project built on fan goodwill toward this ensemble, sidelining three-quarters of the original cast feels like leaving real value on the table when the appeal of a live-action return is seeing these relationships evolve. Tagah giving The Denied airbending and leading into the final battle as the real and spirit worlds collide is a satisfying payoff for his arc, but it also highlights how much of the rest of the cast is left reacting instead of truly driving the story. I’d have liked at least one more scene giving Zuko or Toph real stakes in the outcome, beyond fan service or comic relief; the film clearly loves these characters, it just doesn’t spend enough time proving it on screen.