Certificate: PG

Running Time: 98 mins

UK Distributor: Paramount+

UK Release Date: 25 July 2026

WHO’S IN AVATAR AANG: THE LAST AIRBENDER?

Eric Nam, Dave Bautista, Jessica Matten, Román Zaragoza, Steven Yeun, Dionne Quan, Taika Waititi, Geraldine Vaswanathan, Ronny Chieng, Ken Jeong, Dee Bradley Baker, Freida Pinto, Ke Huy Quan, Peta Sergeant, Keone Young

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Lauren Montgomery (director), Tim Hedrick and Christopher Yost (writers), Maryann Garger, Latifa Ouaou and Dagan Potter (producers), Jeremy Zuckerman (composer), Michelle Mendenhall (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Aang (Nam) discovers a way to potentially bring back his Airbender culture…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON AVATAR AANG: THE LAST AIRBENDER?

Even though it’s one of the most beloved animated franchises underneath its umbrella, with critics and audiences aligned in their shared adoration for it, Paramount simply will not stop screwing over Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Allowing M. Night Shyamalan to make his horrendous live-action version was bad enough, but siphoning the live-action rights over to Netflix for its own rehash of the original Nickelodeon series without the input of creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko was simply uncalled for. Then, the studio attempted to save face by announcing the formation of Avatar Studios, a production company to be co-run by DiMartino and Konietzko that came with the promise of an all-new animated movie by the name of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender to be released exclusively in cinemas… only for Paramount to suddenly cancel the theatrical plans, leading to an unprecedented online leak of the entire film, and now the unceremonious dumping of it onto streaming.

I don’t know what this franchise did to the powers that be at Paramount (and before you blame David Ellison, as much as we’d all like to, this all started well before his Skydance Media merged with the studio), but it’s been kicked one too many times to the curb for no good reason, especially when it is indeed a fantastic show with great characters and real dramatic weight that people still love to experience. And with Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender being a solid continuation of that show, one which embraces a stunningly cinematic quality that also encapsulates everything that made the show so enjoyable in the first place, Paramount is looking even more foolish by denying a grand animated spectacle such as this a proper chance on the big screen.

The film is set some years after the end of the show, with Aang (voiced by Eric Nam) – the “Avatar” who can control or “bend” the elements of water, earth, fire and air simultaneously – and his friends Katara (Jessica Matten), Sokka (Román Zaragoza), Toph (Dionne Quan) and Fire Lord Zuko (Steven Yeun) now leading the harmonious Republic City, where benders and non-benders alike are welcome. But Aang, the only surviving airbender after his people were wiped out by the Fire Nation, longs for his culture to be preserved, which soon brings him to discover the resting place of Tagah (Dave Bautista), an airbender frozen in place for thousands of years. Upon his awakening, Tagah reveals the existence of a powerful staff belonging to the ancient Avatar Sonam (Freida Pinto) that possesses the power to bring back the power of airbending, and so Aang and company set out to find the staff before it falls into the hands of The Denied, a group of non-benders who seek to lay claim to the world around them.

As a fan of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series, as well as its great cast of characters, watching this film felt like being reunited with friends that I hadn’t seen in a very long time, and who are still just as fun as I remember. Even though they’re all a bit older than they were in the show, the core characters have retained their core personalities – Sokka, for one, remains comically cocky and quick-witted, aggrandising himself in a couple of hilariously designed flashbacks – along with their genuine likeability, but also their capability to be more three-dimensional than their basic attributes may make them seem. It’s a testament to screenwriters Tim Hedrick and Christopher Yost, the former having written for the show as well as its follow-up series The Legend of Korra, with how much Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender recaptures both the essence and the charm of its source material without it feeling forced, while exploring new potential within this world instead of relying solely on familiar patterns or callbacks. Not that this film isn’t free of those: look out for a few recognisable faces lurking about Republic City, including a particularly unlucky cabbage merchant.

It’s great to see this film stick with the 2D anime-inspired animation of the show, albeit with a few more 3D backdrops and camera angles than usual, and the style has been carefully adapted into a more cinematic lens that makes it an absolutely gorgeous film to look at. The fluidity of movement among the characters, especially in the many stunningly designed action sequences, along with certain atmospheric shots all give the film a truly epic feel, and you can sense the sheer power that has gone into every hand-crafted frame as Aang and friends encounter places that you could legitimately mistake for backgrounds you’d find in a Studio Ghibli film. Even when it embraces its more cartoonish side, mostly for comedic purposes, it is still so wondrous to watch, since you can tell that the animators and filmmakers really poured their heart and soul into making this look as good as it does (making it just a little more heartbreaking that most people will only ever see this at home instead of in cinemas).

However, there are a couple of things that do bring the movie down a little bit. While the comedy works more often than not, it will still stop dead at points, particularly in dramatic moments, to introduce a few unnecessary moments of brevity, most notably a brief appearance by Taika Waititi as a slightly obnoxious spirit who thankfully departs as soon as he arrives. Without spoilers, the film also hinges on a particular reveal that, while dramatically strong, is fairly easy to predict and turns certain people into largely one-note villains that spout a lot of typical antagonistic dialogue, in a script that largely does a good job of distinguishing characters from one another.

Other than that, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is a real treat for those who have stuck with the franchise for so long, while those who haven’t yet seen the show (though it certainly helps a fair bit to have done so beforehand) can appreciate its epic cinematic quality. However, one can’t help but feel cheated from this not being in cinemas, for streaming just isn’t the right place for a movie of this grand a scale, nor a franchise of this magnitude. You can certainly make the argument that those outside of the Avatar fanbase may not be interested enough to fill seats, but still when you have a film like this which goes pretty hard with its visuals and storytelling, the least it deserves is a chance for it to find its big-screen audience.

Either way, please do better next time, Paramount.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is a strong feature-length continuation of the beloved animated series, with gorgeous visuals creating a vibrant cinematic environment along with the characters and world you fondly remember.

Click here or check below to find where you can stream Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender now, thanks to JustWatch!