Avatar Aang review says Paramount+ sequel revives the animated saga

The new Avatar Aang review from Variety gives fans their clearest look yet at Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, the first animated feature from Avatar Studios and the franchise’s first major forward step since The Legend of Korra.

Variety critic Alison Herman reports that the film is receiving only a limited awards-qualifying theatrical run in New York and Los Angeles before its Paramount+ release on July 25. Herman argues that the animation would have benefited from a wider big-screen rollout, while saying the streaming version still delivers action and nostalgia.

When is Avatar Aang on Paramount+?

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender will stream on Paramount+ on July 25, according to Variety. The film is also showing in select theaters for a limited awards-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles.

The movie comes from Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies and Avatar Studios. Variety lists Lauren Montgomery as director, with Tim Hedrick and Christopher Yost as writers. Original Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko share story credit with Hedrick and Kenneth Lin, and serve as producers through Avatar Studios.

Set more than 10 years after the original Nickelodeon series, the film finds Aang and his friends living in a period of peace after the end of the long war among the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe. Republic City, later central to The Legend of Korra, has newly taken shape, complete with a Unity Tower meant to mark the uneasy new harmony.

Variety says the story puts Aang’s grief and isolation at the center. Now older, he searches for Air Nomad relics and tries to connect with a culture nearly wiped out before he emerged from a century of hibernation. During one expedition, he encounters the Denied, a violent group of non-benders, and races to recover a sacred airbender object before they can use it.

Who voices the older Avatar characters?

Eric Nam voices the adult Aang, according to Variety. Steven Yeun voices the grown-up Zuko, Dave Bautista plays Tagah, an airbender found preserved in ice, and Freida Pinto voices Sonam, a former Avatar who communicates with Aang.

The returning core group also includes Katara, voiced by Jessica Matten, Sokka, voiced by Román Zaragoza, and Toph, voiced by Dionne Quan, Variety reports. Taika Waititi is also heard as a many-eyed, tusked creature Aang meets in the spirit world.

For anyone new to the franchise, the world of Avatar is built around four elements: water, earth, fire and air. Some people, known as benders, can control one element through martial arts-style movement, while the Avatar is the only figure able to master all four.

Herman describes the film as a more grown-up continuation of Aang’s story, focused on the lasting effects of losing his people while still a child. She also points to large-scale animated sequences involving Air Nomads, elemental combat, a supernatural storm and the spirit world as major showcases for the film.

The review frames Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender as the end of a long gap for animated Avatar storytelling. Variety also notes that DiMartino and Konietzko have another original series, Seven Havens, set to premiere on Paramount+ this fall.

This story draws on original reporting from Variety.