Remakes that hit the spot: Recent reinventions and Oscar nominees to stream

The final moment of the episode left the jaws of both my viewing partner and myself firmly on the floor

In 2005, an animated children’s series premiered on the Nickelodeon channel. It was called Avatar: The Last Airbender and followed a group of teens on a quest to bring peace to their mystical world with the help of the Avatar, a reincarnated spirit with the power to control (bend) the four elements, currently embodied in a 12-year-old boy, the last of his tribe.

The show lasted for three seasons, garnering critical praise, and receiving several awards including the Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production for Children in its final season.

In 2010 a film adaptation, The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan was released (not recommended). After this, fans of the series decided they were content with the version of the show they already had, and no one need ever try again.

In 2020, Netflix announced it would be producing a live-action remake of the series, starring the same cast of characters and following the same general story.

The new series, recently released, has been met with a mixed reception, with many praising the show’s adaptation of the animated world into a living, breathing, live-action one, and doing a much better job of translating mystical bending-powers into high-octane action sequences (compared to Shyamalan’s film, which was less effective in both regards). However, the praise tends to fall off slightly when it comes to script changes, although some are inevitable when transitioning from 20 episodes a series to eight.

While the animated series was primarily aimed at children, it still managed to weave compelling storylines and character arcs. The show’s integration of themes on toxic masculinity, parental abuse, genocide and grief has been praised as a prime example of how children’s media can introduce young people to complex ideas in a way that is appropriate and helps with their own emotional development. While Netflix hasn’t removed these ideas from its live-action counterpart, they have been toned down. Personally, I feel this was an opportunity to go further with these themes. It makes me wonder if Netflix intended this series for children, or the audience who were children when the original show aired.

Another recent reinterpretation to grace Netflix’s servers is the animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. An adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim comic series, and sister-show (of sorts) to the 2010 Edgar Wright film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Netflix) – also based on the comic series. All three versions of the story follow the same basic plot.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls in love with Romana Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but if he wants to date her, he must first defeat her seven evil exes in single combat. I’m a fan of the Edgar Wright film and would highly recommend it, as it is an expertly crafted intersection of comedy, music, action and animation. But I eventually came to feel it was lacking in a degree of depth, and I was thrilled to hear Wright would be producing a 10-episode animated series with the film’s original cast and the writer of the original comic as showrunner.

When the first episode ended up being a near second-by-second animation of the first 20 minutes of the film, I was disappointed; but the final moment of the episode left the jaws of both my viewing partner and myself firmly on the floor, and had us lunging for the “next episode” button. The series is a perfect companion to the film, expanding on the themes and characters, while at the same time acknowledging the film’s flaws.

After a series as good as Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, I am hopeful that more creatives, when tasked with remaking existing shows and films, will be able to create works that can do more than simply repeat the same notes in a slightly different octave.

At time of writing, the 96th Academy Awards ceremony is yet to occur. For what it’s worth, my money’s on Anatomy of a Fall for best picture.

You don’t get nominated for an Academy Award for nothing so, winner or not, I’d recommend checking out as many of the nominees as you can. If you’re pressed for time, I would personally recommend American Fiction (Prime Video) and Nimona (Netflix).

Based on the 2001 novel of the same name, American Fiction follows Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a struggling author who writes a novel satirising the idea of “black” books and how black people are perceived in mainstream US media. He is then surprised when his novel is mistaken for an autobiographical account and it becomes the most successful thing he’s ever written.

With the exception of maybe Barbie, this is the funniest of this year’s nominees for best picture, with a stellar lead and an intoxicating supporting cast (including Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Issa Rae).

Then there’s beautiful Nimona. Nominated for best animated feature film, starring Riz Ahmed and Chloë Grace Moretz, this movie is an absolute joy from start to finish (with one or two moments of heartbreak thrown in for good reason), and just about every frame is worthy of display in a gallery. When the monarch of a techno-fantasy society is murdered, the wrongfully accused finds himself allied with a mysterious shapeshifter in an attempt to clear his name and uncover the conspiracy at the heart of his kingdom.

Nimona is the latest example of a film aimed at a younger audience which is capable of carrying a powerful emotional core, while gently introducing children to ideas such as equality that will become more relevant to them as they grow up.

But if Puss in Boots: The Last Wish couldn’t win last year, my hopes aren’t particularly high for Nimona. It’s almost as if we refuse to look at media aimed primarily at children as having any value other than keeping kids quiet for a few hours. (I hope I’m proven wrong by the time this is in print.)

Other best picture and best animated feature nominees available on streaming are Maestro (Netflix), Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple TV+), and Elemental (Disney+).

More viewing options are given in the panel.