Spoilers ahead for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
James Cameron movies are known for their epic scale, and for using cutting-edge technology to achieve his vision. That can certainly be said for the Avatar movies (streaming with a Disney+ subscription), which use motion capture performances, extensive visual effects, as well as the use of 3-D. The original Avatar became the highest grossing movie of all time, largely thanks to its stunning visual spectacle that would go on to inspire theme parks, video games, and (of course) Cameron's sequels. Fire and Ash is officially in theaters, but I found that it was missing some of the wonder of its predecessors.
Critical response for Fire and Ash has been mixed, and now moviegoing audiences are finally able to head to theaters and form their own opinions. In CinemaBlend's Avatar 3 review, I praised the movie's emotional impact, but thought that some of the magic of the franchise was lost in favor of its larger narrative.
I Missed The Avatar Magic In Fire And Ash
I can remember distinctly how unreal it was to watch the first Avatar movie, which introduced audiences to the stunning bioluminescence of Pandora. I went back to see it in theaters more than once, and then was left waiting over a decade for The Way of Water to arrive. Luckily, the wait was worth it, because the second movie brought us deeper into the fictional planet, largely thanks to the introduction of the Metkayina aka the Water People.
We watched as the Sully family learned to free dive, and connect with water creatures like the Tsurak and giant Tulkun. All of this new material helped bring back those same feelings of awe as the first movie, while also deepening the larger plot of James Cameron's planned five-film story. Unfortunately, I thought there was way less whimsy and newness to Fire and Ash, even though overall I still really enjoyed the movie as a whole.
While Avatar 3 introduced us to the chilling Mangkwan aka the Ash People, they didn't offer new areas of Pandora to explore. But the beginning of the movie featured the Tlalim aka the Windtraders, which was definitely a standout, magical moment of the movie. Unfortunately, we only soared to the sky with the giant airships for a few minutes before the Ash People attacked, and we were once again back home with the Metkayina.
I understand why there was less magic and wonder this time around, Fire and Ash takes place directly after The Way of Water's ending, and is truly a continuation of that story. We get tons of huge emotional payoffs for characters like Spider and Kiri, but they unfortunately came at the price of exploration. That being said, I remain invested in this franchise and deeply hope we get the final two chapters.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list, and the previous two installments are streaming over on Disney+.
