Reviews & Ratings for
"The Legend of Korra" More at IMDbPro »

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152 out of 165 people found the following review useful:
My early 2c: A more energetic and fast-paced sequel, 22 April 2012

Author: charsobees from United States

The Avatar is back and this time she is a teenager who is far from calm and peaceful.

Compared to Avatar: The Legend of Aang, this sequel has its own appeal: it's really energetic, featuring mostly city environments, has an older cast than the one in Aang, and just has an overall faster, flashier and more forceful pace than its predecessor. That makes it a lot of fun, and a very exciting show, but at times it also makes it hard for me to warm up to the cast, and hard to just take a moment of contemplation, peace, and relaxation like I would with The Last Airbender.

Visually, like "Aang", this show is stunning. Beautiful, intricate and unique environments, with lots of fluid and well-crafted motion. Awesome soundtrack with the series' trademark mix of eastern and western music, but "Korra's" music is more rocky and jazzy, to match with the show's tempo, than "Aang's" smooth and calm scores. The storyline seems to be picking up quite nicely as well, with civil conflict brewing up in Republic City. The show is definitely making its own path and tone, and setting itself apart from "Aang".

But I still found myself really missing "Aang's" serene environments, gentler characters, and the cute, quirky humor. In fact I kind of found it hard to warm up to the characters in "Korra"....Korra is overall a very cool character, but is too aggressive and forceful. I hope that changes throughout the show, as Avatar always shows the evolution of its characters. Her newfound city friends, as well, are not that likable and their friendship is a little distant -- Aang, Katara and Sokka's friendship was as naturally progressing, fun, and close as they get. I also really miss the silly humor! Who can forget the cabbage seller from "Aang", and Sokka's silliness. With "Korra"'s older cast and a very serious conflict and villain already introduced and confronted, I really want more humor to balance the show out.

I think the show needs to calm down a bit, take a breath, and let its characters meaningfully interact a little more before ramping up the action to the 1000th degree. Still, a flaw due to excess is better than a flaw due to lack. The Legend of Korra is an excellent and well-crafted show, and I look forward to seeing it form into a series worthy of its predecessor.

39 out of 45 people found the following review useful:
A worthy successor of The Last Airbender, 14 June 2012
Author: Lars Laukens from Bruges, Belgium

The Legend Of Korra is a very worthy successor of the first series. It's a totally different environment, and the circumstances are also entirely different, but you can see that the makers of the series have put a lot of work and effort in the second series. The only downside I can think of is that, because the series will only concludes two seasons, is that, in my opinion, everything's a bit rushed. It's like they want to fit a lot of content into the 2 season time-frame. On the other hand, the series is brilliantly detailed, just like its predecessor, and has it's typical quirky humour. And the tension that they're building up throughout the show is an excellent way of keeping people tethered to their screens and to the series!

63 out of 96 people found the following review useful:
The hype is undeserved, 2 July 2012
Author: Scortia

This series started with a lot of potential. Do not assume this negative review comes from someone who can't "cope" with how different this series is from its predecessor. I was prepared for a different world and new themes. But, unfortunately, this series fell way short (at least at this point where season 1 has finished).

We are left with characters who do little to grow, a plot which ends up confused and hanging more than reaching a true climax and resolution, and some of the most tacked-on romance I have ever witnessed. The storywriting was just so weak and each episode did little to remedy it. Would you like a better understanding of how Korra has difficulty with spirituality and air bending? Would you like to really see why? Sorry, we'll dedicate a few episodes to professional bending which will do little to expand on the overall story or its characters at all. I won't present spoilers, but it's clear how much time is wasted on a very obvious and lazy romantic pairing early on. At first I thought Bryke were just messing with the fans who are obsessed with "shipping", but no, it was serious. The question is, how do these kids even have a chance to fall deeply in love with each other so quickly when there's so little going on with their personalities to make them have a true "presence"? Amon, as a villain, seemed a redeeming area. The conflict of benders and nonbenders. And yet, the depth that could have gone into the issue was absent. Hell, everyone's parent(s) died because of some random firebender. Yeah, OK. That's a bit of a cop out if I've ever seen one.

By the end, the serious questions that should be gripping the main characters are there but they seem so much shallower than they should be. Not to create spoilers by being specific, but it's as though the ending stayed in that kiddy pool while trying to pretend it deserved to become an Olympic swimmer.

I'm not a young, insane fan. I like a good storyline and I can recognize one. It's not even a matter of opinion, this story with so much potential just fell short. I'd blame it on the shorter 12 episode length versus the 20 of season one of TLA, but Book 1 of TLA would have been a stronger story with bolder characters even if you removed the eight most filler-like episodes within it. I just don't know where the magic died... perhaps because Aaron Ehasz wasn't writing? Seems like he had a lot of the best ideas for the first series.

I hope it finds its footing in season two, but for now I'm a pretty disappointed viewer.

41 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
Korra is just amazing! A perfect start as a sequel to The Last Airbender!, 14 April 2012

Author: krazyaxe

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Just watched 2 episodes of Korra.... and I must say it's more than what i expected. Didn't expect the same fun from Korra as last air bender... But Korra turned out to be a lot fun... Though the sequel is set 70 years after the original series, though there's no Aang and the Team Avatar... New Avatar is as much fun, you'll just fall in love with this character.. Last Airbender is been a favorite animation of mine, since i started watching it, back in 2008... I even have this thing, of watching it at least once a year... So i'm just glad that Korra started out to be a perfect sequel for the original series... Animation is better than The Last Airbender and action is brilliantly done... Music just gave goosebumps... So if you are a Last Airbender fan then let's just say that you'll have a big smile on your face while watching Korra... If you are not a fan then still you would have that smile... Korra rocks!!!!

38 out of 51 people found the following review useful:
Gets better each episode, 14 May 2012
Author: backuntri from United States

I enjoyed the previous series, "The Last Airbender," and I had been checking every month or so to see if the new "Legend of Korra" had been released yet. Yesterday I realized that five or six episodes had been released so I watched them all while typing up some notes for school. I have to say, the first couple of episodes I was pretty worried. Many of the characters seemed very harsh and unlikable. Yet, as I got to know them better, I really started to like them and enjoy the show. "Legend of Korra" is lacking the hilarity which made "Airbender" so fun to watch, yet it is replaced with more menace, intrigue, and (I want to use the adjective "page-turning") excitement. The bits of humor that are present are perfect and I think they have captured a good balance. I'm really hooked. 9/10. The one missing star is in case the show takes a turn for the worse.

29 out of 38 people found the following review useful:
Just as good, but harder to watch (emotionally), 20 June 2012
Author: mtcousins

To those uncertain about The Legend of Korra: watch it. It is every bit as good as the original Avatar series was. Set in a more modern world, the new avatar is faced with struggles of a different kind, struggles that relate more to our modern world. Technology is booming, crime is rising, and a revolution is awakening. This is much more real than the last series was.

The characters are built incredibly realistic, too. Korra is a revolutionary heroine: she is realistic, imperfect, hasty, rebellious... all the things that a teenager girl really would be. Faced with difficult decisions, she doesn't always choose the right ones, yet she always learns from them. The other characters also show these strenghts and weaknesses along with equal depth to the characters of The Last Airbender.

While different, troubled, and darker than the original, everyone should give The Legend of Korra a chance. It has many wonders to be seen as of yet and her story is only just beginning.

30 out of 43 people found the following review useful:
This is for kids?, 24 June 2012
Author: Wibi Udayana from Australia

When I first watched the series, I thought to myself. The creators of this show must be mad. The amount of Nazi references and injecting political views and ideals into this Nickelodeon show is astounding. This has to be one of the most mature children shows out there. It teaches them to deal with decision making, dealing with loss, sacrifice and how to deal with another Hitler in case one pops up in the future.

I also liked its not a 'Hey, we are the heroes, so lets get rid of what we perceive as wrong because we are always right.'like most kids shows. Legend of Korra gives strongly made backstory of the villains and heroes alike. They gave strong reasons to why the villains are rebelling and why the heroes are going against it. Its not those cliché 'I want to take over the world.' like the first series.

For anyone who does not consider watching this because its a cartoon, its from nickelodeon and its main character is not a slender and well toned skinned hottie. Well let me tell you, this cartoon is like watching a Nickelodeon and Chinese version of the Games of Thrones. Its heart wrenching, blood boiling and a tear jerking show. I'm surprised this is for kids.

22 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
Can't believe I'm saying this, but ..., 27 May 2012
Author: thommy741 from Germany

The Legend of Korra seriously takes some steps into the right direction by throwing in some more or less "new" concepts (new as new for Avatar) such as love stories and relationships from the get go and a more "modern" world. If you watched the original Avatar (if you didn't go right to it) you may appreciate that, although Korra really has some of Avatar's good old content such as fast-paced element-bender battles, it also feels new and fresh and in no way "forced" to be a sequel on it's own. If it really will be as entertaining and as good as the prequel only time can tell but for now (seen 6 episodes so far) the story is more promising than I ever could have imagined it to be. Last but not least I really want to point out the storytelling: If you pay attention you'll notice that the script for this series is much more than just a foolish attempt to catch the fame of "Avatar": Many old characters can be "found" here, revived as new roles. Great humor and action awaits.

12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Good new elements (although some are too much), 10 July 2012

Author: SkefOnline from Netherlands

The Legend of Korra starts pretty high paced and the new avatar is found fast, in contradiction to the previous series (where they take more time with the intro). This means that the adventure also start fast. Also, note that you should have seen the "Avatar, the Last Airbender" before you watch this one.

They have put some new concepts (for this series), like: after 70 years there is new some new technology, more love story, and a lot in the city (where Aang travels a lot over the entire world). I like this, but I have the feeling that there is a little too much, like too much new technology and too much love. I would have found it better that some technology is still being developed or missing (which other technology could be made clumsy in use). But there are also some new cool elements, such as the way of telling what has happened "previously on avatar", and a new sports game.

The humor is still good (I had a very good laugh somewhere in episode 10), and it's nice to see some of the previous (aged) characters back. I rate this 8/10 because of I really like the concept of newer technology in a fantasy world. But not higher because some elements are a little too much (to my opinion). Anyway, I couldn't stop watching and saw this entire season straight.

8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
A disappointing yet enjoyable series so far, 10 July 2012
Author: David Sabic from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Avatar: The Last Airbender is easily my favorite recent example of western animation, so not only were my expectations high for Korra fairly high. When I first heard that there was going to be a sequel, I couldn't be more excited. The hype and buildup for this show was incredible for a lot of people - a more modern Avatar world with an older, more headstrong female protagonist set in the cultural hub of the world is simply as good as it could possibly get, and for the first few episodes of the series, a lot of great ideas were established and the characters at the time were shown to have great potential for growth and lasting importance. We have a populous cultural capital in an industrial boom, an older, more articulate cast, a plot centralized around themes of equality between benders and non-benders, and some of the most gorgeous animation ever to be featured in a cartoon.

Sadly, the writing couldn't hold up. Bryke just couldn't maintain so many of the elements that to us would seemingly write themselves. The pacing is all over the place, with some episodes taking place weeks after their predecessors, and others starting and finishing entire plot threads in a single episode. Interesting themes and ideas established early on degrade into predictable shlock, the most prominent offender being the romance between the protagonist and another character, which for me stands as one of the most poorly done I've ever seen in any animation. The finale could have been the one saving grace as Amon, the central antagonist, was one of the series' high points with interesting motivation and a background that could have had an amazing story to it. Unfortunately, he too falls prey to the lightning-paced exposition, and the writers fumbling eventually ends up defeating the entire purpose of his existence and his "equalist" movement in the span of five minutes. By the end of the finale, almost every single problem for the cast of characters is magically solved, but the final insult comes with how Korra's final problem is solved. It quite literally comes out of nowhere, and it leaves her character, as well as almost every other character, with now growth to speak of whatsoever.

I understand that a second season was not green lit until most of the material for season one was set in stone, and thus this season was very self contained, but it really isn't an excuse for the incredibly lackluster writing. What makes all of this so frustrating is the fact that at face value, the show is still very entertaining. The action later in the show was visceral and exciting if you turned your brain off to the plot armor and obvious outcomes. There was some nice lighthearted stuff from time to time, and the voice actors, particularly Dee Bradley Baker and Steve Blum, steal the show with some impressive delivery.

All in all, a massive disappointment, but still a good show that's enjoyable at face value. I'd recommend it to anybody not setting their expectations through the roof.

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