TV Review: ‘Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films’

On Disney+ on November 7 is ‘Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films,’ a hefty promotional effort bigging up the technical (and performance) and performance achievements of the James Cameron-led team behind the sci-fi epics.

Air Date: November 7th, 2025

The new documentary series features Cameron, producer Jon Landau, plus a host of crewmembers and cast including Kate Winslet (‘Titanic’), Zoe Saldaña (‘Guardians of the Galaxy’) and Sigourney Weaver (‘Aliens’).

Initial Thoughts

With the third ‘Avatar’ movie, ‘Fire and Ash,’ headed our way next month, the promotional efforts on behalf of the franchise as a whole are ramping up.

And chief among them is this new behind-the-scenes documentary, which, thanks to its being commissioned by James Cameron, has full access to the production and the many talented people involved in these giant undertakings.

The big issue, of course, is that it’s almost entirely laudatory, the various cast and crew enthusing about how much technology is used in service of performance, to the point where it can become grating.

Script and Direction

Director James Cameron at D23 2024 presenting ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’. Photo: Disney.

This is your basic Disney documentary format –– lots of footage of people working out the various of shooting performance capture in and under water, development trials, many, many shots of divers, all interspersed with talking heads about the process.

It doesn’t push boundaries the way Cameron tends to when he makes movies, but then, it doesn’t really need to.

Cast and Performances

As the documentary itself endlessly argues, it’s the people that make the film itself work –– the various experts in diving, stunts, cameras and more, plus the actors who were the benefit of their hard work and put their own graft in to imagining everything while acting against almost nothing.

The highlights include Kate Winslet discovering a heretofore unknown talent for holding her breath and Sigourney Weaver explaining her joy at performing certain scenes.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps the biggest issue here is that it’s all so basic; in stark contrast to the huge leaps in technology and the many inventions of Cameron especially. While a lot of the footage will be catnip (Na’vi-nip?) to those who love behind-the-scenes documentaries, it also gets awfully repetitive, battering home the message that the invention was in service of the actors’ work.

And given that it’s confusingly broken up into a 55-minute chunk and a roughly 30-minute one (plus a brief clip of ‘Fire and Ash’), some judicious editing could have squeezed this all down into little more than an hour. But since when does James Cameron do anything small scale?

‘Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films’ receives 68 out of 100.

What’s the story of ‘Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films’?

This new two-part documentary provides a fascinating glimpse into the making of the Oscar-winning box office phenomenon ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ and a first look at the upcoming ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash,’ and features exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, concept art, and interviews with cast and filmmakers.