One thing in advance: I'm completely unfamiliar with any other Nickelodeon productions. This means I will solely judge the show on its own, with all the positive (no bias) and negative (no comparative values) implications thereof. With that out of the way, let me say that "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is an extraordinary piece of art. The animation, already decent from the get-go, seems to just get better and better as the story progresses. The characters are universally well-developed and likable (with Toph and Sokka being my personal favorites), the plot flows smoothly, and the combination of action and humor is splendid.

Of course, there are also downsides. Not everyone will like the fact that Avatar is probably the biggest Ship Tease in existence; and some of the characters play the immaturity card a bit too often for my liking.

All in all, however, Avatar's critical accolades are so jubilant for a reason: It's just that good. I'd recommend it for viewers of all ages (for the record, I'm in my early twenties) and many different genre preferences (Avatar has epic battles for action aficionados, hilarious humor for comedy fans, and several official {and plenty of plausible unofficial} pairings for the romantics.)

Bottom Line: After carefully factoring in plot (8/10), voice acting (10/10), animation (9/10) and humor (10/10), I'll just ignore all those calculations and simply slap a big, fat 10/10 on the show for its sheer entertainment value.