The Nerd Reviews: Justice League Throne of Atlantis

Ever since the DCAU rebooted after the Flashpoint film, I've been waiting for film I feel is worthy of the legacy of a DC animated film. Does "Throne of Atlantis" fit the bill? Well yes and no.

*I've decided to do something different here, instead of rating the film and breaking it down into separate categories, I'm just gonna either recommend you watch it, buy it or leave it and give my two cents on the overall without going too much into details. Savvy? *

Ok so if you're familiar with me or this blog, you'll find out that I am not the biggest fan of the new 52 based DCAU ( DC Animated Universe). I don't really think the films have been up to par ( as you can tell by my review of "Son of Batman") so I've been waiting for the film that would have me fanboying of the animated videos again; this film isn't it but damn if it's not a step in the right direction. The basic plot of the film is that the Atlanteans are going to go to war with the surface world and it's up to the Justice League and Aquaman to stop it. Now this is all well and good but this is supposed to be the origin story of Aquaman and I just didn't feel like it gave it enough focus; the film seems to not know what it wants to be, sometimes it's about Arthur coming to terms with the loss of his father (which they rushed through so fast you won't even care), other times its about Superman wanting to get it on with Wonder Woman and other romantic subplots that need not be there; they should have taken them out and focused on Arthur more seeing as how it's his film and given it's 73 minute run time, the bulk of it should be placed on him and not have so many couples

So..many...couples..

Not only that, but the entire story seems like lack any real weight and smells more like a set up film than an origin story; I could tell without the now standard "post credit scene" that this is basically leading up to another film (possibly the Injustice League) and Arthur deserves more than that. That all being said, this movie did make Aquaman seem much more bad ass than in previous versions...well I guess as bad ass as the Justice League Unlimited one ( you know the one with the long beard and magic hook for a hand?) and I wanted to see more of his adventures so the film succeeds in that regard. One of my biggest complaints with the first 2 New 52 films were the voices and they must have heard me ( I'm a narcissist, I take credit for everything) because they changed all but 3 characters and I couldn't be happier. Rosario Dawson takes on the role of Wonder Woman has a mastery over it the previous voice actor didn't, Jerry O'Connell takes up the role of Superman and does a good job as the Man of Steel ( Fun Fact: George Newbern plays Steve Trevor but he was the voice of Superman in the awesome Justice League Unlimited series), Harry Lennix does a solid job playing the calculating Black Manta, but the biggest get is the return of Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan..such a huge improvement over the other actor, he was far too whiny. As far as the action goes, it's a hell of a lot better than the previous two films, there is more hand to hand combat and with that comes some pretty sweet fluid animation, but it isn't on par with some of the other fights I've seen from animated DC shows. 

"Come see how good I look"

Overall this movie is a watch for me. If you're a fan of Aquaman, you'll probably enjoy how they made him not look like the joke of the League but might also be a bit miffed at the fact that the story doesn't really center around him even though it's his origin story. The voice acting is solid (though some of the lip syncing is off..might have just been my copy?) and the action is decent but the story tries to cram way too many things into it and things feel a bit rushed and disjointed; Arthur gets over the passing of his father as fast as he accepts the fact that he's royalty. Oh one more thing though....Mera is a bad ass mofo in this film and I totally want another Aquaman movie just so we get more of her, good job with Mera DC/WB.

Mera was very good in my opinion

*I am aware that this is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, however I can still take issue with the fact that they decided to give screentime to the romantic subplots instead of focusing on the development of Arthur or at the very least the development between him and Mera.