#throneofatlantis

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Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is better than its precursor, Justice League: War, but the film would've been better if it had ditched the entire Justice League and the ending is a letdown.

When Arthur Curry (voiced by Matt Lanter) is approached by the enigmatic Mera (Sumalee Montano) she tells him of his Atlantean mother and of the abilities she has given him. Now, Mera needs Arthur and the Justice League to intervene before the underwater kingdom declares war on the surface world.

The good news is the movie makes Aquaman look appropriately awesome. His powers and abilities are cool, some pretty cool fights where he gets to show off his superhuman strength and superior fighting abilities. His nemesis, Black Manta (Henry Lennix) gets limited screen time but proves to be an interesting villain nonetheless. Arthur’s half-brother Orm (Sam Witwer) has a Shakespearean arc and gets a good amount of character development. The most exciting character by far, however, is Aquaman’s bodyguard and guide, Mera. If you’re starved for a strong female character in your superhero movies, she gives you plenty to cheer about. All of her scenes will have you excited to see what's next.

I have two major issues with the movie. The first is the Justice League. This should have just been an Aquaman movie. Arthur and his supporting characters are more than enough for a film and the rest just get in the way. Considering the bulk of the action is underwater they had a perfect opportunity to leave most of the other heroes out of this story until the very end... so why didn't they?

This movie could have been great but the bloated robs time that could've been spent on the underwater business. As the League struggles because they can’t be united, but then they can, but then they can't until they have to save the world, your goodwill towards it dwindles and that's when the conclusion comes in. An epic battle that's so underwhelming it makes you feel a little embarrassed. Then, there's the dialogue. Most of the time it’s alright, but there are some bad one-liners and a lot of awkwardly worded phrases, or scenes that end up being quiet but should have dialogue or vice-versa. I don’t know what happened, but this problem was also present in the previous films. Someone at DC animation needs to polish up these scripts.

Aside from the last fight, the action delivers what you want to see as powers fly left and right. The new characters introduced are sure to please those who know them and those just discovering the DC Comics Icon. The animation is smooth. It's different enough from the time we saw him in the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited series but it doesn't top it. I wish I could be enthusiastic about this one but this is one of the films in the series you can probably skip. A solo Aquaman movie with Mera and him fighting off some cool bad guys would be great but this isn't what we got. (On Blu-ray, February 11, 2015)