Review: Justice League - Throne of Atlantis

When an American submarine is mysteriously attacked, the Justice League is deployed to investigate. They soon discover that the sub was assaulted by Atlantean warriors, prompting the team to scramble to find the mythical underwater kingdom before a war is unleashed on the surface.

Meanwhile, the eldest son of the Queen of Atlantis must learn to accept his heritage and prevent his younger brother from enslaving the world above.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is a 2015 animated film starring Jason O’Mara, Jerry O’Connell, Rosario Dawson, Nathan Fillion, Shemar Moore, Sean Astin, and Matt Lanter. It is an adaptation of the graphic novel Throne of Atlantis, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Ivan Reis and Paul Pelletier.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis functions as both a sequel to JusticeLeague: War and as an origin story for the hero Aquaman. As such, this is a movie that struggles with what it wants to be. On the one hand, it’s the story of how the Justice League accepts their role as Earth’s greatest heroes. On the other, it’s the story of how the half-blood prince Arthur Curry becomes the King of Atlantis. These two narratives are constantly at odds with one another, warring for prominence over the course of the film’s 72 minute running time.

By eschewing Aquaman from the preceding film in this series and shoehorning his narrative into the story of Orm’s war on the surface world, we get a surprisingly overstuffed film despite its relatively short running time. What we get a lot of are great character moments. We see Cyborg’s struggle to embrace his humanity even though he is mostly machine, leading to some standout interactions with the civilian Sarah and his teammate Shazam. We also get some cute moments between Superman and Wonder Woman, who have begun dating due to their mutual similarities. The majority of the attention though goes towards Aquaman. Though this should be a good thing, the problem is the focus shifts too often with how we’re supposed to empathize with and relate to him. The film deals with his mourning of his father, the impending responsibility of ruling Atlantis, his budding attraction to Mera, his hatred for his half-brother Orm, and his mixed feelings towards his mother. While all of these things are fantastic and worthy of being explored, the fact that Throne of Atlantis attempts to tackle all of these subplots makes the film pretty crowded and unfocused.

Much like Justice League: War, this film struggles with its cast and finding the right balance. Also like its predecessor, it gives us a terrifyingly powerful villain and some incredible action to go along with it. Orm is presented as the Big Bad of this movie and he truly does live up to that status. He single-handedly takes down the Justice League in one of the most harrowing climactic final battles within the DC Universed Animated Original Movies line. He’s brutal and relentless in his pursuit for power, viewing everyone around him as weak. It’s clear he places more capital on politics and legitimacy than love, which makes him extremely dangerous.

The animation from this line of films continues to impress. It’s clean, expressive and each character has his or her own unique look. The new characters have pretty neat designs. Aquaman is very sleek and his costume is a nice modern update on his classic orange and green uniform. Queen Atlanna is another standout, particularly due to her elegant styling. This gives her a sense of gravitas. There is one disappointment though – Mera. I absolutely adore the character and think she’s portrayed as the fierce warrior she truly is. Sadly, her design is lackluster. Her hair is pulled tight into a high ponytail, which somehow makes her look bald. Her headdress isn’t terribly pretty and her outfit itself looks as if it’s a knock off of Chun-Li’s blue jumpsuit from the Alpha line of Street Fighter video games.

Even though Justice League: Throne of Atlantis was somewhat below Justice League: War in terms of quality, I still found it to be a highly entertaining film. Despite its unfocused narrative, the characters are all very distinct and are performed well by a talented voice cast. It’s a film that gives us a fresh, new take on Aquaman and provides us with hands-down the most badass version of Mera we’ve seen in an adaptation thus far. Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is enjoyable as an Aquaman film and does its job of establishing him as a force to be reckoned with. However, as a Justice League movie, it falls short of its target.

RATING: B