Justice League: Throne of Atlantis

• Directed by Ethan Spaulding
• January 13, 2015 (digital) / January 27, 2015 (physical)
• Based loosely on the Throne of Atlantis story arc from The New 52 written by Geoff Johns

Voice Cast

• King Orin, Arthur Curry/Aquaman-Matt Lanter
• Young Arthur-DJ Price
• Mera-Sumalee Montano
• Orm/Ocean Master-Sam Witwer
• Queen Atlanna-Sirena Irwin
• Bruce Wayne/Batman-Jason O’Mara
• Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman-Jerry O’Connell
• Diana Prince/Wonder Woman-Rosario Dawson
• Barry Allen/Flash-Christopher Gorham
• Hal Jordan/Green Lantern-Nathan Fillion
• Victor Stone/Cyborg-Shemar Moore
• Lois Lane-Juliet Landau
• Billy Batson/Shazam-Sean Astin
• Black Manta-Harry Lennix
• Steve Trevor-George Newbern
• Sarah Charles-Melique Berger
• Lex Luthor, Cyborg’s armor-Steve Blum
• Jimmy Olsen-Patrick Cavanaugh
• Thomas Curry-Larry Cedar
• Sam Lane-Jay K. Johnson
• Dr. Stephen Shin-Matthew Yang King
• John Henry Irons-Khary Payton
• Defense Advisor-Barry Dennen
• Captain-Paul Eiding
• Elderly Atlantean Woman-Andrea Romano
• Drift Leader-Michael Rosenbaum
• Submarine Technician-Cedric Yarbrough

Arthur Curry discovers his heritage and assists the Justice League to stop a war between the surface and the Atlanteans orchestrated by his half-brother Orm.

While I enjoyed Throne of Atlantis, truthfully there is not much movie here. If this were a comic book this could be easily done in two issues with room for additional material. And I am pretty sure the JL story upon which this is based covered more than that and delved into other areas as well.

For a 70 something minute movie this manages to evoke the awe and wonder that older comic book stories did. You feel as if you are experiencing something new and different. There’s a level of strange in this addition of Atlantis to the animated DC mythology. In a world experiencing a glut of comic book movies that is hard. And 8 years after this came out to still feel it that is a credit to all involved.

Rather than encompassing the entire Justice League, the story focuses largely on Arthur Curry/Aquaman and his journey to become King of Atlantis. At the beginning he is reeling from the death of his father who was the only parent he had ever known since unbeknownst to him his mother was forced to return to Atlantis to marry a man she didn’t love and bare a child that hates Arthur even though they have never met.

The story moves at a pretty rapid pace and in a short period Arthur grows from a drunken brawler to noble king. As with the older DC animated films they handle things effectively despite a short runtime. Under lesser creative minds such a short time from useless to useful would’ve felt forced but they make it work. I am much more familiar with the theatrical version of Aquaman’s origin than I am with the version of the comics, so I am not sure how much alcohol plays into it there. His continuity has been rebooted a few times since 1941 and what little I know may not be close to what is current.

I feel Ethan Spaulding and pals shortchanged the villains of Ocean Master and Black Manta. We know they are bad and are doing bad things but why-especially with Black Manta-is fuzzy. I do not think his name even gets mentioned. You can assume Orm is worried his brother will take the throne (implied once or twice) but why is he so obsessed with starting a war?

Another issue is the relationship between Arthur and Mera. They are implied to be a couple by the end but where exactly does their romance begin? Is it when Mera bandages Arthur’s wound? That is the clearest moment of attraction. But that is also kinda creepy.

I do think some of this relies more on knowledge of the comics for its characters rather than on crafting a narrative independent of the comics. With characters like Batman or Superman who have been at the forefront of DC for decades you can get away with that. With Aquaman characters from that world not so much. Especially since the best-known version when this came out was that boring version from Superfriends. Loved the show but Aquadouche was not a favorite.

This is more or less a sequel to Justice League: War and it builds on certain elements of that such as Victor’s resentment towards his father AND introduces Victor trying to start living a life rather than remain shut off from the world. But little else is built upon here. That extends to an end credit scene involving Lex Luthor speaking to Orm who is in a cell. Ocean Master is demanding to speak to Arthur and Luthor says he has a proposition for him.

I honestly don’t remember this being continued in any form anywhere else in the DC movies I’ve seen. Maybe I missed one but unless you’re going to build on something you tease don’t tease it. And it could have been big given that Lex Luthor was behind it.

I think the animation is a little overly muscular but overall not bad. I waffle a little bit on the style used in this set of DC animated films but on the whole I tend to like the stuff that takes its queue from the Max Fleischer cartoons. This looks like it takes a page from Rob Liefeld without the unnecessary fixation on weird shoulder pads. Seriously.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is a nice one-off adventure. Despite the weaknesses it is a good adventure with plenty of excitement and is yet another good entry for the animated DC films.