Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis 4K UHD Review
“Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis” is a lackluster DC animated film.
“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.”
“Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis” is a tale of two stories that ultimately converge together. The first concerns half human, half Atlantean Arthur Curry (AKA Aquaman) who essentially learns who he is, who his family is, and ultimately what his destiny is with the help of Mera. The second storyline finds Cyborg investigating strange happenings around the Marianas Trench which are linked to dangerous actions being plotted by the villainous Ocean Master and Black Manta. I won’t spoil their overall plan, but suffice it to say, it’s bad news all around. Eventually, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Justice League (comprised of Batman, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Flash, Green Lantern, and Superman) band together to try and put a stop to the devastating actions of Ocean Master and company.
With “Aquaman” a mere weeks away now, WB has released a new edition of the Aquaman centric DC animated film “Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis” on 4K. For those that are unaware, the story is based on the “Throne of Atlantis” comic arc from Geoff Johns’ thrilling “Aquaman” run. In fact, this arc seems to have even inspired some of what will be see in the “Aquaman” film itself. With that in mind, I was interested in revisiting this film. When I first reviewed it, I wasn’t blown away by it nor did I think it was a top tier DC animated film. Alas, my opinion hasn’t changed on the second viewing.
As epic of a story as ‘Throne of Atlantis’ is, the 72 minute Heath Corson scripted animated film doesn’t handle the ambitious story well. The movie starts slow, it rushes through important character and story moments (Ocean Master and Black Manta are particularly underdeveloped here), and there’s a severe lack of emotional impact in scenes that should have them. It feels like we’re getting a condensed version of the story and the movie suffers because of it. It would have made more sense to make this an animated series arc or perhaps a multi-movie story. That way the characters and the story would be better serviced.
The animation itself also looks rather simplistic compared to other DC animated films. It’s not bad by any means, it just doesn’t look as visually stunning or fine tuned as we know a DC animated film can be.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.78:1 2160p. How does it look? The Blu-ray transfer was slightly underwhelming, but I can tell you the 4K transfer offers up richer colors.
Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? A quality track that really shines when the action kicks in.
Extras:
* WB/DC trailers including one for “The Death of Superman.”
* Blu-ray copy
* Digital copy
* The “Throne of Atlantis” soundtrack along with a half-hour featurette on Frederik Wiedmann’s score titled “Scoring Atlantis: The Sound of the Deep”
* The 2014 NY Comic-Con panel for ‘Throne’ featuring cast and crew.
* A sneak peek at the forthcoming “Reign of the Supermen” film.
* “Villains of the Deep”- An extra about the villainous Ocean Master and Black Manta.
* A short featuring Robin and Nightwing with and without commentary.
* A JLU episode titled “Far From Home,” 2 “Batman: Brave and the Bold” episodes called “Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure!” and “Evil Under The Sea!” and an old school Aquaman episode “Menace of the Black Manta and the Rampaging Reptile-Men.”
* “Justice League: Throne of Atlantis: Aquaman: The New King”- A 15 minute extra that contains film clips, interviews, and discussions about the history of Aquaman in various iterations.
* A dull commentary by Heath Corson and Mike Carlin that has some lulls.
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