Review of Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015) by Sylvester E — 17 Jan 2015

The mediocrity from DC's animated features continues. Aquaman is arguably the hardest member of the Justice League to write for, simply because his relevance to the team comes only when either a) water is involved or b) the ocean politics of Atlantis are involved.

While this move makes a valiant attempt at making Arthur Curry a badass, there are too many missteps for Throne of Atlantis to succeed. First of all, the gratuitous violence that has become the staple of DC animated movies becomes less and less impactful when there is little meaning behind it.

Second, the dynamics amongst the members of the Justice League are so lacking in chemistry that the organization becomes extremely boring to watch. Perhaps the worst character to suffer from this interpretation is Shazam, whose presence on the team provides no real humor and no real advantages besides shimmering with electricity.

The high point in drama and action that DC hit with 2013's The Flashpoint Paradox seems to be a distant memory with the recent entries, and DC has a lot of work to do in order to reclaim its glory from the DCAU of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.