One of my favorite aspects of the old DC Comics animated TV shows was the incorporation of so many different heroes and villains. That’s why I’ve always been excited for DC to expand into “non-mainline” heroes. Yes, this actually includes Aquaman.

Folks hate that guy, but like anyone else, if the writing is good then Aquaman can be great. How did Justice League: Throne of Atlantis treat our “talking to fish” hero?

The story feeds on some of the same source material as the first Jason Momoa live-action Aquaman movie. If you’ve seen that, you’ve mostly seen this except this has the addition of the Justice League.

I may not be the first to say it, but I don’t love the animation. There are times where it looks blurry when there’s a lot of motion. I’m also not a big fan of most of the costumes. Does all of the “modern” DC animated stuff look like this? I may have a hard time loving these movies, because I’m not digging the costumes. It can be so distracting.

I did NOT like the scene early in the movie where Superman and Wonder Woman kiss. Did not like it. Like, at all. Why is Superman not with Lois Lane in this world? What are we doing here, DC? If I was doing a star rating, this would cause the movie to lose an entire star!

I also have to admit that I don’t necessarily need my DC and Marvel superhero stuff to be really violent and bloody. I feel like I have Invincible for that now. I don’t think that the animated projects need the splatters of blood every few minutes to be successful.

Now, I know that it sounds like I hated this movie, but there are a few big positives for me coming out of watching

I though the voice cast was terrifc. They sought out top level talent and nailed it. How could I say no to Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) voicing Aquaman? While Sam Witwer can be a little too much at times even for me, he was great as Orm. Who doesn’t love Orm sounding a little bit like Maul from Star Wars? Another standout was Sean Astin as Shazam. I wish Zachary Levi had remembered that he’s supposed to be a teenage boy inside a superhero body in the live-action Shazam movies. Astin nailed that.

Mera’s portrayal was great in the movie as well. I wish we were given this on the big screen. Her physicality, using her powers to generate things like water spears and arrows, and general fighting ability were sorely missing in the live-action movies, especially the second where she was completely wasted.

This one isn’t my favorite movie, and after it was finished, I don’t feel that Aquaman was even close to being the most interesting character in his own movie. Oh well. Maybe next time will be better.