Aquaman: King of Atlantis

“The fate of his people, his kingdom and all the world depends on him! No worries, it’s all part of the job for the newly crowned Aquaman: King of Atlantis. With Mera – the water-controlling princess – and Vulka – the royal scholar – by his side, there’s a tidal wave of adventure to be had for Aquaman! Submerge yourself in action and underwater antics, Atlantis-style!”

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided us with a free copy of this Blu-ray/DVD that we reviewed in this blog post. The opinions we share are our own.

I’m sure one of the biggest struggles in bringing the character of Aquaman to mainstream audiences was making someone whose superpower is talking to marine life seem interesting. The film version and subsequent DC Universe live action iterations of the character, in my opinion, successfully portrayed Arthur Curry as a brooding, mysterious hero with a great origin story, and finds a way to present him abilities in a unique way. What this new animated series does is totally embrace all the weirdness of Aquaman’s abilities and turn the entire story into an almost mesmerizing exploration of Aquaman and the characters closest to him.

I know I’ve continually said this, but Warner Bros. and DC Animated shows continue to impress me with how significantly different they make their animation style with each of their series. They allow the option of exploration with each character, sometimes even in the same series, as demonstrated with some of the Batman animated films. Aquaman: King of Atlantis is in a class of its own, however. While I may show my age here, I’m most reminded of the animation style of Ren & Stimpy, with the sometimes droopy faces, weird attention to butts, and other strange creatures that look like nothing you’d ever recognize. It’s insanely strange at first, but you get used to it, especially if you enjoy the type of cartoons that you might suspect actually cause ADD. It’s definitely a wild ride, and can be pretty entertaining and funny at times.

The show has a great voice cast, with Cooper Andrews as Aquaman, whom you might know from The Walking Dead, Gillian Jacobs as Mera, and Thomas Lennon as Vulko, with some other great names thrown in there as well. There are some funny lines throughout, definitely making this more of a show geared toward the comedy side targeting a younger audience as opposed to the older crowd with a darker tone, like many of their animated films.

The biggest drawback of this series is that it goes all-in on the unique stylization that if you don’t enjoy the aforementioned shows, or ones like SpongeBob SquarePants, this probably isn’t your cup of tea. That’s where I found myself, really wanting to give this a fair shot, but finding it difficult to enjoy the animation style. That being said, there are some really funny moments in the show, and you shouldn’t let it detract from your enjoyment if you can help it.

The show currently streams on HBO Max and is separated into three episodes, while the DVD presents them in one continuous length.

Video

Aquaman: King of Atlantis has been released on DVD only. This standard definition release does its job with expected limitations on vibrant colors, clarity, and overall fine detail. The show is available to stream on HBO Max as well in High Definition, so if you’re a stickler for seeing things the best quality possible, that may be the way to go.

Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby 5.1. The tracks on these episodes are consistently good, with a nice balance between the surrounds and center channel. Dialogue is clear and concise, with no issues of note.

Special Features

No extras on this disc.

Fans of this style of animation and storytelling should find quite a bit of entertainment and humor in this show. For the rest of us, it can be a chore to look beyond that stylized look, but there are parts of the show that are worth checking out. This is available now to own on DVD and stream on HBO Max.