Aquaman: King of Atlantis - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Aquaman: King of Atlantis



Movie:
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Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:




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Movie
Remember when Aquaman was considered a joke by the comic book world? He was a goofy fish guy who got made fun of by most comic lovers for DECADES. He became the butt of many a joke in the animated shows of the 80s and 90s, and it wasn’t until the New 52 era that Arthur Curry was re-written to be a tough ruler of Atlantis. Around that time period we started seeing more and more effort into making him a true super hero and could actually face off against just about everyone but Super Man himself (who, as much as I love the iconic hero, is king of an over powered Maguffin and has had to have multiple re-writes to make him manageable over the years). Well, Aquaman: King of Atlantis takes the idea of the old “joke” character and just runs with it as a kids show on HBO Max. The series isn’t meant to go back to making fun of Arthur talking to fishes, but dials him back to a Cartoon Network style comedy kids show that’s specifically aimed at sub 12 year olds on purpose.

King of Atlantis follows Arthur on his first day on the job as King under the sea. But instead of making things all serious and adultesque, the show is one big slapstick adventure in full Robot Chicken style. We get to see regulars like Ocean Master, A god king, a disembodied head, and plenty of goofy antics for the newfound King to cut his teeth on. And of course his love Mira (without Amber Heard of course).

Luckily the show isn’t cannon and not meant to tie in with the live action shows or movies. Instead they’re an intentional goof that just has fun and rolls with a few inside jokes about the character. It’s silly fun, but never really an articulate adults show either. It’s very obvious that the producers were intent on making a kids only show with the series, and while I appreciate it for what it is, I just couldn’t get into as a result. My youngest nephew (the last of my sub 12 year old relatives that I can use as test subjects for these kids flicks) was entertained, so I’m guessing it hit its demographic mark there. All in all, a fun little jaunt as a side adventure, but not something I’m going to be spinning up any time soon to rewatch.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

King of Atlantis arrives on DVD (sadly no 4K or Blu-ray) with a decent, but never great, 480p encode. The animation is bright and shiny, ala Cartoon Network style with brilliant neon reds, yellows, and blues. The animation style doesn’t exactly lend itself towards tons of detail, so I can’t exactly blame it on the encode, but I did notice some banding in the ocean waves, as well as a TON of haloing around objects. And by a ton, I mean that just about every line art object has a halo around it. Not so bad on a 55 inch TV, but on the 85 inch screen it was almost blinding. Black levels are decent, and while the disc really only lives in the 4-5mpbs range for bitrate, it still manages to look acceptable.







Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby Digital track is a bit better, but even that has the more minimalist 384 kbps bitrate, which makes the track a bit thin. That being said, this is a simple kids show without a whole ton of effort into the audio mixing, but it still manages to be a solid performer. LFE is punchy when needed, dialog is crisp and clean, and I didn’t notice any digital artifacting. About the only thing I can complain about is that it’s a bit “thing”, even for a Dolby Digital track






Extras:

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Final Score: ​

Aquaman: King of Atlantis is a kiddy flick meant for the sub 12 year olds in your household, and really won’t appeal to adults that much. This isn’t a Steven Universe type show where it is clever enough to appeal to both kids AND adults, but rather an animated adventure for the younglings as a cheap digital babysitter. Personally I would have loved to at LEAST seen this get a Blu-ray release considering how common it is for 1080p and 2160p content on HBO Max where the show originated, but it is what it is. Adults be warned, but it’s a passable babysitter for the young ones who want some DC animated fun


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Cooper Andrews, Gillian Jacons, Thomas Lennon
Created by: Keith Paklz
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG 2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish, French DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: NR
Runtime: 137 Minutes
DVD Release Date: June 21st 2022

Recommendation: For the Kids