Aquaman is, well, a goofy character. There’s no two ways about it. No matter how badass you try to make the guy, he’s still the guy in the orange shirt who talks to fish. And I say that as a fan! Not every superhero needs to be grim or dark, and there’s a lot of untapped potential in a ruler of an undersea kingdom that could weld a good deal of political or economic power if someone chose to tell that story. But I did appreciate director James Wan’s live action take on the character, one that at least recognized that, deep down, the character is at least a little bit riduclous, so why not just have some fun?
That must have been the thinking behind the HBO Max animated mini-series, produced by Wan, called Aquaman: King of Atlantis.
Set maybe five minutes after the end of Wan’s movie, the series picks up with new king of Atlantis Aquaman (voice of Cooper Andrews) trying to win over his new subjects with exactly zero success to show for. The citizens, a bizarre mishmash of fish people, still prefer Ocean Master (Dana Snyder) for various reasons, and Aquaman doesn’t know Atlantean ways anyway, so there’s a running gag that Ocean Master keeps retaking the throne and the kingship whenever he can until Aquaman bops him on the head with a trident. About the only support Aquaman has is love interest Mera (Gillian Jacobs), an action girl type who lives to knock heads, and Vulko (Thomas Lennon), chief advisor who knows science or magic depending on the needs of the scene. Aquaman doesn’t even know he’s not supposed to actually sit on a chair down there so much as float an inch above one, so what is a guy to do when he can’t even be comfortable on his own throne?
The answer seems to be to go on quests, bringing the hero into contact with a couple of the comic book villains that are not all that likely to appear in a live action movie anyway. Aquaman still has a lot to learn, and he still misses the surface since they can use fire to cook things there. Can Aquaman win over his fickle people, save the world, and maybe get a bit o’ kissin’ in with Mera?
OK, bottom line: I didn’t like this. Each episode runs about 45 minutes, and I knew HBO Max would keep new episodes in my “Watch Next” que after watching the first one, so why not knock off two couple more? Maybe they got better? Besides, comedy is subjective, and this is clearly shooting for very silly. At the least, since there were only three episodes, it’s not like it would take up a lot of my precious time.
Well, maybe, but I honestly didn’t care for the animation. Aquaman looking vaguely like Jason Mamoa with green hair isn’t necessarily a problem, but this was over-exaggerated characters in consistently weird poses. Why were their hands so small and their necks so long? Combine that with jokes I didn’t find all that funny, aside from maybe Aquaman’s frustration over Atlantean cooking, and there wasn’t much for me to enjoy in a series like this. If HBO opts for more, I think I will opt out.
Grade: C
0 Comments