Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Aquaman: King Of Atlantis’ On HBO Max, A Wacky Animated Continuation Of Aquaman’s DCEU Story

Aquaman: King Of Atlantis is a continuation of the hero’s DCEU story.. We pick up right after Aquaman (Cooper Andrews) defeated Ocean Master (Dana Snyder) and ascended the throne of Atlantis, the first “surface dweller” to do so. But if you’re expecting Jason Momoa to pop up and flex his muscles — even his vocal ones — you’ll be in for a surprise. This time around, the story is told with surrealistic animation and funny dialogue.

AQUAMAN: KING OF ATLANTIS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A bird flies in the sky over the ocean. Then a huge whale flies out of the water, and we hear him go “YEAAAAH!”

The Gist: On his first day, he can’t even get a hang of the fish-shaped throne he’s supposed to sit on. Also, Ocean Master bursts back into the room and challenges Aquaman again. When Aquaman passes on the challenge, he learns from his officious assistant Vulko (Thomas Lennon) that Ocean Master automatically becomes king. Aquaman responds by bashing Ocean Master on the head with his trident, meaning he’s king once again.

Vulko has a long list of boring tasks that Ocean Master left in his wake, but the much more aggressive warrior Mera (Gillian Jacobs) thinks Aquaman should go visit Outpost 4, a town in the kingdom that hasn’t been heard from in 7 years. When he and Vulko go out there, they find that the ocean in the area has dried up. At an oasis, they find a bunch of bandits, and Vulko gladly plays baseball (which she thinks means “bashing the other guy with a bat”) and wields her water club.

They’re led to where the outpost is supposed to be, but all they see is a drill, operated by an ocean junk magnate named Mortikov (Andrew Morgato). He ingratiates himself to Aquaman, but Vulko is suspicious. He eventually sends them hurtling into a water-filled pit, where the remaining members of the outpost are being held. They think they’ve been down there for “like a week.” Despite some initial mistrust, he gets the townspeople to work with the bandits that constantly robbed them to defeat Mortikov and bring the water back. But he’s in for a surprise when he gets back to the castle.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The animation style of Aquaman: King Of Atlantis has a style that’s a cross between Steven Universe and something more surreal, like SpongeBob Squarepants. Character’s faces go from simple dots and lines in the distance to super-detailed and expressive up close. The vibe of the writing is self-deprecating, sort of “Aquaman meets The Tick.”

Our Take: The reason we know that Aquaman: King Of Atlantis is part of the DCEU  is that James Wan, who directed the film Aquaman, is an executive producer on the project, which was created by Victor Courtright and Marly Halpern-Graser. But it certainly doesn’t look like the Jason Momoa films, nor is it even trying to be. It not only tells its story via sometimes too-surreal animation, but it’s got a self-deprecating streak a mile wide.

Which is just fine with us, because Aquaman is the one superhero that shouldn’t take himself seriously. His powers are that he’s super strong and he telepathically talks to fish. Those are powers that are ripe for jokes, don’t you think? Going back to at least the Super Friends, if not longer, depictions of Aquaman on TV and film have shown him throwing those concentric circles/arcs towards ocean life and that ocean life accepting his outlandish requests to help him defeat evil.

The writers for the show lean into this, with Aquaman supremely unsure of himself as king, and not helped along by the stuffy Vulko and the aggro Mera. The show’s four main voice actors all get the silliness.  At certain points, the surreal nature of the animation tires the viewer out, but the miniseries only consists of three 45-minute episodes, so its story should help make up for the sometimes-dizzying visuals.

What Age Group Is This For?: Even though the show is TV-PG, we think kids 8 and up will be able to enjoy it.

Parting Shot: When Aquaman and Mera come back from the outpost, they see Ocean Master on the throne again. Vulko informs the pair about how long they’ve really been away.

Sleeper Star: Gillian Jacobs makes Mera into a person who just want to bash heads, matching her performance to the animation’s magic energy.

Most Pilot-y Line: The baseball meta-joke is repeated a few too many times, though it might be the case that it’s repeated so much that it stops being funny then comes around to being funny again.

Our Call: STREAM IT. When you sit down to watch Aquaman: King Of Atlantis, prepare to see the oceanic hero in a way you’ve never seen him before. If you can get through the surreal animation style, you’ll find the first episode a funny start to a good story.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Aquaman: King Of Atlantis On HBO Max