LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 28, 2018

Though the prices for LEGO toys are often exorbitant, the company's direct-to-video films are generally of a more budget-friendly price. With that comes something of a budget-friendly construction, little direct-to-video movies that don't exactly match the company's big-budget theatrical ventures for scale or visual complexity. While those cinematic films appear fairly photorealistic, at least as much as LEGO toys can, these DTV films take on more of a cartoonish feel and flavor and favor comedy overload and dazzling action over narrative substance and deep character building. And that's the perfect formula. Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis offers much the same, this time taking a fresh look at the Justice League's water-based hero who finds himself on dry land but surrounded by his friends when he's ousted from power and forced to battle away from his home turf.

Aquaman Becomes Airman.

An intergalactic bounty hunter named Lobo (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) is rampaging through Area 52. The “super strong and super tough” alien is in search of something near Dread Lake, which Aquaman (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) believes is a job for, who else, himself. Little does he know it’s a dry lake bed, not exactly a home field advantage for the water-based hero. He flips and flops and finds himself fully overwhelmed, and when the rest of the Justice League arrives, they collectively find an opponent they cannot defeat. Green Lantern (voiced by Cristina Milizia) struggles to make constructs of value while the rest of the team fails to subdue the enemy. To add insult to injury, Aquaman’s half-brother Ocean Master (voiced by Trevor Devall) brainwashes the people of Atlantis to rebel against Aquaman and forces him to relinquish his crown as King of Atlantis when he points out that the constitution’s fine print prohibits him from ruling the underwater kingdom. The heroes are banished and find themselves battling in a strange land as they seek to return the balance of power in Atlantis, and elsewhere in the universe, too.

The movie by-and-large sticks with formula, favoring laughs and action over intensive characterization, even title hero Aquaman, whose arc in the film propels the plot and even sees him comically drinking away his sorrows at one point in the movie. But even as the character "evolves" throughout the story, the film remains rightly reliant on comedy overflow, even in action where the jokes flow freely and enemies are often battled or defeated in some humorous manner. One of the film's best moments comes when Atlantian attackers catch humans ("mouth breathers") in nets or have them comically mounted like those Big Mouth Billy Bass plaque-things. Fun little recurring jokes dot the movie's runtime, with the most prominent being Green Lantern's unintentional demeaning and feminizing of Batman's utility belt. Most every scene plays in good spirits and the movie is all but guaranteed to leave a smile on the face, even as it's entirely simplistic in construction and delivery.

The movie's simple notes don't mean it skimps on visuals or voices. While it's not at the same level of the (current) trio of LEGO movies, the production enjoys a wide variety of locations, villains, and heroes, including a number of fun Atlantian villains blasting up the dry land world which results in a couple of unexpected heroes popping up, scrubbing their plans for a day off together, and joining the fight. The film doesn't want for variety, transitioning from Atlantis to another world and coming back to Earth where battles take place above and below the water's surface. Superman temporarily loses his power, Wonder Woman is knocked on the head a few times and spouts some lines about cheese disagreeing with her tummy, and the legend of Excalibur -- reworked -- is a prominent feature of the plot. The film is well paced and moves from scene to scene, action to action, and joke to joke at good speed, and at well under 80 minutes, the filmmakers have done a good job of cramming in a lot of material without the movie overstaying its welcome.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis is a typical LEGO-on-Blu-ray production, at least as far as the DTV films are concerned. While the animation lacks the complexity of the movies, favoring a more cartoonish appearance than the somewhat more photorealistic look the bigger budget films enjoy, the core textural qualities are very good. Viewers will note complex plastic texturing on characters -- hairs, faces, torsos, arms, legs -- while environments are sharp and maintain clarity even at distance. Colors are rich and deep. The palette is generally very simple, featuring essential shades with little variance between the basics. Pop and punch are strong points, and the Blu-ray presents the colorful film with a delightful balance and intensity that compliments the childlike and audience-friendly vibes very well. Occasional swaths of banding are visible across solid backgrounds but the image suffers from no other appreciable technical bugaboos, either source or encode related.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is perfectly serviceable. There's plenty of surround activity during action scenes, which yield diverse sounds sweeping and swirling about. The low end never kicks in with any prodigious thump but does engage in a basic support pattern that gives more prominent action elements a much needed and very appreciated boost. Environmental supports are rarely prominent, but a few key locations -- underwater Atlantis, a surface-side carnival -- offer the odd ambient effect to give sonic shape. Music plays as expected, with positive engagement throughout the stage and solid clarity across the entire range. Dialogue is a mainstay and presents with everything in perfect working order.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis' Blu-ray release contains no supplemental content, but this SKU does ship with a Jessica Cruz Green Lantern LEGO Minifig. There's also another version that ships without the Minifig and, at time of writing, actually costs several dollars more on Amazon, making this the no-brainer choice between the two. This release also ships with a DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Aquaman: Rage of Atlantis delivers a fun and familiar LEGO DTV viewing experience. While this film lacks the structural muscle and dramatic depth of the of company's cinematic ventures, this one's a light, breezy, cartoonish escape with zingers throughout, action galore, and a variety of characters and locations that all keep the movie fresh and flowing, complimented by a very breezy and agreeable runtime. Warner Brothers' featureless Blu-ray offers quality video and audio presentations. The included Minifigure is a treat. Recommended.