Justice League: Throne of Atlantis MOVIE REVIEW

The Aquaman movie we deserve. 

Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis is the sequel to the 2014 DC Animated film Justice League: War. Based from the DC Comics event, it features returning actors Jason O'Mara, Christopher Gorham, Sean Astin, along with new voice actors Matt Lanter, Jerry O'Connell, Nathan Fillion among others. The film is written by Heath Corson and directed by Ethan Spaulding.

The film takes place sometime after War where athlantean Prince Orm wage war against humanity after accusing them of the damages that was made by Darkseid's invasion. Queen Atlanna seeks her first born son Arthur Curry as the only key for peace between the two worlds. Caught in between is the Justice League, who has been inactive as a unit as they continue to pursue their career and lives separately. 

For the easy question, is this a good film? Yes, but let us elaborate more. The film is equal parts Aquaman Begins and Exodus to the Justice League story. Fans who are expecting equal shares of iconic moments for their favorite characters will be slightly disappointed as Aquaman takes the lion's share of the film's attention when it comes to individual characters. Though it should be said that some of the others had their share of iconic moments, just not much. As if the Justice League in its entire was treated as a single character with seven personifications and not everyone was treated equally.

Unlike its predecessor where we were bombarded with non-stop action scenes, this film made a bigger room for the story, build-up, some exploits here and there that could build up to something for future films. The plot about Aquaman's origins can seem basic to some, but in a way is really solid written though obviously limited by the running time. The story that surrounds the League itself is uneven. It is the point in the film where it either drags or catches up really quick, affecting the overall pacing of the film. 

After all the build up was done, the film went on full-blast in releasing all of its action scenes. Almost every one of them heart-pounding, at times brutal and at some point iconic. But with so many time the film focused on the story they manage to show just enough action set pieces, nothing more nothing less, and the climax piece just ended sudden. 

The animation is still top notch, even with a limited budget. There some really sticky cheesy moments at parts here and there. The voice acting is split, it's either the actor is feeling the role or he/she's doing a chore. 

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis still hasn't found the right balance in showing story and action, but has shown potential to being much more if given more time and resources. In itself, it is still exemplary enough to satisfy fans and new comers. Definitely a must see for fans and curious minds, now if only Jason Momoa can show us that Aquaman can carry his own SOLO movie. 

(+)

Aquman Begins

Calculated action

Light humor and drama

(-)

Inconsistent pacing

Overall limited

Score: B+

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis will be available in Blu Ray and DVD in January 27. 

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb MOVIE REVIEW

I wished we had a museum like that, or maybe not.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is the second sequel to the Night of the Museum franchise featuring the return of actors Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan along with the late Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams and much more, with director Shawn Levy. We also see some new faces with Rebel Wilson, Dan Stevens, Ben Kingsley and much more.

Let's get straight to the point, what do I think about this movie? It really is not much. Admittedly the film started with a high energy, but somewhere in the middle or in the second act everything was just, dull and sometimes even awkward. The movie had a few scenes that warrants some solid laughs here and there, but you can't help to to notice the gap in between those scenes. It's like waiting 10 minutes or so to laugh that hard again (which isn't really hard as you think) and those gaps are just, dragging.

There were some funny moments too that we've seen in the previous films, or at least that's what I think. To be perfectly honest, I don't exactly know if I was missing something in this film by not remembering much about the previous one. All I remember about Night at the Museum 2 was Amy Adams playing a wax Amelia Earhart, a bunch of Cupids who sounds a lot like the Jonas Brothers or are they the Jonas Brothers? and not much. The first film I remember pretty well. 

There were also some moments that were meant to pull your heart strings and make you roll on the floor and cry or at least make you tear by just a bit, but here's thing. Most of those scenes were at the ending involving what could have been a really powerful farewell. Even the one with Robin Williams felt real, probably because you know what happened to him here in real life making his character's farewell felt a bit personal between him and you and I really like things like that. But after all those what-could-have-made-me-cry scenes, they have to pull off this one scene where every single one of those farewells went completely flat. I tried to look at it in a different perspective and it makes more sense than it did before, but that ain't really much. In my eyes and in my heart, those said scenes just felt powerless on me. 

The movie still had some entertaining action and comedy scenes that will satisfy both the young ones and the young at heart. Some awesome performances and some good CGI and film score. There's this one clever scene that I liked, wasn't the best, but definitely smart.  

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb had all the right elements for a finale, but not enough firepower to be really effective. 

(+)

Great performances

Tidbits of chuckle-fill scenes

Good action set pieces

Promising plot

(-)

So-so overall execution

Ineffective emotional scenes

Dull moments

Score: C+

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb now in theaters.