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Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Home Entertainment Release
Studio: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 13th, 2015 - Digital; January 27th, 2015 - Blu-ray, DVD

Synopsis: Cyborg discovers an imminent threat in the depths of the oceans so powerful that it rallies together the newly formed Justice League. Meanwhile, wandering thousands of feet above the ocean floor is drifter Arthur Curry, a man with strange powers who may be the last chance to bridge the ancient Atlantean world with our own. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League must band together as they face off against warmongering Orm, an army of sea creatures, otherworldly weapons and perilous odds. In this all-new epic adventure from the DC Universe, mankind’s only hope of escaping from the darkness lies with the guiding light of a man – Aquaman!


Blu-ray Bonus Features
-Scoring Atlantis: The Sound of the Deep
-Robin and Nightwing Bonus Sequence
-Throne of Atlantis: 2014 New York Comic Con Panel
-Villains of the Deep
-A Sneak Peak at "Batman vs. Robin"
-4 Bonus Cartoons:
-–Batman: The Brave and the Bold “Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure!”
-–Batman: The Brave and the Bold “Evil Under the Sea!”
–-Aquaman “Menace Of The Black Manta”
–-Justice League Unlimited “Far from Home”
-Includes UltraViolet so you can enjoy the film on many different compatible devices.

Single-Disc DVD Bonus Features
-A Sneak Peak at "Batman vs. Robin"

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Blu-ray Review
by James Harvey

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases another DC Universe Animated Original Movie to the masses and, as can be expected, the quality remains consistent with previous titles. Featuring good audio and video quality and a nice helping of bonus content, it's safe to say that fans should come away happy.

My favorite bonus feature on here is the thirty-minute look at the film's scoring. "Scoring Atlantis: The Sound of the Deep" is a great look at the film the work that went into creating the film's score. Composer Frederik Weidmann, producer James Tucker, and assorted musicians and producers chime in on the film's story, Aquaman, and the choices used when creating the musical undercurrent to the Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. Weidmann's influence behind Aquaman's theme, and how it's gain during the film, is a nice note. Most interesting, personally, is that we get to see a lot of Weidmann showing us his scoring process and some of the actual scoring sessions. Lots of great tidbits on the art of composing are sprinkled throughout. However, it's slightly odd that the poster for Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is used as the backdrop for some of the interview segments (though Weidmann did compose the score for that feature, too).

Continuing, the Blu-ray also includes an isolated score track, which is a fantastic inclusion. It's not lossless, which is a shame, but it still sounds fantastic and gives a great impression of the film's bombastic sound. The score is fantastic, and will definitely be worth adding to the collection once the soundtrack is released by La-La Land Records.

The short "Nightwing and Robin Bonus Sequence" mixes together an actual animated short with an accompanied brief featurette. There's a little over two minutes of producer James Tucker discussing the short, and how he's working to bring them back as a regular feature, and then the actual roughly minute-long short itself. The short is a quick action sequence which wraps up the Scarecrow plotline from Justice League: Throne of Atlantis and teases Batman Versus Robin. It's nothing special, honestly, but it's also very cool. Nicely animated and a great little extra.

Another stellar bonus feature is "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis - At the 2014 New York Comic-Con Panel," the roughly 26-minute recap of the film's Comic-Con panel. The featurette is an edited version of the panel interspersed with clips from the movie. The clips from the film itself captures the most relevant parts of the panel, including character designs, origins of the film, voice actor choices and so on. Tucker's hint about Orm's fate, and the after credit sequence, definitely hints at what will likely be the 2016 installment of the "New 52" animated Justice League movies. The Q & A segment of the featurette is actually pretty interesting, so make sure you watch that part of the featurette.

"Villains of the Deep" is a nice, quick eleven-minute featurette exploring the history of Black Manta, Orm and their relationship to Aquaman. The featurette sets out Aquman's family dynamic is akin to Shakespeare or Camelot. Basically, it all boils down to a fight to the throne. It's a great rundown for those looking to know more about the badguys of the piece (which helps, since the villains in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis are a bit two-dimensional).

The four bonus episodes are a mix of new and old, and have varying levels of age and video/audio quality. Following that, the disc wraps up with a nice preview for the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie Batman Versus Robin, some trailers, a DVD-edition of the movie and an UltraViolet digital download code. The10-minute Batman Versus Robin preview is a mix of finished footage, production art and interview bits.

To quickly comment on the video and audio quality, it mirrors previous DC Universe Animated Original Movie titles releases from Warner. The video is pretty crisp, but it suffers from the usual color banding that pops up from time to time (which seems to be a mainstay of this video series). The cloudy/hazy underwater effects take away some of the film's crispness and can be distracting at times. The haziness, an added special effect, can seem a little off-putting when it's proceeded by a scene above water where the entire image is crystal clear. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 English track does a fine job of bringing the film's major set pieces to life. There's one fight scene in particular, above water where Aquaman and the Justice League face off against some Trench creatures, that is especially rollicking. It's a loud, rambunctious affair and every big pump, pound, and pulse comes out loud and clear.

Overall, the Blu-ray release of Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is a solid effort on the part of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The bonus content actually features a nice wealth of material focused on the animated feature's production, with the highlight truly being a close examination of the film's scoring process. The New York Comic-Con panel is a nice watch, especially in the context of viewing it after watching the movie itself and seeing how the hints dropped during the panel pan out during said movie. It's also safe to assume fans will get a nice kick out of the brief "Nightwing and Robin" bonus sequence, and rightly so. The audio and video quality is on par with the DC Universe Animated Original Movie titles, save for a little extra ding in the video department due to the underwater special effects. That being said, it's a worthwhile title worth adding to the collection, especially for Aquaman fans. He really gets his due here. And, out of the different editions of this film available, it's safe to say that the Blu-ray release of Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is the way to go. Recommended.

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