Can CGI and Audio Keep Aquaman Afloat?

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2019)

To say that superhero movies are liked in this day and age is an astronomical
understatement. No matter what realm or studio these heroes come from, people are lining up to see every movie starring a supernatural hero, DC Universe (DCU) has been riding this wave for some time and while they may have fallen off a little bit here with their newest movie Aquaman, there are still a lot of things to hang in there for.
The film starts off by introducing two characters through Arthur/Aquaman's (Jason Moana) narration, his father, Tom Curry (Temeura Morrison) and his mother, Queen Atlanta (Nicole Kidman) and how their meeting and falling in love and ultimately more important the child they had were never supposed to be. Then after a few years have passed Queen Atlanta's old life catches up to her as she was part of an arranged marriage in Atlantis so in order to protect her family she must return to fulfill her part in the marriage. After this, the movie zips ahead 20 years and viewers can see that Arthur has grown up to be a mammoth of a man who possess special powers thanks to his mother's genetics and we quickly and violently learn that he is using these powers to help those in need.
The dialogue was lacking and in spots, the humor was rather dry and short-lived, the poor script causes there to be moments where something seems to be lost from the scene because of how it seems the words are just thrown in. It seems the scriptwriters tried to be funny in situations that called for something serious or smooth and this leads to a choppy sounding dialogue that leaves viewers wondering if the scriptwriters didn't read things over before they submitted it. An example of this is when Arthur dramatically breaks his way into a submarine then gives a sheepish grin and says, "Permission to come aboard?" The screenwriters couldn't have come up with a less original quote, causing everyone to shake their heads as there is nothing more predictable that could have been said and yet they kept it. Also, there is a major lacking of back story for Black Manta, he plays a major role in the film and yet we know next to nothing about his past. This leaves Manta to be a shallow husk of a potentially wonderful character and gives the viewers almost no reason to even like him let alone cheer for him.
With over five different studios working on the CGI for this film, it's not surprising the filmmakers were able to pull off the realistic water effects and seemingly-accurate battle scenes. The way that they made the fight scenes not only look very real but also had to work with transitioning from land to water shots quickly and there was no scene disruption which allowed the viewers to stay focused on the movie. The CGI in this movie is comparable if not better then almost any other action movie out today, some examples could be Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Justice League, and with all of these, advanced CGI is utilized to create an almost undeniable reality.
Something that really stood out to me even as I cringed through the dialogue was how the movie used its audio. I really enjoyed how they used not only songs during action pieces or peaceful pans over beautiful scenery but just the simple non-diegetic music that helps to deepen the moment. Looking back now I can count more than a few times where I got goosebumps leading up to or in a scene because of the audio.
After diving into the underwater world of Aquaman viewers can see that though there were some rough patches, overall this movie was rather smooth sailing. When you look at the animation combined with the audio you get one great movie and though the dialogue can be rough I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for a fun and beautiful looking action movie.