AquaMan: A Review and Discussion Guide

To Know Before You Go

Movie: Aquaman

Rating: PG-13

Age Suggestion: A mature 10+, there are intense action scenes and plenty of jump scares

Running Time: Two and a half hours

Release Date: December 21st, 2018

Stars: 4 out of 5

Themes: Family, Doing the Right Thing, War, Reconciliation

Trigger Warnings: There are several things in this movie that could frighten kiddos. There’s death and tons of jump scares as well as explosions.

Quick Summary: Arthur has become disenchanted with the idea of Atlantis and prefers life with his father on land. But he’s still the hero we know as Aquaman. His confusion leads him through the most entertaining adventure the DC universe has shared with us.

Discussion Questions:

1- Have you ever felt torn about ‘where you belong’?

2- Why was Arthur more or less qualified than his brother to be king?

3- How did history and mythology play into the plot?

4- What are the differences between a hero and a leader?

5- How was Arthur able to forgive so much instead of holding on to his anger? What did that do for him?

6- When you are in charge of a group of people, is obligation more important than doing something that is right for everyone, even if it doesn’t seem to be right for the group?

Reviews:

Thoughts from the Ent:

-Aquaman is one of the best DC movies in the modern era of the DCCU. It is light, but with just enough seriousness and darkness to push forward the narrative.  
-The plot of this movie is very interesting because it has multiple threads that intertwine well with one another.  Giving us multiple people to keep up with as well as future adventures and challenges to look forward to.  -Pobably the most unique aspect of this movie to me was the fact that it was directed by one of best modern-day horror directors, James Wan.  Overall, the movie is fairly light, but you can definitely see Wan’s fingerprints in the quick jumps to make you jump and the horrifying sea creatures.  Also, in the very beginning, you see a nod to H.P. Lovecraft’s Dunwich Horror.  *Unfortunately, the only thing that not even James Wan could fix was the costume for Jason Momoa which was the traditional yellow and green. But The Elf disagreed and liked both the costume and the cheesy traditional-ness of some of the scenes.

Thoughts from the Princess:

-The conversation of family and duty is very interesting. They did a wonderful job of showing that although your duty/connection with family and friends is important, it also should never take precedent over the greater good or doing the right thing. -It was fascinating how the desire for revenge was so prevalent throughout the movie and in both cases it lead only to evil and defeat. Whereas those searching for justice and hope were those who succeeded. -I also loved the theme of humility. Although Aquaman is obviously strong and very powerful, he was not afraid to admit that he did not know what he was doing, and that he was flawed. Whereas his opponents refused to show or admit weakness and of course that worked out better for him than it did for them. *I agree that the traditional costume and the Fabio jumping out of the water scene were over the top and out of place.  

Do you aspire to be a leader, a hero, or do you aspire to help leaders or heroes?

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