AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM

Here's the decision. This is a genuinely entertaining superhero adventure — great special effects, plenty of jeopardy, lots of laughs, and a warm center that keeps returning to family. Aquaman would rather be with his wife and baby son than sit through royal duties, and the film's best subplot is the slow, hard-won reconciliation between two brothers. It's pro-family and pro-life through and through, and it even paints its villain in frankly demonic terms with clear echoes of Scripture.

But it earns its cautions. There's too much foul language — nearly thirty obscenities plus a profanity — and the action violence runs long and intense. Worst of all is a heavy-handed climate-change message that leans into apocalyptic, globalist hysteria, right down to an epilogue calling for the kingdoms of land and sea to unite against warming.

So: this is worth seeing, but it's the kind of film best watched at home, where you can weigh the messaging with your older kids and skip nothing accidentally. Wait for home.

Aquaman is King of Atlantis now — burdened with duties he finds crushingly boring and a Council that won't let him reform much of anything. He'd rather be home with his wife, Mera, and their new baby son.

Then his old enemy David Kane, the vengeful Black Manta, resurfaces stronger than ever, wielding a repaired suit and ancient banned technology dredged up from a lost undersea kingdom. As global warming suddenly and mysteriously accelerates, Aquaman realizes he can't win this fight alone. To have any chance, he'll need help from the one person he can't trust: his imprisoned half-brother, Orm.

Three stars, and here's what they buy you. Director James Wan delivers an exciting, jeopardy-filled adventure with terrific special effects and a steady stream of humor. The script knows how to raise the stakes in its big action set pieces, and the escalating conflict between hero and villain keeps you invested even as the battles pile up.

It isn't flawless. Some of the dialogue and jokes land with a thud, and the sight of men riding seahorses that whinny and neigh like land horses is frankly a little ridiculous. Certain viewers may also find the sheer volume of action violence wearying. But the film's emotional engine — a hero fighting to save his son and his family — is strong enough to carry the whole voyage. It's a good, fun blockbuster that knows what it's about.

At its heart, this is a strongly moral, pro-family, pro-life story. It celebrates family relentlessly — Aquaman and his wife and baby, his human father Tom Curry who named him Arthur, and above all the reconciliation between two estranged brothers, urged on by their mother. The whole plot ultimately turns on a father saving his son from dark, evil forces, and that's a picture worth honoring.

The script even deserves credit for the shape of its villainy. The ancient leader of the black kingdom is drawn in clearly demonic terms, imprisoned in ice and released through evil energy — a metaphor that plainly links him to the Serpent of Scripture, Satan, whom God has imprisoned. That's a striking thing for a blockbuster to reach for.

But the film has no positive reference to God, implied or explicit, and it's marred by a very strong environmentalist message. It promotes an apocalyptic view of climate change — awkwardly, since it's the villains who cause the accelerated warming — and its epilogue endorses globalist, cross-kingdom solutions. Weigh that messaging carefully, especially with younger viewers.

Underneath the spectacle runs a true longing: for the family restored, the enemy defeated, the world made right. Scripture names the enemy this movie only gestures at — and his end: "the devil... was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:10).

Underneath the laser rifles and neighing seahorses, this is a big-hearted story about a father saving his family and two brothers learning to forgive. It also carries too much foul language, wall-to-wall action violence, and a heavy climate-change agenda you'll want to talk through. So here's our answer, the same one we opened with: wait for home, where you can watch it with your older kids and weigh what it's selling. Need something for the little ones tonight? Try our family-friendly picks.