Our west coast correspondent managed to see  an early screening of Aquaman. Here’s her non-spoilery teaser review.

Arthur Curry’s mom had to leave him and his father when Arthur was a child. Arthur realizes he has special gifts, but tends to keep them to himself, saving the occasional fishing boat in trouble. But all of that changed during the events portrayed in Justice League.
Suddenly outed as “the Aquaman,” Arthur finds himself directly responsible for saving the land from the sea. Specifically, from someone he learns to be his younger, half brother King Orm. Orm is bent upon a war with the surface, as they pollute the water kingdoms with their trash and their boats.

Arthur is brought into the plan to overthrow Orm and claim his birthright by Mera and Vulko, a trusted adviser to the throne since before Arthur’s birth. But when Orm bests Arthur in a fight to win the throne, Arthur narrowly escapes Atlantis. He and Mera strike out to see if they can find the one artifact that could allow him to retake the crown and bring peace under the sea.

While Aquaman spends much of its two hour and twenty-two minute runtime world building, audiences new to the character will enjoy this origin movie, and fans of the character will enjoy the nods to different parts of the bigger Aquaman arc. If you enjoyed Momoa’s take on Aquaman in Justice League, you’ll enjoy this relatively family-friendly take on the character. Be sure to stay for a mid-credits scene that might prompt some interesting thoughts on future DC ventures.

Featuring a star-studded cast, and a soundtrack that includes Pitbull’s take on Toto’s Africa, Aquaman has already been playing to adoring crowds in China. It opens in the US on December 21, 2018.