Various DC Comics tales like to place their characters in unusual spots. That becomes the theme of 2023’s animated adventure Justice League: Warworld.

Wonder Woman (voiced by Stana Katic) finds herself in the Old West, where she gets the attention of gunslinger Jonah Hex (Troy Baker). This creates a conflict that leads to violence.

In the realm of Shamballah, Batman (Jensen Ackles) battles barbarians and magicians. Superman (Darren Criss) deals with alien invaders in Grovers Mill, NJ.

All of these events turn out to actually take place on “Warworld”, a location in which an entity called Mongul (Robin Atkin Downes) forces combatants to engage in never-ending battles. The heroes need to figure out how to defeat their enemy and return to Earth.

Don’t expect the revelations in that last paragraph to manifest quickly. Indeed, this information appears so late in the narrative that I thought my comments might fall into the “spoiler” territory.

And they could be viewed that way, but the movie’s publicity reveals the nature of “Warworld”, so I don’t think I spilled any real beans. Not that the “big reveal” really matters that much in the long run anyway.

I say that because Warworld exists more as a collection of action shorts than a coherent story. As mentioned, we get no real indication of the nature of Warworld until more than halfway into the movie, so that leaves the first two segments as essentially standalone adventures.

The Wonder Woman and Batman tales largely function independently of the overall plot. When we go to Grovers Mill, the three Justice League leads meet up and the primary finally emerges.

Which seems too late for my liking, mainly because those Wonder Woman and Batman segments don’t work especially well. Even if we ignore the confusion viewers may encounter because the movie doesn’t explain why those characters end up where they are, the sequences simply don’t become particularly entertaining.

Matters improve when we get to Grovers Mill. The choice to coincide with the location of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds adds a fun twist, and the fact Warworld actually clarifies the overall narrative gives these moments some punch.

However, these improvements don’t negate the lackluster aspects of the first two segments, and the film doesn’t pick up the pace well enough for the third act to compensate. Whatever intrigue we get in that segment fails to compensate for the mediocre nature of the first 50 minutes or so.

All of this makes Warworld a disappointment. The basic premise offers promise but the end result comes across more like a collection of loosely related shorts than a coherent tale.

Justice League: Warworld appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. As usual, this DC Animated flick delivered positive visuals.

Across the board, sharpness looked strong. The movie boasted consistently fine delineation and never suffered from any obvious soft spots.

Issues with jagged edges or moiré effects failed to materialize, and the image lacked edge haloes. In addition, no signs of source defects appeared.

Warworld boasted appealing colors. The stylized palette often opted for sandy tones to fit the settings, but it also came with some vivid reds and purples, all of which appeared well-rendered. HDR added some punch to the hues as well.

Blacks were dark and deep, while shadows showed nice clarity. HDR brought extra impact to whites and contrast. I found nothing about which to complain in this terrific presentation.

I thought the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Warworld opened up the comic book material well. This wasn’t a particularly ambitious piece, but it added pizzazz to the program.

The forward channels brought out the majority of the material. Music presented strong stereo imaging, while effects cropped up in logical spots and blended well.

The surrounds also contributed good information. For the most part, these reinforced the forward channels, but they also contributed a fair amount of unique material.

These instances mainly occurred during bigger action scenes. The back speakers brought out a nice sense of space and environment.

Audio quality always satisfied. Speech was warm and natural, without edginess or other issues.

Music sounded lively and full, while effects displayed good definition. Those elements seemed accurate and dynamic. All of this led to a positive presentation that deserved a “B+”.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical audio.

The 4K’s visuals brought mild improvements, mainly due to somewhat stronger hues/blacks due to the use of HDR. However, both Blu-ray and 4K looked pretty similar, so don’t expect the 4K to demonstrate a clear upgrade.

No extras show up on the 4K disc, but two featurettes appear on the included Blu-ray copy, and Illusions on Warworld spans seven minutes, 45 seconds. It brings notes from producer Jim Krieg, executive producer Butch Lukic, writer Tim Sheridan, and director Jeff Wamester.

“Illusions” looks at story/characters as well as animation and design choices. It mixes useful info with fluff.

The Heroic, the Horrible and the Hideous runs seven minutes, 52 seconds. It offers comments from Krieg, Lukic, Sheridan, and Wamester.

Like “Illusions”, “Hideous” expands on story/characters and related domains. It comes with the same strengths and weaknesses as its sibling.

Given how much action it produces, Justice League: Warworld boasts promise. Unfortunately, it lacks a strong narrative and turns into a less than enthralling adventure. The 4K UHD boasts excellent visuals, strong audio and minor bonus materials. Chalk up Warworld as a disappointment.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of JUSTICE LEAGUE: WARWORLD